Workshop Approval for SIGMOBILE Conferences

All workshops held in conjunction with SIGMOBILE conferences (MobiCom, MobiHoc, and MobiSys) are required to be sponsored by ACM SIGMOBILE. Hence, the workshop organizers are responsible for the entire workshop, with the possible exception of finances. The hosting conference's general chair can decide to take responsibility for the financial profit and loss of the workshop and accommodate the workshop in the conference budget. If the hosting conference's general chair decides not to accommodate the workshop in the conference budget, then the workshop organizers must submit a full ACM Technical Meeting Request Form (TMRF), including budget, in order to be approved by ACM SIGMOBILE. The guidelines for doing so are outlined below.

The General Chair(s), Treasurer(s), and Program Chair(s) of the specific workshop are collectively referred to here as the Workshop Organizers. The workshop General Chair and the workshop Treasurer may be the same person. The workshop General Chair is the primary point of contact between ACM SIGMOBILE and the Workshop Organizers.

Every workshop held in conjunction with a SIGMOBILE conference must use the process outlined in this document for approval. Workshops held in conjunction with previous SIGMOBILE conferences are not considered to be automatically approved and must also follow this process. The SIGMOBILE Treasurer is the point of contact between the workshop's General Chair and ACM SIGMOBILE.

Workshop Organizers are encouraged to be careful and prudent in their attendance estimates, taking into account factors such as the ability of attendees to travel to research conferences given the economic climate, the location of the conference, timing and conflict with other similar events, and attendance trends if the same workshop has been held in previous years. Where possible and reasonable, organizers should also take care to minimize expenses.

The arrangements for the conference (e.g., the conference's hotel contract) will generally also cover certain items for workshops held in conjunction with the conference. For example, meeting rooms, audio/visual facilities, refreshments, lunch, a reserved block of sleeping rooms at reduced rates, etc., will generally be covered; the costs for these items will be divided appropriately between the different events of the conference, including each workshop. The conference will generally also handle registration for the workshop along with the conference registration. For specific information on these and other arrangements for the workshop, the Workshop Organizers should consult with the conference's General Chair or other designated representative of the conference organizers for the conference at which the workshop is planned.

The workshop's General Chair(s) must submit the following items to the SIGMOBILE Treasurer:

• A workshop proposal. The proposal must include the name of the workshop, its scope, its history (if any), the name and complete contact address of the Workshop Organizers, and a tentative Call for Papers with appropriate dates.
• A completed Preliminary TMRF. This can be obtained from ACM.

The submission deadline for the workshop proposal and Preliminary TMRF is 9 months before the proposed workshop date.

Upon receiving the proposal, the SIGMOBILE Workshop Coordinator:

• Ensures that all forms are complete.
• Forwards the workshop proposal and Preliminary TMRF to the SIGMOBILE Executive Committee (EC) with his or her recommendation.
• The SIGMOBILE EC may request revisions or clarifications on the workshop proposal or Preliminary TMRF from the workshop's General Chair.
• When satisfied, SIGMOBILE grants a preliminary approval and forwards the TMRF to ACM.
• The SIGMOBILE Workshop Coordinator notifies the decision to the workshop's General Chair.

A decision is conveyed no later than 30 days after the complete workshop proposal and Preliminary TMRF was first submitted to the SIGMOBILE Workshop Coordinator. At this point, the workshop's General Chair is pointed to the specific ACM staff who will assist the Workshop Organizers in planning and organizing the workshop.

Once preliminary approval has been granted, the final workshop budget requires two separate approvals--first, from the SIGMOBILE Chair and then from the ACM Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. Final approval requires the completion of the full form of the TMRF, which contains 3 sections:

• TMRF Section I - General Information:

  This form is similar to the preliminary approval form with minor differences.
  
  

• TMRF Section II - Budget Spreadsheet:
  This is the detailed workshop budget. The ACM staff can provide assistance in completing this section, and you should work with them to get a final budget that can be presented to the SIGMOBILE Chair for approval. They can also provide you a financial history of past workshops, if necessary.
  
  A 16% administrative fee must be included in all workshop budgets. The same fee structure is in effect for every SIG and for every conference and workshop. There is a sliding fee schedule, so the first $125k is at 16%; however, it decreases by 0.80% for every $125K that follows. The minimum is 5.35%. The 16% is a conservative estimate. The SIG Leaders can estimate a bit lower than this if the revenues are greater than $125k.
  
  A 15% contingency must be included in the budget for all workshops held outside the United States. Please keep the contingency at a minimum of 10% for all workshops held in the United States.
• TMRF Section III - Budget Rationale:
  This form is the budget rationale/statement of understanding. This must be filled out and signed by the workshop's General Chair and Treasurer at the time of agreement on the final budget that is to be sent for approval. Please be aware that both the workshop's General Chair and Treasurer must be members of ACM.
  
  You will find the conference budget guidelines and milestones to be helpful in planning your workshop. These documents can be obtained from ACM.

As matter of ACM policy, the ACM staff is not allowed to forward a workshop for approval until all three parts of the TMRF are on file at ACM's Headquarters Office. Also, all workshop advances will only be processed once the workshop has been approved by ACM's Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. If a workshop's financial activities are being processed through ACM, no advance is needed and all bills/invoices will be processed through ACM/SIG Services Staff Liaison.

The ACM staff will inform the workshop's General Chair and the SIGMOBILE Workshop Coordinator either via email or through standard mail once the workshop is officially approved by ACM.

• All approvals must be completed at least one month before the final paper submission deadline for the workshop. Otherwise, the workshop will not be sponsored by ACM SIGMOBILE and may not be held in conjunction with the conference. There are no exceptions to this rule. The Workshop Organizers must submit all completed forms in time for this schedule.
• Once the preliminary approval has been granted:
  • The Workshop Organizers may use ACM's and SIGMOBILE's logo and name in all advertisements for the workshop, and the workshop may be advertised as "Sponsored by ACM SIGMOBILE".
  • The workshop may be advertised in ACM SIGMOBILE's GetMobile journal and on SIGMOBILE's email distribution lists (which collectively, as of this writing, have over 1600 subscribers worldwide).
• The workshop's General Chair(s) are required to submit a Workshop Report to the SIGMOBILE Chair no later than 2 months after the workshop is over. This report should be technical in content. This report will be published in an upcoming issue of GetMobile.
• The Workshop Organizers should ensure the highest standards of technical excellence. SIGMOBILE will not grant approval to workshops that are consistently failing to meet the bar for good technical quality.
• All members of the organizing committee for conferences and workshops sponsored by SIGMOBILE (Chairs, Vice Chairs, etc.) must be members of SIGMOBILE. Members of the Technical Program Committee are also encouraged to become SIGMOBILE members.
• ACM SIGMOBILE expects Workshop Organizers to conduct the workshop in a most professional manner, without any bias and prejudice.

• Workshop Proposal and Preliminary TMRF Due: 9 months before workshop date
• Preliminary SIGMOBILE Decision: 8 month before workshop date
• Final Budget Due: 6 months before workshop date
• Final Budget Approval:1 month before paper submission deadline
• Workshop Report Due for GetMobile: 2 months after the workshop date
• Workshop Account Closed: 4 months after the workshop date