Guidelines for INTERSPEECH Conferences Organized by ISCA

1. General
2. Conference Organizer Selection
3. Collaboration between ISCA and the Organizer
4. Local Organizing Committee - Commercial Organizer
5. Scientific content - Scientific Committee
6. Time table
7. Budget - Finances
8. Advertisement
9. Submission of papers
10. Review Process - Detailed Conference Program
11. Paper submission
12. Editing of the Program and the Proceedings and Printing
13. Registration and Hotel Accommodation
14. Transportation
15. Catering
16. Venue
17. Social Events
18. Exhibition
19. Grants
20. Satellite events

1. General

ISCA organizes an annual conference each year, INTERSPEECH. This brings together two previous series of biennial international conferences: EUROSPEECH, the European Conference on on Speech Communication and Technology, and ICSLP, the International Conference on Spoken Language Processing. Since 2000, both conferences have been under the common label INTERSPEECH. The first INTERSPEECH event was ICSLP 2000, which took place in 2000, in Beijing, China, also co-sponsored by ISCA. Previous EUROSPEECH conferences were held in 1989 in Paris (France); 1991 in Genoa (Italy); 1993 in Berlin (Germany); 1995 in Madrid (Spain); 1997 in Rhodes (Greece); 1999 in Budapest (Hungary); 2001 in Aalborg (Denmark); 2003 in Geneva (Switzerland); and 2005 in Lisbon (Portugal). ICSLP conferences, coordinated by the Permanent Council for the Organization of International Conferences on Spoken Language Processing (PC-ICSLP), were held in 1990 in Kobe (Japan); in 1992 in Banff (Canada); 1994 in Yokohama (Japan); 1996 in Philadelphia (USA); 1998 in Sydney (Australia); 2000 in Beijing (China); 2002 in Denver (USA); 2004 in Jeju (Korea); and 2006 in Pittsburgh (USA).

INTERSPEECH conferences take place in the fall each year, typically lasting for four days. They include papers on all the scientific and technological aspects of Speech. More than 1.000 participants from all over the world attend the conference and more than 700 papers are presented in oral and poster sessions. Several satellite workshops and a Scientific and Industrial Exhibition highly enrich the conferences' content. Interspeech conferences may be held in any country, although they generally should not occur in the same continent in two consecutive years. The next INTERSPEECH conferences will be held in 2007 in Antwerp (Belgium), 2008 in Brisbane (Australia) and 2009 in Brighton (UK).

INTERSPEECH is organized each time by a Scientific Institution (SI) (University Department, Research Laboratory, etc.) appointed by ISCA, often in collaboration with a commercial organizer chosen by this SI. The SI sets up a Local Organizing Committee (LOC) consisting of the Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary of the conference, as well as personnel for specific tasks. This committee cares for the overall organization of the conference and in particular for the scientific aspects of it. The commercial organizer is often responsible for the implementation of the Local Organizing Committee's decisions.

The scientific program of the conference is constructed by an international Technical Program Committee (TPC) appointed by the organizer in collaboration with ISCA, which undertakes the reviewing of the submitted papers and the formation of the sessions.

In the following sections concise guidelines for people interested in organizing an INTERSPEECH conference are given.

2. Conference Organizer Selection

The board of ISCA is responsible for selecting an appropriate organizer for INTERSPEECH each year.. A first criterion in this selection is to have the conference each time in a different country.

The procedure starts at least three years before the conference so that the contract with the selected organizer is concluded on time and the site officially announced at the previous INTERSPEECH. By that time basic decisions such as the venue, fees, duration, etc. should have been taken.

Prospective organizers are informed through a public call for bids with announcements in previous INTERSPEECH conferences, in relevant journals and news bulletins (Speech Communication, etc.) and/or with letters sent to ISCA members. Additionally a limited number of well known persons who might be interested in organizing the conference is contacted.

As organizers, University departments and laboratories or research institutes are taken into account so that the backing of a serious institution is guaranteed.

