AlaSim 2012, organized by the Alabama Modeling and Simulation Council, is designed both to showcase the breadth and depth of simulation activity in Alabama and to collect, document, display and discuss the current state of simulation technology throughout the world.

AlaSim is a forum for papers and briefings from academia, industry and governments that inform and involve attendees, create interest in demonstrated results, and reveal the latest in any and all aspects of Modeling and Simulation.

AlaSim includes a variety of formats for attendees and participants to see, be seen, hear, be heard, teach, and learn about the science and technology of simulation.

• Peer reviewed simulation papers of high academic quality that survive rigorous review
• Project and program briefings and committee reviewed papers about simulation work planned and in-progress
• Students, displaying educational projects in a poster session
• Panel discussions, opportunities for open discussion with simulation subject experts
• Workshops in an open collaborative environment for definition and creation of modeling and simulation products.
• Tutorials, providing introductory and advanced training in current simulation technology
• Plenary speakers sharing knowledge and vision
• Luncheon speakers addressing topics of general interest to simulationists
• Exhibitors showing their simulation products and capabilities

Links below provide more about oportunities and requirements for participation.

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Chair's Role in the AlaSim Format
or
how to be a chair without being sat upon

Serving as a Session chair for a technical conference is a satisfying, beneficial and ego boosting experience.  As with most experiences, those who receive the most from these conferences are the participants. Volunteer Here.

Here are some comments that may be useful as you look toward organizing sessions for AlaSim.  Certainly, these are not the only or the last words on the subject.  If your experience shows better, or just different, ideas, please edit a copy of these comments to improve future versions.

Threaded through these comments is the assumption that you are organizing, as well as chairing, your session or panel.  It may be that you are asked to chair a session organized by others, a significantly less demanding assignment.

SERVE YOUR SELF INTEREST

At first blush it may seem inconsistent, but the best thing you can do to provide a program interesting to others is to treat AlaSim as a selfish opportunity.  Normally, if you were to ask colleagues, competitors, vendors, consultants, etc., to prepare a formal presentation on a subject of interest to you, gather at an appointed time and place, and subject themselves to open scrutiny, all at their own expense, their response might not be polite.  But, asked to be a conference participant, essentially the same request, most feel honored, and afterward will honestly thank you for inviting them.

Use AlaSim as a way to inform yourself on new subjects, to have your competitors tell you what they are up to, to promote a point of view, and to sell yourself or your products directly and with client/customer testimonials.  An open public conference is an accepted way for an industry to discuss common interests.

Your role can be a highly leveraged activity.  You can delegate to the extent you can convince others to participate, or you can make contacts yourself to promote your own visibility.  All the physical surroundings for the meeting are arranged for you.  A minor negative: you cannot exclude anyone from your audience.

Don't worry that you will be criticized for being too academic, too commercial, too general, or too specific.  AlaSim may be all of these, simultaneously.  That is good.  Whatever is of interest to you is probably interesting to many others.  The proper response to criticism is: "You are welcome to try your way, too." Then point them to these comments.

TRY FOR A BANDWAGON

Having selected a topic, in an area of interest to you and usually about which you have some knowledge, first list where you think you might get ten or twenty papers.  Then go after them.  Your results will tend to be in one of three ways:

The most satisfying result is a bandwagon; most of your contacts want to be part of the growing action.  You end up with three or more sessions, a panel to discuss "Future Directions . . ." is a natural, and at the conference you hold an audience of thirty, or more, for a day or more.

The most negative result is to find no interest at all, usually because there is another conference near the same time on the same subject.  After a short fight, give up.  Join them.  Pick another topic for AlaSim.

The most common result is to obtain three to six papers.  You have a session or two.  That's called success.  Few will know that you ever intended to do any more.

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SOLICITING PARTICIPANTS

If you have read this far you are an insider, authorized to know that, contrary to the look of promotional material, most participants are solicited individually.  Only a relatively few of the papers are exclusively the result of the call for papers.  Most are from personal contact.

This is not to say participants are subjected to heavy pressure.  They simply want to be honored with a personal request.  Each must be individually convinced that participation is in their self interest.  That's the key job of a Session Chairman.

