Special/Invited Research Sessions

Below please find information, DAC presentation guidelines and best practices to prepare your presentation.

If you notice an issue with your session in the DAC program or need to request a change, please use the change request form.

Access the Submission Site

SPECIAL SESSIONS TIMELINE

September 29 to November 20, 2023: Call for Contributions site is OPEN.
February 26, 2024: Accept/Reject notifications will be sent out
March 20, 2024 - Speaker registration opens
March 21, 2024: Draft papers due to Special Sessions Chair
April 10, 2024: Accepted papers must submit copyright forms
April 10, 2024: Final manuscript must be submitted by 5:00pm Pacific Time
April 10, 2024: Speaker registration deadline
April 26, 2024: Speaker bio and draft slides due for review by subcommittee chairs.
May 7, 2024: Subcommittee chairs provide feedback to speakers regarding their draft slides.
May 21, 2024: Final presentation slides are due for the DAC Archives.

CAMERA READY PAPER GUIDELINES

ACM is the 2024 copyright holder for 61 DAC so your final paper is planned to be included in the ACM Digital library for archival value after the conference.

Please use the ACM templates to format your paper.

You may not, in any way, revise the content of your manuscript other than to address minor formatting issues, or to add acknowledgements or references that would have invalidated a double-blind review.

ACM authors and co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies https://www.acm.org/publications/policies, including ACM's new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/research-involving-human-participants-and-subjects

ACM’s ORCID Requirement will expand to include Conferences October 1, 2022. A unique author ID (ORCID) can be set up at orcid.org/register and be connected to the ACM Profile. ORCIDs allow ACM to more reliably identify authors, even when there are variants in the use of their names or when multiple authors share the same name.

ACM provides access to the Crossref iThenticate® We strongly encourage conferences to take advantage of this system or other plagiarism systems available on the market.

Submission Format

All Special Session suggestions should be submitted via the DAC website and include the required information indicated below.

Session Title: The title will be published in the conference program
Event Abstract: Provide an abstract of no more than 150 words for the conference program. The abstract should be worded so as to attract the attendees to the session as well as provide their key contributions
Topic Areas: Select one or two topic areas from the dropdown menu.
Keywords: Select up to three keywords from the dropdown menu.
Event contributors: Provide name, address, and full contact information of organizer(s) and proposed session chair.
Presentation/manuscript titles: Manuscript titles and presentation titles are one and the same; all presentation titles MUST match the title of the manuscript submitted for the DAC Proceedings.
Co-Authors: Please provide names, affiliations and contact information for each co-author
Short abstract of each paper/talk: Please provide an abstract of 150 words or less that describes each proposed paper/presentation.
Additional details: Please provide the following information in this section:
- Proposed length of the session: 90 or 120 minutes
- Structure for the session: What is your preferred structure (talks + panel, tutorial + talks, only talks) and why
- Intended audience: Subject area and level of expertise. Please also indicate the focus of the session: (technical, business or mixed).
- Viewpoints and session balances: How does the session holistically cover the viewpoints or the main sub-areas in the session topic? What is the balance between vendors and users, technologists and methodologists, academics and industry, various competing technology solutions, etc.?
- Presenters qualifications: For each presenter, please provide a brief bio and her/his qualifications relevant to the topics of the special session
- Additional information: If you have any other supporting information relevant to the proposal, you may include them here.

IMPORTANT: Do not submit your special session proposal until you have confirmed the participation of the proposed chair and speakers. Do not wait to find out if the special session has been accepted before obtaining confirmation.

GUIDELINES AND TEMPLATE FOR PPT SLIDES:

You are required to use the DAC template for all presentations
ONLY PPT, PPTX, or PDF files are allowed
Only landscape format may be used
We do not allow any information in the footer except for the page number. Everything else will just distract from the content of the slides
Company/University name and/or logo may only appear on the title (first slide) page

PROPOSAL PREPARATION

There are a number of things to consider in a special session proposal:

Focus – Technical or business? The majority of special sessions have a technical focus, which is appropriate, as they are part of the technical program. Sometimes they have a mixed focus, but a business-only special session would likely be better as a panel or part of a special DAC “management track.”
Premise and Motivation – Consider why a special session is appropriate and what the overall theme is meant to convey. What is the key issue? Why have it at DAC, and why in this year? (i.e., what makes it timely?) Why the special session format?
Topic and Speakers – There are only a few special sessions in each DAC, and the topic should be of significant importance to the technical audience at this time. The speakers need to convey compelling information about the topic, and it must be of high value to the attendees.
Speakers and Structure – Who are the invited speakers? What are the title, the length and the topic of each talk? Speakers should be confirmed in advance before making the proposal. They should know and agree with the theme of the session. Each speaker will have the opportunity to submit an invited manuscript for the proceedings. The manuscript will be reviewed by the Special Session Chair, DAC Special Focus Committee, the session organizer and the session chair. If each speaker in a session would like to collaborate and only produce one manuscript for the proceedings covering the entire session, that is acceptable, as well. What ties the speakers together into the overall theme, and what is the order of the talks? A special session may have an interesting thematic structure – for example, the first talk may give a mini-tutorial overview of a problem; the next talks may give various solutions to that problem. (See below for more suggestions on the structure)
Chair – The chair of a special session and the organizer(s) can be different. The chair will have to be present at the session, while organizer participation is not mandatory.
Constraints: – No organization may be associated with both the chair and speaker roles. That is, the designated chair must be affiliated with a different organization than all the speakers. It is possible, but not preferable, for an individual to be both an organizer and a speaker in the session. A person cannot be a co-author in more than one paper per special session. A complete list of co-authors per paper must be given at the time of special session submission. Adding co-authors after acceptance of the special session is not allowed. It must be clearly denoted whether the manuscript (in identical or modified version) has been submitted to any other event before.

