Resources for SPIE Conference Chairs

SPIE Chair at meeting

Thank you for your leadership

Conference and session chairs play a vital role in the success of SPIE events. On behalf of the SPIE Board of Directors and staff, thank you for volunteering your time, expertise, and dedication — we truly could not do this without you.

Below, you'll find role‑specific information to support you throughout the process. If you have questions or need assistance at any point, please don't hesitate to contact your conference program coordinator.

In This Section

Conference chair responsibilities and expectations

Review the responsibilities and expectations of the SPIE conference chair role in the Event Volunteer Guidelines.

Build a successful conference and technical community

Conference chairs play a key role in fostering strong participation and an engaged technical community. The following approaches have proven effective:

  • Leverage your program committee to expand outreach, identify emerging topics, and encourage submissions
  • Establish conference awards (for students and/or all authors). Company sponsorships can support monetary prizes, and SPIE can assist with promotion, award certificates, and fund management
  • Promote conference‑specific websites to centralize information and build visibility
  • Identify hot topics for SPIE to highlight through social media and marketing efforts
  • Collect attendee contact information onsite (as appropriate) to help build an ongoing online community and share conference updates
  • Create conference‑specific call for papers emails to target your research community directly

    As you build your program committee and invite speakers, SPIE expects conference chairs to be mindful of the importance of diversity. Collaborative environments that value participation from individuals with different ideas and perspectives strengthen technical discourse and innovation. Diversity may include, but is not limited to, gender, geography, race, heritage, experience, age, sector, and other characteristics.

    Conference awards

    SPIE conferences may offer awards, and SPIE staff are available to assist. Chairs are encouraged to secure sponsorship funding (see below) to enhance award value and support. SPIE offers various award types, application processes, review methods, and timelines. Below are the most common types:

    • Best Paper Award
    • Best Student Paper Award
    • Best Presentation Award
    • Best Student Presentation Award
    • Best Poster Award
    • Best Student Poster Award
    • Rising Researcher Award
    • Young Investigator Award
    • Translational Research Award
    • Innovation Award
    • Travel Support Award

    Once an award is established, SPIE staff will:

    • Help define the application process
    • Advertise the award in the call for papers and on the event awards page
    • Coordinate winner announcement timing
    • Provide the award and certificate
    Conference sponsorships
    • As a not-for-profit professional society, SPIE actively seeks sponsorship funds to help support the costs related to running world-class events
    • Funds received from sponsorships are earmarked directly to support the sponsored conference for the sponsored term
    • Conference sponsorship funds may be used for purposes including speaker travel support, speaker registration support, and conference awards
    • Funds received from conference sponsorships cannot devolve into inurement and/or private benefit as this jeopardizes SPIE's nonprofit status
    • Conference sponsorships may not be structured primarily or exclusively to benefit the sponsoring company or its employees, including through the direct subsidization of the sponsor's own staff participation
    • Any award supported by conference sponsorship funds must be wholly owned by the award recipient and may not consist of temporary access, subscriptions, discounts, trials, or other promotional offerings that function primarily as marketing tools or customer‑acquisition mechanisms for the sponsoring company, resulting in impermissible private benefit
    • Any catering requests from conference sponsorship funds must be inclusive of conference participants and organized via one of the event's official venues

    Conference sponsor eligibility

    Conference sponsors can be nonprofit or commercial organizations/companies, government entities, funding agencies, regional or community agencies, etc. To avoid conflict of interest, SPIE does not accept conference sponsorships from other professional societies, publishers, or event organizers.

    Approaching a potential sponsor

    It is best practice for the conference chair(s) to reach out directly to any potential sponsor. See the sample Co-sponsor Letter—if this letter is used, add in the requested sponsorship amount before sending. SPIE staff can assist with this process if requested.

    Confirming a conference sponsor

    • Conference sponsorships are for a one-year term (one conference cycle) unless a multi-year term (up to a maximum of three cycles) is specified in the agreement between the sponsor and SPIE
    • After confirmation, SPIE provides logo specs and payment instructions to the sponsor representative
    • SPIE manages funds; chairs decide distribution
    • SPIE does not deduct administrative costs from the sponsorship funds
    • Funds may cover speaker registration support, speaker travel reimbursement (receipts are required), and awards
    • If sponsors require benefits (e.g., free registration), costs are deducted from the sponsorship
    • SPIE requires direction of fund distribution from chairs by the time the event ends
    • After the sponsorship term ends, all unused funds are matched by SPIE and transferred into the Education Fund and no longer available for conference-specific use. The SPIE Education Fund is used to help SPIE pay for scholarships, grants, and society-level awards

