The vice-chair for conference planning will recommend two persons to serve as co-chairs for a conference. The combined skills of these two should include technical expertise in computer graphics, knowledge of computer graphics products and services, meeting organization competence and managerial and financial skills. The executive committee makes the final selection of conference chairs.

There is a minority opinion that it would be easier for a single person to chair the conference, particularly if the co-chairs have not had an opportunity to work together before beginning this intense effort. For the time being, the SIGGRAPH executive committee feels that the workload requires two people. If, in the future, the addition of professional staff increases to the point where the workload is significantly reduced, the issue will be revisited.

The conference co-chairs will select a program chair, subject to executive committee approval. The program chair is a member of the previous year's program committee.

The conference planning committee (CPC) is chaired by the vice-chair for conference planning. Membership consists of conference co-chairs from the previous two conferences and all future conferences. Other members may be appointed by the SIGGRAPH chair. The CPC typically meets three times per year the day before the non-conference SIGGRAPH executive committee meetings.

All member conference co-chairs are expected to attend all CPC meetings and are encouraged to attend executive committee meetings. Conference co-chairs' expenses for attending the CPC/EC meetings will be reimbursed from their conference accounts. After a conference's accounts have been closed, their expenses will be paid by SIGGRAPH.

ACM SIGGRAPH depends on conference income for a significant part of its yearly activities. Each year the SIGGRAPH executive committee makes budget plans for SIGGRAPH based on income expected from the conference. In the summary area of the conference budget there will be an item called ``SIGGRAPH operations.'' This number will also appear in the SIGGRAPH budget and will be determined by the SIGGRAPH executive committee. In addition, there will also be a surplus for which SIGGRAPH will make provisions in its budget. As a guideline, the SIGGRAPH operations plus the surplus should be 10 percent of the conference income. The conference budget expenses will include 15 percent of budgeted expenses as a contingency.

ACM SIGGRAPH must budget for the cost of sending the proceedings to the SIGGRAPH membership and therefore must control the proceedings cost. The conference committee will work closely with the SIGGRAPH editor-in-chief.

The conference co-chairs are responsible for developing a budget for their conference and insuring that it is followed. Accordingly, the SIGGRAPH executive committee expects budget presentations by the co-chairs at the winter executive committee meetings. The first presentation will be approximately one year and six months before the conference in question and the second approximately six months before. The first presentation should be general, focus on major initiatives the co-chairs propose for their conference and include approximate entries in the conference financial summary format. The second presentation will be more detailed and will focus on the actual budget.

The budget should have a descriptive section that explains key items, particularly those which differ significantly from previous conferences. The conference co-chairs should send copies of the budget to the vice-chair for conference planning so it can be distributed to conference planning and executive committee members at least two weeks in advance of the meeting.

In order to continue to make the conference accessible to the computer graphics community it is important to control the costs, consistent with having a high quality conference. In particular, students are to receive a substantial break in registration fees.

Committees may hire professionals who are reimbursed for their services with the requirement that these professionals exhibit credentials and experience in the area in which they are being hired. The executive committee recommends that long-range planning not allow SIGGRAPH conferences to be locked into any one professional supplier. When professional management is sought, competitive bids should be solicited through ACM headquarters. Professionals are encouraged to participate in committee meetings. Professionals carry out policy decisions; a volunteer committee member should oversee each contractor and make the policy decisions.

The executive committee recommends that conference volunteers not sign contracts without seeking the assistance of ACM headquarters. Volunteers should work with ACM headquarters staff, allowing enough lead time for the conferences manager to sign any contracts. Contracts should contain a conference chair signature to indicate that the contract has been read and agreed to by the conference chair. It is critical that both volunteers and headquarters staff process the necessary documents in a timely manner.

Conference volunteers may sign contracts independent of the headquarters staff if the value is less than $50,000 and the life of the contract is less than four months if there is insufficient time to get headquarters involvement. This should be done with caution because it has been determined that such actions by volunteers are binding on the ACM.

Contracts which have a term of more than one conference or contain options to apply to multiple conferences must have SIGGRAPH executive committee approval. Multi-conference contracts may contain provisions that limit the freedom of a conference committee. Year to year continuity is one of the reasons that the executive committee has entered into such a contract. A conference committee may not arbitrarily ignore or reinterpret the provisions of such contracts.

Volunteers remain the lifeblood of the conference. The executive committee encourages continuity but with regular turnover to allow new ideas and directions. The conference committee itself consists entirely of volunteers.