A proposal must be submitted by the interested institution, usually by the person who will act as chairman of the conference, including the basic proposed data such as:

• Name and position of the proposed General Chair and Vice Chair or Chairpersons
• Proposed period in September/October when the conference would be held
• The institution assuming financial responsibility for the conference
• The city and conference center proposed (with information on that center's capacity)
• Information on transportation and housing for conference participants
• Commercial conference organizer (if any) to be employed
• Likely support from local bodies (e.g. governmental)
• Preliminary budget and fees (not exceeding a prescribed limit)
• Other information supporting the application

The selection of an appropriate organizer is based on the answers to the above questions, considering in particular the general capability of the prospective organizer to carry out the task successfully. This largely depends on the infrastructure, experience and support of the institution backing the organizer (laboratory, etc.) and the capabilities of the commercial organizer. It should be noted that a great deal of work requiring scientific knowledge such as the editing of the program and the proceedings, has to be carried out by the scientific team of the organizer because a commercial organizer is unable to do this work.

A contract is concluded between ISCA and the organizers including, among other things, the fees and the financial obligations of the contractors towards ISCA in detail. Sometime, the financial risk of the conference is assumed by the commercial organizer, who is then entitled to receive the conference revenue. Alternatively, the Scientific Institution may assume the financial risk and take the revenue, while the commercial organizer is employed and paid for specific services. For each participant ISCA takes a share of the fees as donation.

3. Collaboration between ISCA and the Organizer

Close collaboration between ISCA and the organizer is necessary not only during the contract negotiations but also up to the end of the conference and afterward.

According to the contract, any information about the conference issued by the organizer, such as the preliminary announcement, the Call for Papers, the Final Program, press releases, etc., must be approved by ISCA. The final decision on the TPC members which are proposed by the organizer, is made by ISCA. ISCA is also responsible for the scientific content of the conference, while the determination of the conference program at the SC meeting  (number of papers accepted, parallel sessions, keynote speakers, etc.) also requires ISCA concurrence.

In order for the collaboration to be efficient, the organizer should appoint a liaison responsible for the exchange of information with ISCA's conference liaison.  This may be the Chair of the Conference, the Vice Chair or the Secretary. In any case it is very important to establish and preserve a close collaboration in all stages.

4. Local Organizing Committee - Commercial Organizer

The Local Organizing Committee consists of members of the Scientific Institution organizing the conference. It is headed by the Conference Chair and has the responsibility of co-ordinating the whole organization of the conference.

The work the Local Organizing Committee must do is considerable, even when the conference is supported by an excellent commercial organizer. The Local Organizing Committee must closely collaborate with the team of the commercial organizer giving them the necessary guidelines and input and most important checking whether their job is done properly according to the contract and schedule.

It is evident that capable people willing to offer much time and effort have to be selected as members of the Local Organizing Committee. Especially their availability during certain periods as the paper submission, TPC meeting, proceedings editing, the conference itself etc. is crucial for the success of the conference. People involved in the Local Organizing Committee's work should bear in mind that this is not an amateur job but a professional one (although they are usually not paid extra to do it) demanding responsibility, seriousness and efficiency and frequently working far beyond their normal working hours.

The various tasks involved in putting on the conference should be properly distributed among the Local Organizing Committee members, so that each member has to carry out clearly defined work. Nevertheless, it is of the utmost importance that a single member of the Local Organizing Committee act as general manager, co-ordinating the whole work and closely following its progress on a daily basis. Normally this is the responsibility of the Chair, the Vice Chair, or the secretary. In any case this task cannot be delegated to the commercial organizer, which itself must be supervised by the Local Organizing Committee.

5. Scientific content - Scientific Review Committee and Technical Program Committee

Although the general scientific/technical framework of INTERSPEECH remains constant from conference to conference, minor variations like the inclusion of new sub-topics and emphasis on specific topics are encouraged.

The content of the conference and its division into areas and sub-areas is determined by ISCA in collaboration with the organizer. This content is published in the Call for Papers and submissions refer to the area each paper belongs to. Furthermore, the technical program is determined according to these areas. Thus a careful selection and codification of the areas and sub-areas facilitates the grouping of papers for the reviewing process and after that the construction of the program.

The reviewing process consists of two stages. The first stage involves a large number of expert reviewers, which constitute the Scientific Review Committee (SRC). The second stage involves a smaller group of experts who oversee the review process, which constitute the Technical Program Committee (TPC).

