EPS Conference Organization

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This page provides information for the Programme Committee (PC) and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the European Physical Society Conference on Plasma Physics, to facilitate and streamline the organization of this annual conference.

Time line

The conference is typically held in the last week of June or the first week of July.

Approx. date Actions Action owner
November (preceding year) Nomination of invited speakers PC
January First announcement email LOC
January Invitation of invited speakers PC
February Abstract submission (2-week period) PC decides, OCS implements
March PC meeting to decide program PC
April Abstract website ready OCS
April Author confirmation emails sent OCS
2 weeks before conference Paper submission (2-week period) OCS
At conference Paper website ready OCS
At conference Inventory of non-presented posters LOC

Submissions

Various different types of conference contributions are distinguished:

  • Invited contributions (both Plenary and ordinary), delivered as a talk with duration of approx. 35 or 30 minutes, respectively
  • Oral contributions, delivered as a talk with a duration of approx. 15 minutes
  • Poster contributions

The talk durations include some time for questions (typically 5 minutes), and may vary slightly per conference.

Abstract submission

Submissions of all abstracts (including Invited) are currently handled by the Online Conference System. No email submissions are admitted. Once submissions are complete, the OCS operator will attempt to correct mistakes (repeated submissions, erroneous submission formats, ...) and prepare files for the March PC Meeting (abstract pdf files, an Excel index file). At the March PC Meeting, the PC will analyze the abstracts and correct multiple submissions, allot oral talks, and generally establish the conference program. The PC will also assign Conference IDs to the abstracts and communicate these to the OCS operator in order to elaborate the final abstract website.

Late (only special cases) and post-deadline submissions are handled via email.

Paper submission

4-page papers

Submissions of 4-page papers (corresponding to Oral and Poster contributions) are currently handled by the Online Conference System. In principle, only contributions that have actually been presented at the conference are eligible for publication in the conference Proceedings. This requires the LOC to make a list of empty poster boards at the conference, in order to be able to remove submitted 4-page papers that were not presented.

Invited papers

Invited papers, with a length of 8 (ordinary invited) or 12 (plenary invited) pages, are not submitted via the OCS system, but directly to the journal in which they will be published (Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion).

Registration

Conference registration is handled independently from the submission of abstracts and papers. However, it may be convenient to have registrants provide their 'Conference ID', i.e., the conference code of their abstract. That will allow checking whether all abstract submitters will actually attend the conference.

Local Conference Organization

Conference website

The LOC provides a website with information for conference participants. It should contain, at least:

  • The list of Committee Members
  • The list of Invited Speakers
  • The Conference program (after the PC March meeting)
  • Important dates
  • Instructions for authors (for the preparation of abstracts/papers, oral presentations, and posters)
  • Links to the submission system
  • Links to the registration system
  • Information on accommodation
  • Information on local transport

Budget

Each year's budget usually takes the preceding year's accounts as a starting point. The goal of the budget is twofold: (a) to keep the registration fee as low as possible, while (b) achieving a close balance between expenses and revenue. Main budget items are:

Description Comment Fraction of total (%)
Renting of conference centre - xx
Refreshments, coffee breaks etc. Provided by catering service xx
Registration and hotel reservation Delegated to external company xx
Publication of invited papers Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion xx

Additional material