REVIEW PROCESS & SELECTION

Each submission will be evaluated by the organizing committee, who may refine the proposals and the slate of speakers to better fit the conference program. The committee will strive as much as possible to involve the proposers of promising Special Session submissions in finalizing them for inclusion in the program. Proposers of accepted Special Sessions will be acknowledged in the DAC program (online and in print) and in the DAC proceedings.

PROCEEDINGS MANUSCRIPT

Note that accepted special sessions in the Research Track provide the opportunity for the speakers to prepare a collective manuscript for the session, or for each speaker to provide an individual manuscript. All special session manuscripts will undergo a technical review. Sessions in the Designer Track or IP Track cannot provide any manuscript to be included in the DAC proceedings.

Once accepted into the DAC program, each speaker can submit a manuscript (up to a maximum of 4 pages) for the DAC conference proceedings. It is also possible for all the speakers in a session to submit a joint manuscript for the proceedings. Invited papers are required to include the word “Invited” as a prefix to the title.
The session organizer and/or chair should not be a co-author of the paper(s). Speakers should be luminaries in the field, and that places them in a different position. Organizers have a lot of control in the shape of the sessions, and cannot be directly involved in a possible paper.
In the acceptance letter, guidelines will be provided for paper templates, ACM copyright form instructions and registration details.
ACM holds the copyright for the DAC 2024 proceedings.
Each proceedings paper should be reviewed by the organizer and session chair before the final paper submission deadline of April 10, 2024. This is a firm deadline.

FAQ

What is a DAC Special Session?

DAC special sessions are part of the technical program and occupy a time slot of either 1.5 or 2 hours. Each special session has an organizer, a moderator (which can also be the Special Session Chair) and an opportunity for three or more participants to speak in a room with theater-style seating with a seated audience of up to 250 people.

Do Special Sessions produce a manuscript to be published in the DAC proceedings?

There are three options to choose from regarding manuscript production:

One manuscript is produced encompassing all talks in the session: One file is submitted with all speakers listed as authors on the manuscript.
Each speaker is given the option to produce a manuscript or not.
All speakers can decline the option of producing a manuscript.

Invited papers are required to include the word “Invited” as a prefix to the title.

What are possible structures for a DAC Special Session?

There are three different popular structures for a DAC special session. Of course, variations on any of these structures may be appropriate – but please justify your choice of structure in your proposal. The popular structures are:

Traditional – As many 30-minute talks as will fit into a session of 90 or 120 minutes.
Mini-tutorial plus solutions – The first talk is a 30 or 45-minute setup talk, followed by shorter (15 or 30-minute) talks. The first talk could act as a mini-tutorial or outline a problem, followed by 15 or 30-minute talks which cover various solutions or approaches looking for solutions in the topic area.
Talks and panel – e.g., three 30-minute talks, followed by a 30-minute panel discussion moderated by the Session Chair and involving all the speakers, including Q&A moderated by the chair which engages the audience.

Who organizes the Special Sessions?

The DAC Organizing Committee reviews the proposals for the special sessions and coordinates with the organizer on the final content. All suggestions must be submitted via the DAC website; direct solicitations must also be entered there for consideration. However, please feel free to consult the Special Session Chair prior to submitting the proposal.

How are the DAC Special Sessions selected? What is the process?

The DAC Executive Committee determines which and how many special sessions are included in the DAC program, as well as their placement in the conference schedule. The Program Committee selects special sessions based on:

How complete and compelling the special session proposal is
Timeliness of the proposal – i.e., why it is especially suitable for DAC to cover this topic at this time
Breadth of interest in the area
Confirmed speaker list and the coverage of the topic in their talks
How well the topic fits within the overall content of the conference

Once the special session submission has been reviewed, the Executive Committee may make any changes to the special session they deem necessary in the best interest of the program, including:

Add, remove, or replace proposed speakers
Replace the proposed session chair
Modify the topic

If multiple special session proposals are submitted with similar topics, the Executive Committee may choose to accept one over the others, to merge the proposed sessions, or to reject all of them.

Who is involved in a Special Session?

Organizer: The organizer writes the proposal for the special session, selects and confirms the participation of the chair and session speakers, and submits the proposal to DAC by the due date (November 17, 2020). The organizer also coordinates the proceedings manuscripts, to be submitted by April 15, 2021, to the proceedings publisher with the complete author lists.
Chair: The special session chair fills the same role as the chair of any regular technical program session. The session organizer may serve as the session chair. They briefly introduce the session and each speaker, keep track of time, and moderate the panel (if a panel is part of the special session), and manage the question and answer session after each talk.
Speakers: The speakers for the special sessions fill the same role as any regular technical speaker at DAC, and must submit separate or joint invited manuscripts for publication in the proceedings. The Special Sessions Chair and session organizer will review the manuscript and provide feedback.

What if I do not have enough speakers for a full Special Session?

If you have an idea for 1-2 talks in a special session, we still encourage you to submit the incomplete session. The DAC Executive Committee may find other speakers in order to fill out the session. It may be possible to merge incomplete special session proposals into one session.

I still have some questions. Who do I contact?

Feel free to email Anand Raghunathan, 59th DAC Special Sessions Chair, if you have any questions.