    Conference sponsorship recognition

    Sponsors receive:

    • Recognition for sponsorship on the Awards page for the event
    • Sponsoring company logo displayed as "co-sponsor" on the conference call for papers and conference program (online and PDF)
    • Inclusion on sponsor wall (where applicable) and sponsor grids in print/PDF programs

    Call for papers guidelines

    A strong Call for Papers (CFP) is essential for attracting high‑quality submissions and building a successful conference program. When preparing your Call for Papers, please include the elements outlined below:

    • Focused conference title
      A clear, specific title that reflects the technical scope of the conference
    • Conference chair information
      Full name(s), affiliation(s), and complete contact information for all conference chairs
    • Program committee listing
      A list of confirmed program committee members, including affiliations and full contact information
      • Committee composition and expectations
        The program committee should:
        • Reflect appropriate diversity in gender, race, ethnicity, lifestyle, and geography
        • Represent a balance of academia, government, and industry affiliations
        • Actively solicit abstracts and participate in the evaluation and selection of submissions
    • Conference description
      An introductory paragraph describing the intended content, scope, and objectives of the conference, which includes:
      • A short, bulleted list of phrases highlighting key subject areas to help authors quickly assess relevance
    • List of Topics 
      A list of up to 30 topics to be entered into the abstract submission system (Can be the same list as the bulleted list in your conference description)
      • Submitting authors may select up to three topics
      • These selections are used to support abstract sorting and session development

    Sample call for papers

    SPIE provides a Sample Call for Papers to assist chairs in preparing their content

    Editorial note: SPIE reserves the right to edit copy as necessary. Full contact information is not published; it is used internally to identify individuals in our database and ensure records remain current

    After SPIE receives your call for papers

    The Call for Papers will be posted online, allowing prospective participants to:

    • Review the conference description and committee
    • Access additional conference information, including a short‑format Call for Papers PDF that will be made available for download and distribution
    • Submit abstracts directly through the webpage
      SPIE will conduct promotional email and social media campaigns to generate interest in the Call for Papers.
      • Due to anti‑spam regulations, privacy protection laws, and opt‑in requirements for promotional emails, SPIE follows a structured email schedule that limits the number of messages sent to promote events and solicit submissions. Active promotion by conference chairs and program committee members is therefore critical to increasing visibility, attracting submissions, and encouraging participation.

      Abstract solicitation and submission

      Successful conferences depend on timely, proactive abstract solicitation and clear expectations for presenters. Conference chairs play a critical role in recruiting high‑quality submissions and ensuring authors understand their responsibilities.

      • Know your timeline
        Be familiar with your conference schedule and abstract submission deadline, and plan solicitation activities accordingly.
      • Engage your program committee
        Enlist program committee members to help identify and recruit qualified presenters and authors.
      • Use personal outreach
        While the Call for Papers has broad visibility, direct, personal contact is often the most effective way to build a strong, diverse technical program
      • Recruit broadly
        Conferences are most successful when organizers recruit speakers from beyond their own institutions, representing a wide range of organizations across academia, government, and industry
      • Centralize submissions
        All presenters—including invited and solicited speakers—must submit abstracts through the conference website by the stated abstract deadline
      • Do not promise financial support
        Do not offer registration discounts, fee waivers, or other author support unless funding has been secured through conference sponsorships to cover those costs

      As you contact colleagues and potential presenters, ensure they understand the following conditions associated with abstract submission:

      • Registration and attendance
        An author or coauthor (including invited and keynote speakers) will register at the author/speaker registration rate, attend the meeting, and present as scheduled
        Current SPIE Members receive an additional registration discount.
      • Financial responsibility
        Authors and coauthors are responsible for securing funding for registration fees, travel, and accommodations through their sponsoring organizations, independent of SPIE.
      • Clearance requirements
        All required clearances—including government and company approvals—must be obtained prior to presentation and publication
        DoD contractors should allow at least 60 days for clearance.
      • Abstract review authorization
        SPIE is authorized to circulate submitted abstracts to conference committee members for review and selection purposes.
      • Use of accepted abstracts
        Accepted abstracts may be published in printed and/or online programs used to promote the conference.
      • Suitability for publication
        Only abstracts appropriate for publication should be submitted.
      • Proceedings expectation
        A manuscript for all accepted oral and poster presentations is expected for publication in the Proceedings of SPIE within the SPIE Digital Library.
        Oral presenters: agree to recording and publication of the onsite presentation (slides synched with voice) in the Proceedings of SPIE in the SPIE Digital Library
        Poster presenters: one person may not present more than two posters in a poster session; submit a poster PDF for preview in the online program (web and app) and for publication in the Proceedings of SPIE in the SPIE Digital Library
      • "No present, no publish" policy
        SPIE continues to enforce its policy that presentations must be delivered as scheduled for manuscripts to be published.

