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

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

Key portion of the conference support to attendees is linked HERE

Modified Conference Support

Subject: RE: NT12 providing significantly lower support than promised in the bid
From: Helen Woodall 
Date: 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

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

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

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).