Conference Support
[Making Quality a Priority][Proposed Conference Support: Executive Summary]
[Proposed Conference Support: Key Portion of the Extended Version]
[Modified Conference Support]
[Concerns about Reduced Conference Support]
[Decision Regarding NT12]
[Appeal and Decision to Support NT12]
Making Quality a Priority
The series of NT conferences has established a tradition of quality due to the adherence to a set of rules that have evolved over they years and have been summarized in the NT Conference Charter.
Since quality and originality of research is the basis of a good conference, the selection and support of invited speakers is very important. The organizers have committed to fully support a large number of invited speakers, so that the best of the best can come (and not only those with strong financial ties).
Proposed Conference Support:
Executive Summary
(September 18, 2010)
City: Brisbane, Australia Time period: 24 - 29 June 2012 Details: 1. Compliance with SCNC statutes: Yes 2. Compliance with NT Charter: Yes 3. Organizing Committee: Prof Ying Chen (Deakin University) -- Chair Prof Gordon Wallace (University of Wollongong) -- Co-Chair Prof Max Lu (University of Queensland) Dr Anita Hill (CSIRO) 4. Location and capacity of conference venue: The Brisbane Convention Centre is located at the centre of Brisbane city. Capacity: Accommodates plenary needs from 400 to 4,000. The Centre’s $130 Million expansion in mid 2011 will offer tiered auditoria space for conferences of 400 and 600 delegates. 5. Registration fee structure: Fulltime academic USD 976.50 (normal registration) Fulltime student USD 534.75 (normal registration) Registration includes welcome reception, morning and afternoon teas, lunches and conference dinner 6. Accommodation options: There are 230 hotels and 12,757 rooms in Brisbane. A 305 room hotel is linked directly to the Centre and a 160 room hotel is located adjacent to the Centre. 31 hotels are within 2km or short walking distance of the Centre. Hotels are very affordable by world standards and there is a strong range of student and budget type accommodation including serviced apartments available. 7. Conference budget: Based on 400 paying delegates as a worst case scenario plus US$55k grant from Brisbane conference and marketing fund. Level of 700 delegates is expected with good marketing support and the strength of the nanotube community in Australia. # Include speaker costs including hotel accommodation, complimentary registration fees and an allowance of US$ 1,400 have been provided for up to 20 keynote speakers. # Costs for 6 Poster session rapporteurs have been allowed including hotel accommodation and complimentary registration fees 8. Extras: Optional tours not included in registration
Proposed Conference Support:
Key Portion of the Extended Version
(September 19, 2010)
Key portion of the conference support to attendees is linked HERE
Modified Conference Support
(December 14, 2011)Subject: RE: NT12 providing significantly lower support than promised in the bid From: Helen WoodallDate: 12/14/2011 7:36 PM To: Ying (Ian) Chen [...] CC: Gordon Wallace, Max Lu, Anita Hill, John Zhu, Stephen Hawkins Dear members of NT international advisory committee and steering committee Following is information on local issues that have arisen during the planning of NT 12 and the organisational steps that we propose to take in order to make this a highly successful and financially viable scientific event of which we can all be proud. Conference format Our initial plan was to have the primary conference in Brisbane with satellite meetings in other cities. However this has proved impractical so all activities have been moved to one venue in Brisbane. As the majority of participants will be travelling a very great distance, we aim to leave the contiguous weekends free for travel or leisure by keeping the proceedings within a five-day time frame. To do this while offering both a high impact conference and ample opportunity to both present and interact, we have shaped the conference structure as follows, whilst keeping with the NT tradition. NT12 consists of a single session over three days followed by a parallel session program over two days. The single-session program from Monday to Wednesday will comprise keynote/invited speakers and poster presentations. A high portion of the time (>50%) will be allocated to the poster presentation program and a panel discussion to be arranged on Wednesday. There will be no contributed oral presentations in the first three days, rather these will all be within the parallel sessions. The multi-session program on Thursday and Friday comprises 6 parallel symposia. All symposia will have invited and contributed presentations, enabling us to accommodate a reasonable level of requests for oral presentations from potential participants. This also recognises that the contributed presentations are usually more focussed in topic and interest and can be allocated to the appropriate session. The planned symposia are an integral component of NT12, overseen by the NT12 organising committee with no need for independent satellite events. The six symposia planned are A: Functional Nanotube Composites B: Graphene: Processing and Device Fabrication C: Metrology D: Non-carbon Nanotubes and Nanosheets E: Theory and Simulation F: Nano-medical and Bio Applications Please note - NT10 and NT11 all had the format of four day-single session and