The organizers propose the list of SRC members to the ISCA board, which must agree to the list. The selection of members of this list should be made according to specific criteria:

• The number of reviewers depends on the number of papers to be reviewed, so that a reasonable number of papers is reviewed by each reviewer.
• The reviewers are selected according to their expertise in order to evenly cover the various scientific/technical areas. Areas with high submissions have more reviewers and vice versa.
• The reviewers are known scientists so that their names contribute to the attraction of participants.
• The reviewers are changed from event to event as much as possible, so that the conference is renewed in this aspect.

The organizers propose the list of TPC members to the ISCA board, which must agree to the list. The selection of the TPC members is also made according to the above criteria. In selecting members of this restricted group, however, besides selecting well-known experts with a good track record as reviewer coordinators, one should aim at some amount of balance with regard to region and gender. Some ISCA board members should be included in the Technical Program Committee, since they can help the organizer in many ways during the review and the conference itself, due to the experience they have from previous conferences.

The organizer, in cooperation with ISCA, may define several special sessions. The topics of the special sessions should be important, new, emerging areas of interest to the speech processing community, and have little overlap with the mainstream sessions of the conference. They could also be those investigated by members of other societies that are becoming of interest to the speech and language community. Special session papers follow the same submission format as regular papers and are reviewed according to the same standards as regular submissions.

Besides regular and special sessions, INTERSPEECH conferences generally include pre-conference tutorials (3-hour long). The topics and speakers of these tutorials should also be selected by the organizer and approved by the ISCA board.

6. Time table

A realistic time table including major deadlines has to be established as early as possible by the organizer in collaboration with ISCA, starting with the date of the conference and going back. Some deadlines in this time table are made public and are crucial because they cannot be changed, others are internal deadlines which can be shifted but only within certain intervals.

The first group consists of:

• First announcement of the conference at previous INTERSPEECH
• Date of conference
• Submission of papers
• Notification of acceptance
• Submission of photo-ready papers and registration of authors
• Early registration of participants
• Late registration
• On-site registration
• Refundable cancellation of participation

• Call for Papers on the Internet (~ 15 months previously)
• Posting of leaflets, Call for Papers (First and possibly second posting to prospective participants, in case that leaflets are sent in addition to the Internet announcements)
• Dispatching of abstracts to reviewers
• Technical Program Committee (semi-virtual) meeting
• Delivery of the masters of abstract book / CD-ROM / proceedings (optional) to the printer
• Shipping of the proceedings to the participants before the conference (if this is done)

• Call for Exhibitors and Sponsors on the Internet
• Posting of leaflets to prospective exhibitors (if leaflets are sent)
• Early registration of exhibitors
• Late registration of exhibitors

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is important because it determines the remaining time for the subsequent tasks. The period 15 January of the conference year to 20 February has been used up to now, depending upon the actual dates of the conference.

Apart from the above deadlines, a detailed time programming is needed concerning the work of the Local Organizing Committee, the commercial organizer, and all sub-contractors. Considering that there are always delays, a reasonable margin of time for delays should be left.

7. Budget - Finances

The tasks concerning the finances of the conference start with an estimation of the budget which has to be submitted to ISCA by the prospective conference organizer and end well after the conference with the construction of the final balance. In between, the income and expenses have to be carefully monitored and the initial estimation continuously updated according to the facts and more accurate information about the prices.

The construction of the initial budget is the most difficult task because it is made almost three years before the conference when prices can only very roughly be estimated, especially in countries with high inflation. As a guide, the income and expenses of previous conferences are of great help.

The income comes from the registration fees, the rent of the exhibition stands, the sponsors and from selling items, such as proceedings, CD-ROMs, lunches, etc., in addition to those included in the fees. It has to be distinguished in fixed income originating from the exhibition and sponsors and variable income from the registration fees and the additional items.

The cost must also be separated into fixed and variable and the quantity of each item and its cost should be given.

Different registration fees are agreed upon between ISCA and the organizer for the following participant categories:

• ISCA member (reduced fees in comparison to non-ISCA members).
• Non-ISCA member, including ISCA membership for one year.
• Non-ISCA member, including ISCA membership for two years.
• ISCA student member registration (reduced fees in comparison to non-ISCA student members).
• Non-ISCA student member registration (reduced fees in comparison to non-ISCA members), including ISCA membership for one year.
• Non-ISCA student member registration, including ISCA student membership for two years.