      Presentation Requirement

      Presenters should be aware that if a presentation is not delivered as scheduled at the meeting, the corresponding manuscript will not be included in the conference proceedings in the SPIE Digital Library.
      Review of abstracts

      The SPIE submission and review system enables conference chairs and assigned reviewers to access and evaluate abstracts submitted to their conference. Reviews are conducted through individual accounts at SPIE.org.

      Access the review system

      Guidelines for reviewing abstract submissions

      Conference chairs are responsible for final review decisions for all abstracts submitted to their conference. Chairs may enlist members of the program committee or other reviewers to assist with this process.

      Assigning Reviewers
      If you assign reviewers, please ensure that you:

      • Notify reviewers of their assignments, review criteria, and deadlines
      • Confirm that reviewers can access assigned abstracts through their account at https://spie.org/myaccount
      • Ensure each reviewer is:
        • Linked to the conference as a committee member or reviewer, and
        • Assigned specific submission(s) to review
      • Refer to the User Guide for SPIE Submission Review System for instructions on assigning and notifying reviewers

      Reviewers can view only the submissions assigned to them.

      Review criteria

      The purpose of abstract review is to determine whether the submission::

      • Is technically sound
      • Presents new and original research or scientific concepts
      • Is non-commercial in nature
      • Includes sufficient technical detail to explain results and support conclusions

      Additional considerations:

      • Reject submissions that are of poor quality or do not meet content or presentation expectations
      • Refer submissions to other conferences if they are better suited elsewhere
      • Treat all abstracts and related materials as confidential. Any privileged information obtained through the review process must not be shared or used for competitive advantage

      Program guidelines

      The quality of technical discourse is improved through diversity of participants – diversity in gender, geography, race, heritage, experience, age, sector, and other characteristics. As you work to invite speakers and panelists for SPIE programs, it is important that we bring together people from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to support innovation through a broad array of ideas. Environments that value inclusion will ultimately have a positive impact on all of us, as we connect to explore applications of light-based technologies.

      • Work to solidify any special event programming that is affiliated with your conference, including panel discussions, evening technical events, i.e., speakers and/or technical or open discussions
      • For conference submissions, after you and your committee have completed the abstract review process, determine session categories and place papers in sessions
      • Enlist the help of your program committee or other reviewers. See the section above on Review of Abstracts and Manuscripts.
      • Ensure that the number of presentations submitted from any one organization is not of disproportionate contribution in relation to the size of the overall program, including research from one’s own institution
      • Your SPIE Program Coordinator will send you a scheduling template with instructions as the program due date approaches
      • An approximate number of accepted oral presentations for a two-day conference is 36-40
      • SPIE reserves the right to cancel or combine conferences with less than 20 viable submissions received for oral presentation

      Include the following information with your program:

      • Session Titles
      • Session Chairs (full name and affiliation + email address, which helps SPIE staff find and link the correct person). Note that:
        • Full names and affiliations of session chairs are needed for the program
        • Session chair duties include, but are not limited to, introducing the session topic and each speaker, maintaining the final schedule, and tracking session changes
        • Session chairs should be confirmed before being assigned in the program
      • List of paper numbers in each session, in sequence, with invited papers noted
        • Invited papers are generally allocated 30 minutes duration
        • Keynote papers are generally allocated 40 minutes duration
        • Contributed papers are generally allocated 20 minutes duration
        • We recommend that speakers coming from countries that have a higher potential for travel-related issues be placed just prior to coffee or lunch breaks, or at the end of the day
      • List of poster papers
      • If you received papers that fit better into another conference, it is important to notify the SPIE Program Coordinator as soon as possible so they can move the submission in time to have it reviewed and scheduled
      • List of rejected papers
        • To assure a high-quality conference, reject commercial papers, papers with no research content, and papers in which supporting data or technical description cannot be given for proprietary reasons
      • Allow 20-30 minutes for the morning and afternoon breaks (recommended between 10:00 to 11:00 AM and 3:00 to 4:00 PM each day) and allow at least 1 hour for lunch (90 minutes recommended during exhibition days)
      • Conference chairs and committee members are encouraged to make suggestions for potential panel discussions, workshops, and related technical events; Contact your SPIE Program Coordinator
      • After the program is finalized, the contact author of each submission will be notified by SPIE staff via email of acceptance or rejection

