Notes from the WASPAA'97 Technical program chair

Julius Smith  <jos@ccrma.stanford.edu>
CCRMA, Stanford University
17 Oct. 1998


The technical program chair (TPC) is primarily responsible for the technical program. This entails classifying submitted papers, getting them reviewed, finalizing paper selection, designing sessions to accommodate the accepted submissions, and determining the session schedules. Below are the main steps in chronological order:


Sample Letters

[Email is nearly always sufficient.]

Sample Letter to Invited Session Chairs:

Dear [???]:

In recognition of your achievements in the field, I am writing on behalf of the Mohonk organizing committee to invite you to serve as chairman for and to help review papers for the session tentatively entitled

[???]

at the upcoming 1999 Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics, to be held, as always, at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York, October ??-??.

Papers are due on April ??, and we hope to have the review committee in place by then, if possible, so that a prompt reply is requested.

Thanks for your consideration,
[TPC],
Technical Program Chair, Mohonk organizing committee


Sample Letter to Reviewers:

Dear [???]:

Thanks for agreeing to help review papers related to the Mohonk session on [???] this year. Your papers can be found at

http://[mohonk-website]/[path-nobody-would-guess]/[???].html

[This file may contain a list of URLs which when clicked will download a paper. In 1997, gzip-compressed postscript (.ps.gz) was acceptable for all reviewers.]

Please remember that papers submitted for review must be treated as confidential, and that the above URL should be treated similarly.

Please give each paper a score from 1 to 5 as follows:

5 - excellent, must accept
4 - very good, should accept
3 - average, accept or not as time allows
2 - substandard, should not accept
1 - poor, cannot accept

Thanks for your help!

[TPC],
Tech. Program Chair
Mohonk Organizing Committee

To obtain simple scripts for processing received ratings and computing average ratings, send email to jos@ccrma.stanford.edu.


Sample "Please Resubmit in Proper Format" Letter to Accepted Authors:

Dear WASPAA99 Author:

This is NOT a form letter sent to every author. If you receive this, it is meant for YOU. I have received your paper, but I do not have it in an electronic form which can be converted to PDF and displayed on my computer screen. Since it is our intention to create a CD-ROM containing the papers from the conference, I would like you to send me electronic copies again, paying close attention to the following:

Thanks for your help,

[PC]
Publications Chair, Mohonk organizing committee


Back to Mohonk WASPAA'97 hints & tips