A very important estimation concerns the number of expected participants in the several fee categories, since it determines the major income of the conference.This is estimated according to the distribution in the last conference, as far as the relation between the different fees has not been substantially changed.

ISCA supports financially the organizer with seed money (35k EURO) which is paid back in full as soon as the conference has income from fees, as specified in the contract.

As soon as the contract with ISCA has been concluded, the organizer should proceed to conclude contracts with major service providers, especially with the commercial organizing company, if any, the Conference Center, hotels, and the printing company. Thus, the provision of the required services at concrete prices is secured.

In order to follow closely the income and expenses, a computerized accounting service should be established if the commercial organizer does not have the complete management of the conference.

8. Advertisement

Advertisement of the conference is very important in order to achieve a high number of paper submissions and participants. As many as possible ways should be used:

• Email
• Postal service
• Journals
• Conferences
• Posters

In order to reach the appropriate people in each case, different mailing lists are necessary. The participants of the last INTERSPEECH conference form probably the most important group. The mailing list of this group is provided by ISCA. The participants of previous INTERSPEECH conferences who missed the last conference is the next target group. Of course ISCA members not included in the above groups (which is not very probable) are also interested people. Then people who participate in similar conferences such as  ICASSP, EUSIPCO, etc. may be interested. As a result, lists with as many as 5,000 members may be constructed.

After the review of the papers, a list of authors of accepted papers and one of rejected papers is set up. The program and the registration forms are usually sent to both groups, although only very few people (if any) of the second group will participate. They are also sent to people who have expressed interest. Other groups such as participants of the last or previous INTERSPEECH conferences which are not included in the above lists, could be considered.

A web page about the conference should be established as soon as the first announcement is made and should be updated with all relevant information up to the end of the conference. This page should remain installed for six months after the conference. The address of this page should be made widely public by including it in all the advertisements, correspondence, etc. so that as many people as possible can reach it. Of course, a link to each INTERSPEECH conference together with an announcement is always included from ISCA's site.

Posters are printed in one or more colors with a size of approximately 65x45 cm² and are sent to the members of the Scientific Committee and others who can display them on boards of their institutions. These posters usually include the logos of the conference, the place and date, and possibly the members of the Scientific Committee. The names of the organizer and the conference secretariat with address, telephone, fax, email, WWW are also included.

9. Submission of papers

All the necessary information for preparing and submitting a (full) paper is included in the Call for Papers. The Call is accompanied by an "Abstracts Cover Form" to be filled out by the authors and returned together with the paper. This includes the necessary information about the paper and the authors which is inserted in the database and forms the basis for the support of the review process, the submission of accepted papers, etc. 

Papers should be submitted electronically. Electronic submission highly facilitates the work of authors and reviewers.  It is strongly advised that conference software be obtained to handle the submission, reviewing, and program construction process.  The ISCA liaison can provide advice about obtaining this software.

10. Review Process - Detailed Conference Program

As soon as possible after submission, the organizing committee should sort the submissions into the appropriate technical areas and assigned to the corresponding reviewers. Each paper is assigned for review to at least two members of the SRC. At least one month's time should be given to the reviewers to produce their reviews. Reviewers should be given clear guidelines about the criteria for evaluation and should be told that they must provide comments for each paper. No review can be accepted without written comments from the reviewer.

The results are generally provided electronically and are available for the TPC members. TPC members are grouped into sub-committees (generally of 2 members for each topic area), who oversee the review process of the papers in a group of related submission areas.

Each sub-committee makes accept/reject decisions, based on the scores and comments sent by the reviewers, resolves conflicting scores, shifts papers from one area to another, and suggests the (oral and poster) sessions to be created, and corresponding Chairpersons.

The Local Organizing Committee is responsible for organizing a TPC Meeting in May in the conference city or another suitable location, in which several TPC members will be present; the other members of the TPC participate in a virtual meeting.

