Local arrangements chair duties

Local Arrangements Chair Overview

Conference Handbook - Local Arrangements Chair Overview

The Local Arrangement Chair, responsible for overseeing and coordinating all the meeting, accommodation, entertainment, and eating arrangements, is a key person for the success of the conference. Much depends on his or her organizational talent and the quality of the Local Arrangements Committee (LAC) assembled to help. The Local Arrangements Chair can work with a local professional organizer, but the cost of this must be built into the conference budget.

The Local Chair (assisted by the Local Arrangements Committee) has the following responsibilities.

• Choosing the conference venue and dates, to be included in the initial bid (see calls-for-conference-bids).
• Arranging the spaces for the conference meetings, including:
• auditorium and meeting halls
• system demonstration spaces
• breakout session rooms
• workshop rooms
• tutorial rooms
• exhibit space
• registration area
• email room (if needed)
• wireless internet access for conference participants (if needed and available). Make sure that arrangements are as convenient as possible for users of all types of computer and all ports and services that can be accommodated.
• meeting room for ACL Exec
• Negotiating with provider(s) of accommodations: hotel and/or dormitory organizers. Centrally, this involves negotiating a contract for the services provided, with financial guarantees. The ACL Secretariat (Priscilla Rasmussen) has considerable experience in this area.
• Handling AV needs of presenters (conference, workshops, tutorials) as well as the needs of system demos. This includes projection equipment, microphones, blackboards, writing materials, internet access, etc.
• Selecting and organizing food (refreshments during the conference; meals for ACL Exec and other meetings, etc.). Priscilla Rasmussen is very experienced at negotiating with hotels about in-conference catering. Discuss plans with her before finalizing, she may be able to get a much better deal than someone with less experience.
• Organizing all additional activities, including:
• the banquet (location and food)
• the reception(s)
• entertainment at/after the banquet (and elsewhere). ACL policy is that the banquet should include a live band for dancing.
• Arranging any local excursions, for example pre-conference tours or tours for spouses (if provided)
• Providing travel information (airport, weather, medical, visas)
• Arranging local transport, if needed
• Arranging local support, including:
  • a support team, that helps both before the conference (to prepare registration materials) and during (with registration and attendee questions) and after (for teardown)
  • a suitable person to act as Volunteer co-ordinator to act as a focal point for volunteers
  • a suitably secure registration area, with computer and printer and internet access
  • signage to rooms, meetings, etc., as needed
  • several notice boards: participant messages, job postings, official announcements, etc.
• Prepare brochure and other promotional materials for the conference
• Supervise the building of the local web site
• be familiar with the software used for the publications (http://aclweb.org/adminwiki/index.php?title=Publications_chair_duties) since it involves the local schedule.