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Chair and committee information

A guide to successful chair and committee participation
Chairs and committee members at SPIE Sensors + Imaging

Thank you for your leadership

The responsibilities of being conference chair, program committee member, or session chair are crucial to the success of SPIE events, and it is you, our incredible volunteers, who are the true engine of the Society. On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire staff of SPIE, thank you for volunteering your time and dedication—we truly could not do this without you.

Below you'll find information specific for each of these roles. All volunteer leadership roles with SPIE are tasked with furthering and promoting a culture of inclusion and pushing diversity of ideas. If you have any questions or concerns at any point along the way, please don't hesitate to contact your conference program coordinator.

Conference timelines and deadlines

Abstracts due date now extended 26 April 2023
Programme due from Chairs 3 April 2023
Registration opens May 2023
Author notified and programme posts online 15 June 2023
Submission system opens for manuscripts and poster PDFs* 3 July 2023
Poster PDFs due for spie.org preview and publication 9 August 2023
Manuscripts due 16 August 2023
Advance upload deadline for oral presentation slides** 1 September 2023
Manuscript review due from Chairs 22 September 2023
*Contact author or speaker must register prior to uploading
**After this date slides must be uploaded onsite at Speaker Check-in



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Important resources for conference chairs

Programme committee member responsibilities

  • Give technical input to the conference chairs as needed
  • Assist conference chairs in publicizing the conference and soliciting abstracts
  • Suggest speakers to be invited
  • Participate in the presentation abstract and manuscript review process (as assigned by the conference chairs)
  • Introduce/organize specific conference sessions
  • Serve as session chair as requested by conference chairs

Programme committee members who are essentially inactive will be rotated off after two or three successive occasions exhibiting negligible involvement, in the interests of efficiency and to make space for new committee members.

Session chair responsibilities

For information on how to prepare for and chair a session see the guidelines on chairing a session

  • Session chairs help to ensure that the conference runs smoothly
  • Session chairs will introduce the session topic, speakers, maintain the schedule, and be prepared for the unexpected
  • If a speaker fails to appear, the session chair will fill the open time with a standby paper, discussion topics, question and answer session, or an open discussion.
  • After the session, session chairs will submit the session report via the SPIE mobile app (or emailing SessionReports@spie.org), or by returning the printed Session Report Form to the Chair Services Desk or Speaker Check-In Desk.
  • Represent SPIE in a professional and ethical manner; be familiar with SPIE code of conduct and anti-harassment policy
  • Report unethical or inappropriate behavior: http://www.spie.ethicspoint.com

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact your conference program coordinator.