At the end of the TPC meeting, the sessions of the conference should be ready in detail and all relevant data should have been added to the database. On the basis of this data the detailed program is constructed by the organizers, i.e. the sessions are accommodated in the available time slots. Overlapping of (parallel) sessions with similar content (both oral and posters) should be avoided as far as possible.

The TPC also has the task of proposing keynote speakers for the conference. A list for each keynote is set up at the TPC meeting containing more than one person and the order of their invitation. This can be decided if necessary by vote. The ISCA board should be consulted about keynote speaker selections.

The active participation of Special Interest Groups (SIGs)in the review process is strongly encouraged. The Local Organizers should make time available in the program for sessions organized by the SIGs, in cooperation with the TPC.

The TPC should recommend to the ISCA Board candidates for best student papers.

11. Paper submission

Notification of the authors of accepted papers together with instructions for the final paper preparation are sent by email immediately after the review meeting.  To the extent possible, all such notification will be electronic.

The acceptance notification should also contain a link to the conference author's kit, giving exact information on how the final paper should be submitted.  It should include instructions for the preparation of a poster for people with poster presentations and instructions for lecture presentations for those with oral presentations.

The Call for Participation is a brochure intended for circulation to a large audience and gives all the necessary information about the conference which is of interest to a prospective participant. This Call includes only the structure of the technical program with the names of the sessions, while the detailed program can be found on the web together with all the other information given in the Call.

The Registration Form should be available on the conference website.  It must be specified that registration of one author or his/her surrogate speaker is mandatory for each paper.

12. Editing of the Program and the Proceedings and Printing

Editing of the Program and the Proceedings is a very crucial task. For the editing, a team of the LOC has to work under the guidance of one person who as chief editor has to check everything, make corrections and give the final OK for printing. This is absolutely necessary for ensuring uniformity in the presentation of the material and avoiding errors. Furthermore, it should be stressed that this task cannot be delegated to people unfamiliar with speech technology.

Editing of the proceedings includes grouping of the papers into the corresponding sessions, numbering of the pages, construction of the table of contents and construction of the author's index. Furthermore, general information such as the names of the Local Organizing Committee and the International Scientific Committee, the technical program at a glance, the messages of the ISCA President and the Conference Chair etc., are included.

The proceedings consist of several A4 format volumes. In addition, a volume with the abstracts of the papers is prepared. Both the proceedings and the abstracts volume are published in CD-ROM. Paperback publishing is optional. The number, content, layout and cover are agreed between ISCA and the organizer. They include the name and logo of ISCA as well as the ISSN number of the INTERSPEECH proceedings.

13. Registration and Hotel Accommodation

The registration form should also be available on the website.  It includes the necessary information for a participant to be registered to the conference (fees, accommodation, additional provisions, social events, etc.) and fields to be filled out by the participant concerning personal information and his/her choices. It is important that the form is easily understood and completed and that all the information needed for the participant is given. This information is inserted into the database and processed to extract individual and global results.

Reservation of hotel rooms for the conference is made well before the conference, either by the commercial organizer or by the Scientific organizers. The earlier the reservations are made, the better terms can be achieved. The disposal of the rooms to the participants is made according to their choice indicated in the registration form and upon paying a deposit together with the registration fees. A hotel voucher is sent to them by the commercial organizer.

14. Transportation

Transportation of the delegates is normally not the responsibility of the conference organizers. Thus, organized transportation is usually not provided. This is justified where public or other transportation means are easily accessible and can serve the delegates without problems. If this is not the case, then the establishment of a bus service for the conference is a must. Especially the transportation of the delegates from the airport to the venue, from the venue to the site of the Welcome reception and of course the transportation during excursions is necessary.

15. Catering

Providing lunch (included in the fees) for all delegates at the venue has several advantages:

• The delegates stay longer at the venue, which profits the sessions and other events.
• Lunching of the delegates during the restricted lunch break is highly facilitated.
• The possibility for making acquaintances, discussion, etc. during lunch is given.
• Favorable prices and good quality/quantity for food can be achieved due to the high number of participants.

