Our purpose is to to give you some GENERAL INFORMATION about the "backstage" of a conference and its main difficulties, so that you may help us simply by following some easy ADVICES

The abstract is a kind of visit card thought which we can set up the conference data base.
The data base is essential to follow the status of a paper during the whole conference and to keep in touch with Authors.
The data base is made up with an automatic procedure which takes all the information from a file written directly by Authors when they fill in the website form during the abstract submission.
The database also contains all the information that, from time to time, we find usefull to add (the number of papers submitted, the kind of registration, ecc.) and it is the only document we use during the whole organisation of the conference.

In particular it is very important to write name (only the first one) and surname correctly and always in the same way: it often happens that Authors write their names in different ways when they submit the abstract and then the full paper or the registration form (you know that an accent or a space are enought to make the difference) and this fact causes confusion because as result we have that our Mr. X is reported in the database each time with a different name and as he were a new Author!
For people who have double names we suggest them to use the shortest one and to clearly specify which is the name and which the surname.
Paying attention to this details we can avoid to have the first name written instead of the surname on the conference documents and publications.
Once again, information necessary to prepare program and index of proceedings are taken from the same database which is made by Authors. Of course we make a final check paper by paper but only just before starting the printing activities.

The above also explains why we strongly insist to receive all the documets required by the deadline.
We know that to respect a deadline is not always very easy because sometimes it depends on other people or on special circumstancies. We often pospone our deadlines too, such as the notification of acceptance or the final program.
Nevertheless without fixed deadlines and their puntual respect it is quite impossible to organize a good conference, able to meet with
all the requirements.
Papers have to be received in time in order to be reviewed and have to be reviewed in time in order to be revised and finally have to be revised and registered in time to be finally published into the proceedings, which have to be ready before the conference starts.

The final program strongly depends on the punctuality of this iter: we are in the position to set up the program only when all the papers are submitted and valid registered.
You see that before preparing the proceedings and the program everything has to be ready and well done: a missing paper or a paper not written according to the instructions or a missing fee payment can delay and compromise the whole printing activities!
In particular when instructions to write the manuscript are not followed, we have too face several problems and delays.
On the other hand deadlines are normally scheduled considering the time necessary to face each step of the conference and we of course accept some slight delay, but we often have several organisational constrains (agreement with other people; timing for the printing activities; ecc.) which forced us to push people with many messages.

Normally we send (always with automatic procedures) all the messages relative to the paper (acceptance, review report, registration, ecc.) to all the co-Authors for which we have an e-mail address. In this way we can be sure that at least one of the Auhtors has the information.
The e-mail technology is a very precious device to keep in touch with Authors and delegates and therefore it is essential for us to be informed about any changes in the Authors addresses.
It is also very important to receive a confirmation, when required, because, as well known, sometimes our e-mails never reach their destinations.

Besides for what concerns our confirmations (typical is the receipt of the file with the paper or the registration form) we apologise but we are forced to have a different behaviour: we are not able to manage confirmations for each information received by a sigle delegate, checking each situation and reply to each question, because this would mean a big work that unfortunately we cannot face.
When the deadline is approaching we check which are the missing papers, the missing registrations, the missing transfer of copyright agreement, ecc. and we contact directly the Author asking for an explanation.
Besides we always make available the list of accepted abstracts (and then papers) and their kind of presentations (oral or poster) on the website. Moreover each web page report the date of the last update.

Therefore we invite all people interested in the conference to visit as habit the website where they may find all the information and the important last minute notes.
Being only one person in charge of all these organisational matters it is not always possible to keep people updated and to follow each single problem as we would. Therefore we would like to point out once again how is essential the collaboration of each person involved in the conference.

The help of participants is especially appreciated when it is time to issue the registration.
The registration fee is the result of an aritmetical division: cost of the conference / number of participants forseen
Normally the number of participants should correspond to the number of full papers accepted.
Indeed a point of misunderstanding is the number of presentations covered by a single fee.

The rational of our conferences is normally the following:
- each paper will be presented by a registered author
- each fully registered author may present only one paper

Under the above conditions we can also have the possibility to offer free "Student-Pass" to help students or young researchers and in any case to arrange for a reduced student fee. Otherwise we are forced to introduce high fees which of course penalise the participation and so finally the forum of discussion.
Therefore we invite all Authors to submit a number of papers that then they are really in the position to register and to present at the conference. Actually anoher problem is that we take care for months of papers that at the end are not presented at the conference because nobody pay the fee for them.

Another point of misunderstanding concerns the registration form. It is a promised of participation that should be sent together with the payment because we have the confirmation of this intention only when we receive the payment (or a copy of it).
We normally have two full fees: before the deadline and after the deadline. The deadline is not relative to the submission of the registration form but to the submission of the fee payment!
Too often we receive the registration form before the deadline but the corresponding amount a long time after the deadline (or after the conference!), when in principle it should be no more valid because for late registrations the fee is normally higher than for the earlier one.
In any case late registrations are not possible for Authors because only those papers valid registered by the deadline may be included into the conference proceedings.


At the receipt of the fee payment AIDIC Servizi send the relative invoice via e-mail (on request it is possible to receive the invoice also by mail). Delays in this office are unfortunately not an exeption and they are often caused by bank transfers (all for the same amount!) without the indication of the sender or by the missing registration forms (i.e people who pay the fee without sending the registration form, so that we don't know who they are and for what they pay).

Due to all the above duties it is quite impossible for us to give any assistance for matters such as accommodation, travelling problems and so on as we would and that is why we leave all these kind of matters up to the participants.
The only help we provide is a contact with a booking office to find the accommodation and a special webpage where we try to gather all the possible usefull information.

With this page we hope to have shown what organizing a conference means and to have given some advices that we think should be worth to know, anyway now we would like to close this page do thanking our delegates for their usual patience, flexibility and cooperation and to thank you for your time and attention.

AIDIC
Conference Department