So, you are the next program chair!  Where on earth do you begin? The CMS is tailored to assist organizations and their program chairs to consistently produce outstanding conferences.  A major key to success is careful management and processing of program data.  When these are coupled with web-based paperless paper and proposal submssion, a paperless review process and the automated ability to prepare conference documents, such as the Program, and  the ability to effectively communicate with conference participants, the program chair's responsibilities can be easily met. This web site is authored by Albert E. Avery, who can be reached at 410-529-0905 or e-mailed via avery@towson.edu.  The authoring was entirely accomplished by the Conference Management System (CMS) software; and it was produced nearly instantly from the CMS database for this professional meeting.

The CMS is a comprehensive Management Information System (MIS) for conference data management that:

• Interfaces with the Web-CMS, which provides:
• Paperless web submission of papers, paper proposals and proposals for panels, tutorials and workshops.
• Blind, paperless review of papers, paper proposals and other proposals, with a portion of the review being made available to the author(s).
• Optional web access provided to track chairs to:
• Note papers as accepted or rejected
• Form paper presentation sessions, which may have session chairs, authors and discussants
• Form panel, tutorial or workshop sessions, with their respective session participants noted
• The abilitiy to submit an updated paper, if the author wishes
• Paperless Proceedings submissions, if the organization publishes one.   Optionally, payment of the registration fee can be required before Proceedings upload.
• Credit card payments accepted for conference registration and other purposes.
• Management of conference finances.
• Manages the data on papers, proposals and their submitters
• Produces accept/reject letters and other communications to participants and track chairs in the word processor of user choice
• Encompasses many session styles, including plenary sessions and events, regular sessions, panels, tutorials, workshops, table topics, roundtables and poster sessions
• Accommodates organizational meetings and events that will appear in the Program and on the Web
• Facilitates the creation of sessions, with session chairs and discussants, as needed
• Provides for explicit scheduling of "high visibility" or special sessions and, then, automatic scheduling of other sessions into time slots (Wednesday, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, in the Baltimore Room)
• Accomplishes schedule conflict checking and automated schedule conflict resolution    (Yes, a conference can be offered that does not require a person to be in two places at the same time!)
• Automatically produces the Program in camera ready copy and produces the framework for the Proceedings, as necessary, with indices
• Automatically produces a Conference Web Site for use by participants, in which each person's schedule is displayed chronologically and the program can be viewed in several different ways, e.g. chronologically, by track, etc.
• Provides for Abstracts in the conference web site, and production of an "abstract style" Proceedings, if desired
• Provides for single entry or double entry bookkeeping on conference receipts
• Prints large print, easy to read name badges for meeting participants
• Provides for on-site registration, with individual name badge printing
• Maintains lists of officers, board members, program committee, reviewers and other groups that are important to the organization
• Retains membership information
• Archives the information from the past programs
• Data entry is reduced for all chairs that follow.
• Over 1200 shell addresses on universities are provided to significantly reduce data entry and data entry errors.
• Rich data is available for finding people to fully constitute the program with reviewers, session chairs and discussants.
• Equally rich information is available to the organization to identify potential officers.

If you have been selected as the program chairperson for a professional academic meeting, the perceived success of the year for your organization depends on the quality of the program you bring to fruition.   Whether a chair for a national conference or a regional conference, the tasks ahead are daunting, in absence of conference chairmanship experience.   For those with experience, the task is still not easy. Those with a successful experience as a program chair know how important it is to seek out the resources and help needed for the large set of tasks ahead.   I have helped more than 61 program chairs produce great regional and national meetings.   I can help you with yours.  Together, we can hit the target with excellence.  Call or e-mail to learn more.