16. Venue

The venue should generally be an organized conference center (C. C.) of appropriate quality and size in order to cover the needs of the conference and leave good memories to the participants. The conference requirements can be estimated on the basis of the previous conference, considering an expected increase or decrease of the participants. Since the reservation of the venue is made well before the submission of papers (the number of which can serve as an indicator of the final papers and participants), it is recommended that the C. C. has a greater capacity than the one initially estimated, so that  expansion is possible. In any case, the limitations of the venue determine the maximum number of papers which can be accepted at the SC meeting and the corresponding (lowest) rejection rate.

Apart from the space, the support provided by the C. C. management for the organization of the conference is a decisive factor in choosing a venue. This includes provision of additional furniture (tables, panels, boards, podiums, etc.), basic audio-visual equipment, cleaning, security, maintenance, etc. services during the conference, telecommunication lines for demonstrations and for the exhibitors and communication services in general (telephone, email, fax, telex, etc.), catering for coffee breaks, lunches, etc. and so on. The more extensive the support by the C. C. management, the less the necessity and trouble for the conference organizer to hire extra personnel and services.

17. Social Events

The Social Events organized during the conference include the Welcome Reception, the Banquet and, as well as tourist tours and excursions which are mainly for accompanying persons.

The Welcome Reception is usually provided for all participants and accompanying persons in the evening of the first conference day and may take place at the venue where the chairman of the conference is the host. Nevertheless, it often happens that an official of the city or region where the conference takes place (e.g. the Mayor, the Prefect, the Rector of the University, etc.) hosts the reception in a more prestigious place (the Town Hall, a castle, etc.). Then the event may be supplemented with some performance (orchestra, show, etc.).

The banquet may or may not be included in the general registration fees. It may be organized either at the venue or elsewhere. In any case, it is important that good food and good entertainment be offered.

The conference should also include a social event (e.g. a lunch or evening party) exclusively for student members of ISCA, members of the ISCA board, and any other guests the conference organizers may invite (e.g. sponsors). The purpose of this gathering is to encourage student participation in ISCA events and to allow them to provide feedback to the board and the organizers about what students want from ISCA. The event should include refreshments.

Another optional event is the Scientific Review Committee reception, as a way to thank the reviewers for all their work and provide another opportunity for networking.

Tours and excursions are offered in collaboration with an appropriate travel agency. They usually take place in parallel to the sessions and are attended mainly by accompanying persons. In addition, tours may be organized in a free afternoon in which all participants can participate.

18. Exhibition

The exhibition, which runs in parallel to the conference, gives the opportunity to companies, publishers, research institutes, universities and consortia of  projects to show their products, books, prototypes and research results related to speech science and technology.

In order to attract interested parties, both email and post announcements are delivered, using mainly special mailing lists for exhibitors provided by ISCA, but also the general mailing list of the conference. Furthermore, personal invitations are sent to public laboratories and institutes.

As a general rule, the prices of stands etc., are kept as low as possible and discounts are offered to small firms. Also, stands (modules) in at least two different sizes (and prices) are offered, so that they are better adapted to the needs of the individual exhibitors.

19. Grants

Grants are offered to students and young scientists needing financial assistance both by the INTERSPEECH conference and  by ISCA. The number of INTERSPEECH grants which include free registration, accommodation and full board, is prescribed in the contract with ISCA, and is generally 20. The costs of these grants must be covered in the conference budget. ISCA offers a number of  student grants as well.  The ISCA grants coordinator is responsible for selecting recipients of all these grants.

20. Satellite events

Satellite events take place immediately before and  after the conference and are typically organized as small workshops.  The satellite events are organized by the responsible person of each event in collaboration with the organizers of  INTERSPEECH. The latter have to include announcements of the events in their Call for Papers, Call for Participation, Conference program, etc. and they may have to provide technical assistance (rooms, audio-visual equipment, hotel accommodation for the participants, coffee, etc. at breaks and so on) for satellite events which are co-located with the conference.

Satellite events contribute to the success of the conference and they should be especially supported by offering reduced prices for rooms, equipment, etc. and for hotel accommodation. This is possible because the rooms and equipment are rented for a longer period and better prices can be achieved. E.g. hotels offer reduced prices for a stay beyond a minimum of days.

For any requests please contact Isabel Trancoso,  ISCA liaison for International Conferences: conf_at_isca-speech.org