      Submit your conference program

      Know your due date. View the important dates timeline of your conference for the date your program is due to your Program Coordinator


      After your conference program is sent to SPIE:

      • Acceptance notifications are sent by SPIE to the contact author for each accepted presentation; speakers should then begin their visa application process, make travel arrangements, finalize funding, and start preparation of their presentations and manuscripts
      • Promotional emails are sent and social media campaigns are launched by SPIE to participants, potential attendees with related technical interest areas, and related email lists and social media contacts. It is critical to have all programs published and accessible online during the promotional stages to build an audience for your conference

      Student author conference support

      SPIE understands that full-time students may need some financial assistance. The Society offers a limited number of supplemental travel grants (airfare/lodging) and conference registration fee waivers to SPIE Student Members who are authors, Student Chapter Members, and Student Attendees, who are planning to present or attend an SPIE meeting.

      • If you are aware of such a student please direct them to the SPIE Student Conference Support page to determine if they are eligible for consideration
      • Students must complete the application and submit supporting materials by the advertised deadline

      Program information

      SPIE.org and the SPIE Conferences mobile app are the primary source for SPIE conference programs and special events.

      In some cases, after the program is published online, we may also post a PDF file of the program. If a PDF file is posted, it is important to note that this file is not updated with changes that occur after it is posted, and therefore only reflects the program at that point in time when it is posted. The PDF is meant to give attendees a broad view of the programs and events that are scheduled, but for the most recent updates, it is important to view the program on the SPIE website or the SPIE mobile app.

      SPIE staff and conference chairs must strive to limit program changes as much as possible after the program is published, as authors and attendees make their travel plans based on the published version of the programs. Make sure to send any cancellations you receive from speakers/authors to your Program Coordinator, who will in turn also notify you of any cancellations they receive. We will adjust programs with as much minimal impact as possible to the schedule.

      If SPIE is printing a Final Technical Program for onsite distribution at the meeting, note that it will only reflect the most up-to-date information at the time of printing; for the most recent updates, it is important to view the program on the SPIE website or the SPIE Conferences mobile app. The online programs are fully refreshed daily, and some information updates multiple times each day.

      Resources for sharing your conference with your network

      Follow SPIE on social media and tag SPIE in your social media posts

      Registration fees
      • Conference Chairs, Symposium Chairs, and Track Chairs receive a conference registration fee waiver and 50 downloads of your choice from the event proceedings that are published on the SPIE Digital Library (not applicable to all SPIE events). When you log in to register for the event, if a fee waiver is included, you will see an automatic $0 balance for your conference registration. Additional items such as a banquet ticket or course registration, may be purchased with your registration.
      • Conference co-chairs, program committee, session chairs, speakers (including invited and keynote), authors, and non-author attendees pay the appropriate registration fee
      • SPIE members receive a reduced rate for conference registrations. See more benefits included with an SPIE Membership
      Onsite responsibilities

      When attending in-person, conference chair responsibilities include:

      • Pick up registration materials at Chair Services
      • Check for any late program updates on the SPIE.org program, mobile app, or the room sign located in front of the conference room
      • Provide backup for session chairs and deal with any speaker cancellation or no-shows
      • Ensure that the session information is sent to SPIE staff after each session ends (session chairs send the information electronically via the SPIE Conferences mobile app, and conference chairs can mark and comment for session chairs through the SPIE mobile app if for some reason the session chair is unable to attend). If neither the session chair or the conference chair have access to the SPIE mobile app, hardcopy Session Report forms are available at the Chair Services desk, Speaker Check-In, or from the room monitor located in the hall outside the conference rooms. In order for SPIE to enforce its publication policy, it is very important that SPIE staff is updated about what happens in each session
      • Attend the planning meeting for next year's symposium
      • 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

      Chairing a session

      Before the conference:

      • Register for the event
      • Download and install the SPIE Conferences mobile app
      • View the technical program on SPIE.org or in the SPIE Conferences mobile app to review information about the session you are chairing
      • If the speakers provided a biography, they will be available both in the SPIE.org program and in the app.

