SIGCSE Technical Symposium Site Visit Committee

Approved by the SIGCSE Board: May 30, 2017
Revised: August 14, 2017

Structure of SIGCSE Site Visit committee and rotation of positions

• The SIGCSE Site Visit committee comprises a chair, junior chair and a pool of site visitors.
• The chair of the SIGCSE Site Visit committee serves a 2 year term. The SIGCSE Board approves the chair.
  • The chair is responsible for asking the outgoing symposium chairs if they are interested in joining the pool of site visitors for the following year. (E.g. SIGCSE 20xx chair would start on committee in 20xx+1) Pending approval from the SIGCSE Board, the outgoing chairs will join the pool.
  • The chair may identify and recommend additional members for the pool by submitting their names and qualifications to the SIGCSE Board. Upon Board approval, those members will join the pool.
  • The chair maintains the current list of the members of the pool and in the first year of their term, identifies the next chair from the pool to be approved by the Board. The goal is that the new junior chair will start serving as soon as possible during the chair’s term.
  • The chair/junior chair maintain site visit documentation as described below in documentation section.
  • After their term, the chair can choose to go back to the pool (pending Board approval), but cannot be chosen by his/her junior chair to be chair again, i.e. must sit out a cycle and if chosen again, must once again be Board approved.
  • The chair is responsible for managing the relationship with the ACM and communicating with them to arrange RFPs and site visits. The ACM negotiates and approves contracts. It is important that the chair be aware of the timeline for the site visits and recommendations to the board.
• There is a junior chair who serves for 2 years overlapping the chair and then serves as chair for 2 years, so effectively a 4-year appointment. This is a Board approved position.
  • The junior chair is in charge of determining if current members of the pool would like to rotate off at the end of the year.
  • During the junior chair’s tenure, it will be important for them to learn about the communication process with the ACM and the timelines expected by the board. The job of the junior chair primarily is to learn the job of being chair.
• There is a pool of site visitors, identified from previous symposium chairs or others who express interest. Any person chosen for the pool must be approved by the SIGCSE board before joining the pool.
• The chair should identify one or two international SIGCSE members to serve in a consultation role. If there are no international members within the pool, which is most likely, the person in this role will be asked their opinion and insight about possible sites once the list has been narrowed down. The goal for this consultation is to provide any insight from an international perspective about proposed sites.

Process for bids from potential sites

1. The Board and site visit chair propose a list of cities (5-8) and/or region to request bids from for a specified year.
2. Site visit chair and junior chair (when appointed) request bids.
3. Site visit chair and junior chair determine viable sites for visiting and a schedule.
4. Site visit chair and junior chair schedule visits between them and for each visit find another person from the pool of site visitors (preferably one closest to the site). For each site visit:
   • one chair must attend;
   • a second person must attend; and,
   • a third person may attend if both chairs are part of the site visit team.
5. Visits occur and documentation spreadsheet (provided by the board) is completed with information returned to Board along with visit evaluation and recommendation. All material gathered during visit should be held and forwarded to the Board if a city is chosen (e.g. presentations given by the CVB, paper reports given the site visit team, proposal information).
6. The Board evaluates information contained in spreadsheets, reports, and recommendations and votes.
7. After the initial site visit recommendation is made and the Board approves the final site and contracts are signed, the site visit team should not sign any addendums or additional contracts without consulting with the Board first. At that time, it may be the case that the symposium chairs and/or meeting planners are consulted on the new contract (if those parties have already been appointed).

The suggested timeline is:

• February/March Board meeting (at symposium) 20XX
  20XX+3 Symposium Chairs approved

• August (ideally) or October Board meeting 20XX (at latest)
  20XX+3 Symposium site approved

Documentation of site visits

Each site visit team is requested to enter the site visit information in a spreadsheet that will be used as a comparison mechanism for the Board. The Board also encourages the team to supplement the spreadsheet with textual/paragraphs of information in order to provide further impressions of the site. Further, if feasible, a verbal report to the Board/attendance at a Board meeting is desirable to facilitate further exchange of information and communication about the sites.