two-day multi-session. We note that both conferences had half-day free time. Therefore, the total conference time in NT10 and NT11 were 5.5 days. NT12 will not include free or excursion time but rather comprise a 5 day scientific program with information provided in advance for weekend leisure activities. Our proposed program will accommodate sufficient oral presentations to maximise attendance at the conference and ensure financial viability. - The emphasis on poster presentations during the single session program will also help us to promote attendance Invited speakers and financial supports NT12 will have more than 20 invited/keynote speakers distributed through the program. There are already four keynote speakers. The organising committee invites the advisory committee to nominate potential invited speakers. The organising committee will select these with a view to ensuring a balanced perspective across the fields and appropriate global representation. The total number of invited speakers depends on the level of sponsorship attained. Financial support for the four keynote speakers includes registration fee (A$1100) plus a travel allowance of A$1500. All four speakers are happy with these arrangements. At this stage, the financial support to invited speakers involves waiver of registration fee of A$1100. The level of financial support anticipated in the bid document was calculated based on 700 participants as suggested by the steering committee two years ago. However, there were just 500 participants in NT11. This, and the high Australian dollar, the impact of which is amplified by geographical considerations, means that we must revise and plan for the anticipated attendance to be somewhere between 400 and 500 in order to ensure a successful and financially viable event. Nevertheless, we will have the capacity to cater for many more than this should it be necessary. We have formatted the event as outlined above to ensure the maximum level of attendance. We seek endorsement from the International steering committee and the advisory committee on the above matters. It is our considered opinion that this is the most viable route to a successful NT12. Should the international steering committee wish to rescind support it is critical that we are informed of such by Dec 24th. Any further delay in promoting the event reduces the chance of success. Should the support be rescinded then our host institutions who have underwritten the event to date should reasonably expect financial compensation for expenditure to date. In summary we have made local adjustments as required by local and changing conditions. The local committee remains strongly committed to this important event and we look forward to working with you to make NT12, here in Australia the most successful NT conference ever. We hope you share our enthusiasm and understand our position. NT12 organising committee
Concerns about Reduced Conference Support
(December 14, 2011)The Steering Committee of Nanotube Conferences expresses serious concerns about the proposed changes in the NT12 conference support. The reduced support and modified strategy deviate from the initial commitment/bid and the NT Conference Charter, with which the organizers agreed to comply. Most important points of concern are:
- In contrast to article 3.2 of the Charter to which they committed, the organizers propose to conduct a multi-session conference. The valued special appeal of a single-session conference would be lost.
- In contrast to article 5.1 of the Charter to which they committed, the organizers propose to by-pass the Advisory Board, which alone should be responsible for selecting top invited speakers.
- In contrast to their initial bid, which proposed to cover registration, travel and local expenses, as well as registration fee of 20 invited speakers, the organizers now propose a strongly reduced invited speaker support to only cover the registration fee of an undisclosed number of speakers of their choice.
- In contrast to their initial bid, the organizers provide no support for poster session rapporteurs in the modified commitment. This reduces the unique appeal of poster sessions in NT conferences.
The proposed changes are against the spirit of the NT conferences, differ from the signed commitment of the organizers, and will likely have a strong negative effect on the conference quality.
Decision Regarding NT12
(December 20, 2011)The Steering Committee of Nanotube Conferences has concluded without dissent that the organizers have distanced themselves significantly from their initial bid and their signed commitment to the NT Conference Charter. The NT Steering Committee can no longer guarantee the high scientific quality at affordable cost, which NT conference attendees have grown used to over the past decade, and will not consider this conference as part of the NT Conference Series.
Appeal and Decision to Support NT12
(January 12, 2012)Following an appeal of the Organizers and their commitment to "respect NT conference traditions" and to "consider adding more financial support to invited speakers", the Steering Committee of Nanotube Conferences has reversed its decision of December 20, 2011. The NT Steering Committee has now decided with an overwhelming majority that:
- NT12 should go ahead in Australia.
- David Tomanek steps down as Chair of the NT12 Advisory Board and is replaced by Annick Loiseau. (David has agreed to step down).