The primary benefit of serving on a conference committee is the satisfaction gained from a job well done and recognition among one's peers. There are no other rewards to be expected other than mementos of low intrinsic value. Volunteers can expect reimbursement for reasonable personal expenses incurred as a result of their committee work. All applicable ACM policies and procedures will be followed.

In addition to the volunteer conference committee, many other people volunteer their time to make the conference a success. These non-committee volunteers may be rewarded for their efforts by providing complimentary conference access, registrations, materials, accommodations and/or travel to the conference site. Such benefits must be agreed to in advance and must follow an approved schedule. Each conference committee is responsible for developing and following such a schedule.

Key conference committee members are encouraged to hire administrative assistants. The primary purposes of such an assistant are to handle administrative tasks and to serve as a contact point for the volunteer. The volunteer is still responsible for decisions and care should be exercised in administrative assistant contacts with other volunteers so that it does not appear that the administrative assistant is controlling the volunteers. All such positions must be approved by the conference chairs. Typically there will be an administrative assistant who works directly for the co-chairs. The title of this person may be selected by the co-chairs, but care must be exercised so there is no confusion between this person and the SIGGRAPH conference coordinator at ACM headquarters.

Occasionally tangible items of significant residual value will be purchased as a cost-effective alternative to rental. These items become, in effect, SIGGRAPH property and their disposal will be controlled by the SIGGRAPH executive committee. Typically, these items will be passed on to following conference committees. Under no circumstances should the conference committee members expect to keep these items for their personal use after the conference has closed.

A final report with complete budget and actual financial information and a summary of conference activities is required by ACM policy within 120 days of the conference. The SIGGRAPH executive committee recognizes that this has not happened in the past. Nevertheless, it is the policy and approval for deviations from this policy must be granted by ACM. In addition, the ACM SIGGRAPH executive committee strongly recommends a thorough final report detailing all activities be prepared for the benefit of future conference committees.

Future conference committee members should be given full access to planning meetings and other activities that will help them learn their roles for future conferences.

It is important that conference chairs build a working relationship with ACM volunteers and headquarters professional staff. ACM provides a policy and procedures manual, approves technical meeting request forms (including budget) and signs all appropriate contracts. Conference chairs are responsible for ensuring that all conference committee members are aware of ACM policies and procedures.

The SIGGRAPH conference coordinator is an ACM professional staff member who is dedicated to supporting the SIGGRAPH annual conferences. It is expected that the SIGGRAPH conference coordinator will be a resource for the conference committees, serve as a focal point for access to assistance from ACM headquarters and support year to year activities.

Space will be provided for an ACM booth, usually outside the exhibit floor. The ACM will sell ACM and SIGGRAPH memberships in this booth. The conference will honor the receipts from these membership sales as proof necessary to obtain member registration rates. It is not possible to revise a conference registration to member category if the registrant has obtained ACM and/or SIGGRAPH membership after registering for the conference.

Operations which support the conference activities should be at a high professional level based on past conference experiences. Such functions include efficient registration facilities and high quality audio visuals. In particular, incentives should be established to insure that all presenter generated slides reflect the desired quality. The executive committee requests that purchase orders not be accepted as payment for conference registration or conference materials fees. However, it is recommended that credit cards be accepted for payment of on site registration and/or conference materials fees.

This committee reports to the SIGGRAPH executive committee and is a resource for the conference committee on all exhibitor related issues. The contact is the liaison person between the EAC and SIGGRAPH, a SIGGRAPH volunteer appointee. The EAC is chaired by the current conference's exhibits chair.

Authorized expenses incurred by volunteers and professionals working directly on the conference will be reimbursed by the conference per ACM policies and applicable contracts. Expense reimbursement is reserved for those individuals directly working on the conference.

Note that ACM policies and IRS regulations do not permit the reimbursement of expenses incurred by family members, dependents or associates of conference volunteers, unless they are working directly on the conference. Some committee members may receive complimentary services such as hotel rooms or suites. It is acceptable for conference committee member guests to share these services with the conference committee member.

Experience has shown that full committee meetings are very valuable even though the expense for the typically geographically distributed committees is non-trivial. There should be budget support for four to six committee meetings which will typically be held in the conference city in order to permit easy organization of facility inspection tours and to take advantage of favorable hotel rates in the properties which are being used for the conference.

In addition, a post conference `wrap-up' meeting should be planned. Besides resolving items from the conference, this meeting will serve as a debriefing session for future conference co-chairs. The full conference committee will attend this meeting only if the conference has been financially successful.