      Chairing the session:

      • Introduce the session topic
      • Introduce the speakers
      • Maintain the program schedule
      • Be prepared for the unexpected!
      • If you find a presenter has failed to attend:
        • Note the no show on the Session Report Form in the SPIE Conferences mobile app (or PDF or printed form)
        • DO NOT move to the next paper. Attendees plan for the talks they want to hear based on the published schedule; Choose one of these options:
          • Fill the presentation slot with a standby paper (if there are no official standby authors for your session, arrange in advance to have one or two presenters/presentations ready)
          • Open the floor to an extended Q&A session for speakers who have already presented
          • Have one or two hot topics ready for discussion
          • Open the floor for discussion on any topic of interest to the audience
        • Start the next talk at its published, scheduled time
      • When the session is complete, submit the Session Report Form to SPIE

      How to submit the Session Report Form to SPIE:

      • The SPIE Conferences mobile app will help you report on your session; the app is available and FREE for both iOS and Android devices
      • YOU MUST BE LINKED as the official session chair of the session to be able to use the app for session chair reporting
      • Please adhere to the scheduled times listed in the program
      • Using the SPIE Conferences mobile app, find and open the session you are chairing and mark whether each paper was presented or not, make any journal recommendations, and enter comment if you have comments
      • At the end of your session, after marking and commenting on each presentation, scroll down to the bottom of the presentations in your session and click "Review & Send" to automatically send the session report through the app to SPIE staff. If you have technical difficulties and are unable to send the session report via the app, send a screenshot of your completed session report to sessionreports@spie.org
      • If you do not have access to the SPIE Conferences mobile app:

      If you have questions or need more information, contact your Conference Program Coordinator.

      Encourage manuscript submissions

      As a conference chair, you have established relationships with many of the speakers and are in a unique position to persuade authors to contribute to the conference proceedings. We need your help!

      Encourage authors to submit a manuscript to the conference proceedings, as it is the best way to ensure presentations can be found by other researchers. The articles in the Proceedings of SPIE are only as impactful as they are discoverable, and online discovery of articles hinges on indexing. For maximum impact of the proceedings articles within their volume, indexing along with search engine optimization of the site it is hosted on is vital. To qualify a whole volume for indexing, it is required for a volume to have a manuscript attrition of less than 25%. To put this another way, 75% of the presenters in your conference must submit a manuscript for the complete proceedings to be fully indexed. While SPIE does publish presentations (audio synched with slides), a manuscript with an accompanying reference list is currently required for indexing in both the Web of Science and Scopus scholarly databases. A manuscript submission ensures indexing, and indexing is vital for findability.

      SPIE does not support collaborations or facilitate publications based on SPIE conferences with other publishers, which is a conflict of interest with SPIE's own nonprofit publishing program. It is important to be aware that, as a conference chair, you may receive proposals from commercial publishers inviting collaborations and publications with non-SPIE publications. While these offers may seem appealing, they aim to divert content from SPIE and negatively impact the proceedings from your conference. SPIE holds the stewardship of your conference content in high regard and discourages engagement with  external entities. Should you have an interest in exploring peer-reviewed publication options for your conference, SPIE invites you to discuss these opportunities with our journal program by contacting journals@spie.org.

      Assessing manuscript submissions

      Conference chairs also act as editors for their conference proceedings and work with their designated SPIE staff proceedings coordinator to collect all manuscripts and resolve any publication issues.

      • An SPIE staff proceedings coordinator will be assigned to your conference at the time the program is launched
      • At minimum, conference chairs are expected to assess each manuscript and mark it as accepted for publication in the SPIE.org review system
      • It is advisable to assign committee members or others to review manuscripts, to help inform the final decision of the conference chair to accept, reject, or request revision
      • Chairs assign and notify reviewers about their assignments, review criteria, and deadline in the SPIE.org review system
      • Manuscripts are accessible to assigned reviewers through their account at http://spie.org/myaccount
      • See User Guide for SPIE Submission Review System for instructions on how to assign and notify reviewers)
      • Reviewers can only see submissions assigned to them

      Proceedings of SPIE provide rapid reporting on ideas, techniques, and results of current research. Papers may be status reports of work in progress or descriptions of completed research.

      The goal of proceedings manuscript review is to assess whether the manuscript:

      • is technically sound
      • contains new, original research content or scientific concepts
      • is non-commercial in nature
      • includes sufficient technical data and description to explain results and support conclusions

      In addition, manuscripts approved for publication must:

      • include adequate and appropriate references
      • be written clearly, with all text and figures readily understandable (allowance is made for authors for whom English is a second language, provided the paper is comprehensible)

      Keep in mind:

      • Many manuscripts are acceptable for publication as submitted
      • Reviewers do not need to address formatting errors, as SPIE will assess these aspects
      • Privileged information or ideas obtained through access to and review of manuscripts prior to publication must be kept confidential and not be used for competitive gain

      SPIE Anti-Harassment Policy

      SPIE promotes an environment that is free of inappropriate behavior for all our volunteers, staff, and attendees. Please review and familiarize yourself with the SPIE Anti-Harassment Policies.