CONFERENCES, SYMPOSIA, AND WORKSHOPS HELD IN COOPERATION WITH SIGMOD

Conferences, symposia, and workshops on data management can be sponsored or co-sponsored by SIGMOD, or held in cooperation with SIGMOD. This document describes the benefits and requirements for meetings held in cooperation with SIGMOD, directions for applying for in-cooperation status. Note that meetings held in conjunction with the ACM SIGMOD/PODS joint conference must satisfy additional requirements.

The motivation for SIGMOD in-cooperation support is to provide high quality outlets for timely dissemination of research results relevant to management of data, beyond the ACM SIGMOD/PODS joint conference. ACM SIGMOD in-cooperation status is also given to workshops to encourage work in new areas and on tightly-focused topics relevant to management of data, and to database conferences in developing countries as an outreach effort. SIGMOD is not financially responsible for a meeting held in cooperation with SIGMOD.

Benefits of Holding a Meeting in Cooperation with SIGMOD

Holding a meeting in cooperation with SIGMOD provides a number of benefits:

• The meeting organizers can use the ACM SIGMOD name and SIGMOD logos) on any publicity about the meeting.
• The meeting organizers receive one page in the SIGMOD Record to announce the meeting, free of charge.  For further information, see the instructions for announcing in-cooperation and sponsored meetings in the SIGMOD Record.
• The meeting will be publicized in the Call for Papers and Professional Calendar sections of Communications of the ACM, free of charge.
• The meeting organizers can purchase an advertisement in Communications of the ACM at a special rate. (Ad placement should be arranged through ACM Headquarters, and CACM can advise as to the lead time required.) Discounted access to ACM mailing lists is also available.
• The SIGMOD Record will publish a final report that summarizes the meeting.
• The meeting's proceedings will be included on the SIGMOD DiSC, which provides wide accessibility and increased visibility for the meeting.

Requirements for Holding a Meeting in Cooperation with SIGMOD

ACM has a set of requirements that must be satisfied by any meeting held in cooperation with SIGMOD.  SIGMOD imposes its own additional requirements, beyond those of ACM.  In summary:

1. The meeting's topic must be relevant to data management.
2. The meeting's dates must not conflict with the SIGMOD/PODS joint conference.
3. The meeting must be of high quality; more specifically, (a) the meeting organizers, including the general chair, program committee chair, and the program committee, must be known for their quality work; (b) papers must be reviewed by three or more reviewers; and (c) the ratio of submitted to accepted papers must be reasonable.
4. The meeting must have an open call for participation.
5. The meeting cannot be sponsored by a for-profit organization, although some forms of corporate funding are allowed.
6. Registration costs must be reasonable.
7. SIGMOD members must receive a discounted registration fee.
8. The proceedings of the conference must be included on the SIGMOD DiSC. SIGMOD will not approve in-cooperation status for a conference before SIGMOD has received written permission from the publisher of the conference proceedings, agreeing to make an electronic copy of the proceedings available for inclusion on the SIGMOD DiSC.

ACM’s requirements for in-cooperation meetings are described in full detail in the SIG Conference Manual.  In-cooperation support will be given to those meetings satisfying SIGMOD’s and ACM’s requirements, subject to a case-by-case review.

Application Process

The approval process for meetings held in cooperation with SIGMOD has two phases.  First, the meeting organizers obtain an informal approval from SIGMOD’s Executive Committee.  Then the organizers apply for official approval from ACM.

To apply for in-cooperation status, the meeting organizers first send a description of the meeting to the SIGMOD chair and vice chair, at least 10 months before the planned date of the meeting. The description should include:

1. The focus of the meeting.
2. The meeting's intended audience and size.
3. The planned meeting time and place.
4. The plans for publicity and soliciting participation in the meeting, such as calls for papers, panels, and tutorials.
5. The proposed organization of the meeting.
6. The names, affiliations, and email addresses of the meeting organizers.
7. The planned membership of the program committee.
8. Prior attendance, site, date, budget, organizers, registration fees, and paper submission/acceptance rates, if the meeting has been held before.
9. A URL for the meeting home page.
10. A note from the conference proceedings copyright holder, agreeing to make an electronic copy of the proceedings available for inclusion on the SIGMOD DiSC. It is the responsibility of the conference organizers to obtain this copyright permission. Depending on the publisher, permission may be difficult to obtain, and meeting organizers need to allow ample lead time to resolve the copyright issue before requesting in-cooperation status from SIGMOD.

The request will be circulated to a designated subset of the SIGMOD Executive Committee. A response to the request is usually given within two weeks. If the Executive Committee gives tentative approval to the request, the next step is for the conference organizers to fill out a Technical Meeting Request Form (TMRF) for an in-cooperation meeting. The information requested on the TMRF is very similar to the meeting description used for the first phase of approval.  The TMRF must be filled out, signed, and sent by postal mail to ACM headquarters, along with a signed letter from the conference proceedings publishers regarding inclusion of the proceedings on the SIGMOD DiSC, before SIGMOD can give official approval of in-cooperation status. The TMRF for in-cooperation meetings, along with guidelines for filling out the TMRF, an overview of the approval process, and other helpful materials for conference organizers, can be found on line in ACM’s SIG Conference Manual.

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