The post conference committee meeting is an excellent opportunity to have the traditional `thank you' social event for the conference committee. If carefully planned, this meeting may be held at a site other than the conference city at small additional expense. The social function will be open to one guest per committee member, but under no circumstances will any travel or subsistence expenses for the guest be reimbursed by the conference. All post conference committee meeting and social event expenses will be fully budgeted.

At the end of the conference, there will be conference materials left over. The conference committee should make arrangements in advance for the disposal of these items. Arrangements may be made with the local groups coordinator and/or education committee chair. Items inventoried by ACM will be returned to the appropriate location. Note that copyright issues do not permit the sale of course notes except at the conference.

It is expected that these conference materials will not be sold or stored after the conclusion of the conference. Some inventory may be required to fulfill previously ordered conference materials that were not picked up at the conference. The recipient is expected to pay for shipping and handling of all conference materials not picked up at the conference. This policy should be stated on all registration instructions.

An executive committee approved complimentary policy exists and must be followed by the conference committees.

The SIGGRAPH executive committee and ACM guests should be specifically invited to all special events. As appropriate, special seating should be set aside for the executive committee and guests.

The SIGGRAPH executive committee recommends that a fixed schedule of deadlines for contributors be established and adhered to each year. This is intended to ease the burden on this important group. It is understood that these dates will not change to reflect the changing dates of the conference.

The executive committee feels that the technical program is the primary activity of the conference. In particular, it is a technical contribution to the field of computer graphics which is archival. The paper sessions will not be run in parallel to insure that technical presentations receive the attention they deserve. The technical program committee is required to review and select the program in accordance with this expectation of excellence. Presentations are expected to be of high quality. It is assumed that at least three full days of the conference week will be devoted to the technical sessions and that the papers will represent a diversity of computer graphics activities. The addition of panel sessions, poster sessions and other technical presentations is at the discretion of the conference committee.

The executive committee feels that courses are a means of sharing expertise and providing education in aspects of computer graphics. It is assumed that two days will be devoted to the courses. The executive committee expects the conference committee to review the course mix and content each year. The conference committee is encouraged to think of creative incentives to insure good notes and high quality presentations.

The executive committee would like the exhibits to be a complete representation of state of the art computer graphics products and services. It is important that all major computer graphics firms participate. The occurrence of an exhibitor forum and industry slides is at the discretion of the conference committee with input from the exhibitor advisory committee.

The intent of conference social functions is to provide a forum for informal interchange among attendees. The executive committee feels that such social functions are an important aspect of the conference. The executive committee encourages functions which involve all interested conference attendees and which provide space for conversation and mingling. The executive committee recognizes that such functions are subject to facility constraints. An observation is that successful receptions in the past have had adequate space for moving around, areas for small group discussions, attractions of interest (a great way to help promote conversation among people who don't know each other) and an informal structure (i.e., buffets, not sit-down dinners).

The executive committee perceives the conference as an appropriate place for the sale of SIGGRAPH video reviews, slides and past proceedings. As a conference activity, the selling of conference materials should be limited to on-site sales (with the sole exception of complete sets of course notes which must be picked up on site) and should not be a part of advance registration material. In all cases, merchandising is secondary to technical program and conference registration. Note that additional conference materials sales are optional.

The executive committee encourages cooperation with the IEEE Computer Society. Cooperation implies member registration rates and the use of the cooperating organization's logo in publicity material. Furthermore, the cooperating organization should be allowed to have their organization publicity material displayed at the conference. There is neither fiscal responsibility nor committee participation requirements. Cosponsorship, which involves shared fiscal responsibilities, is not recommended. Note that cooperation with other organizations is optional.

Additional conference events, such as the art show and film show, are meant to enhance the conference. As such, they will not dominate (financially or in time) either the courses or the technical sessions. A conference committee is not expected to be able to continue all the special events of the past as well as to add new events each year. However, the conference committee should be careful in completely eliminating an event which has proved to be strongly supported in previous years. ACM policies require that any project that has a potential lifetime beyond the conference must be budgeted in the SIGGRAPH organization budget (even though the conference may fund the initial start-up).

Conference materials, such as T-shirts and posters, is at the discretion of the conference committee. As a conference activity, the selling of conference materials should be limited to on-site sales and not be a part of advance registration material (except for complete sets of course notes). In all cases, merchandising is secondary to technical program and conference registration. Note that SIGGRAPH organization materials sale is expected.

The conference committee is encouraged to consider carefully the cost/benefit tradeoffs of cooperation with each organization requesting SIGGRAPH conference participa-tion. Note that IEEE cooperation is expected.