Start with those you know.  Ask them.  Ask them to ask people they know; or, if you want the contacts, ask them for names of people they know.

If there is a commercial product, contact vendors.  Ask for their customers.

Scour recent conferences where your topic may have had visibility.  Browse the web.  Check recent books and journals.  Network.

As you make contacts, keep in mind that you may have slots for panelists and discussants (more on discussants later).  Use these slots to assure attendance of individuals who simply won't prepare a formal presentation, but need a reason to attend.

USE EMAIL OR THE TELEPHONE

A generic invitation to potential participants is good.  It adds credibility.  But it probably won't work in isolation.  Personalized contact is usually essential.

HELP OTHERS

Find out what other topics and activities are being promoted for the conference.

Suggestions for lead speakers, keynote, plenary, luncheon, may be appropriate.

If your contact is not on target for your topic, maybe a different track or session would welcome a referral.  Provide them to the Program Chair.

THE PECKING ORDER

For AlaSim 2012:
AMSC Board of Directors
AMSC Board Chair - Bill Waite
- - mailto:boardchair@AlabamaMSCouncil.org
AMSC President - John Regner
- - mailto:president@AlabamaMSCouncil.org
AlaSim Conference Committee Chair - Ralph Weber
- - mailto:GeneralChair@AlaSim.org
AlaSim Program Chair - Joe Gauthier
- - mailto:ProgramChair@AlaSim.org
AlaSim Track Chairs
- Peer Reviewed Papers - Jim Swain
- - mailto:RPapers@AlaSim.org
- Committee Reviewed Papers and Briefings - Michelle Hermann
- - mailto:CPapers@AlaSim.org
- - mailto:Briefings@AlaSim.org
- Posters - Natalie Darnell
- - mailto:Posters@AlaSim.org
- Panels and Workshops - E. L. Perry
- - mailto:Panels@AlaSim.org
- - mailto:Workshops@AlaSim.org
- Tutorials - Bruce Fairchild
- - mailto:Tutorials@AlaSim.org
Session Chairs
Participants
Non-Participant Attendees

A very vertical organization.  We're all volunteers.  There is a lot of effort to produce AlaSim, but it is spread over a lot of people.

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RECORD KEEPING

Some log of your activities is essential.  You will contact many people over several months.  Without notes you will forget the what, when and who.

Record name, title, affiliation, addresses, and phone numbers.  Log contacts, or contact attempts.  Record the title for each paper as soon as you can get it, and emphasize the importance of submitting early, on-line, with the AlaSim Portal.

INFORMATION FLOW

You will find information accumulating over the months.

The first solid information is an Announcement and Call for Papers, as much as a year prior to the conference.  This Call gives you proposed topics, contact information for lead people in charge of the conference, and significant schedule dates.  There may be a second Call as plans become more specific.  Some authors may need the Call to obtain approval of their management.

You may have requests for a personalized written invitation.  You may write such an invitation.

As progress is made, you should keep your Track Chair informed with details to merge into the Preliminary and Final Programs.

Key information is submitted through the Public Interface Portal for AlaSim International, complying with detailed requirements.  This submission implies management approval and a commitment to register, attend and present.

SCHEDULES, REAL AND FUNCTIONAL

The Call for Papers gives deadlines which are ideal from the view of conference leadership, for planning and preparing.  Missing these deadlines makes their job more difficult.  Papers subject to peer review are required about six months in advance of the conference.  Committee reviewed papers, briefing and poster abstracts, and proposals for panels, workshops and tutorials are considered as late as four months prior to the conference.

For AlaSim, held between Easter and Memorial Day, these deadlines place major effort to develop your sessions through the Thanksgiving to New Year holiday season.  These are difficult times of the year to find people in their offices.  You should try to beat the holiday season by having your program substantially determined by early November.

The real truth is that the published deadlines usually slip, to everyone's consternation.  If you contribute to the slip, you not only lose face, but risk being cut off and not achieving the results you are after.  However, if you see that giving an Author some leeway will get you that one more paper you need to fill out a session, ask the Program Chair for more time and plead with your Author.

As a last undesirable resort, a presentation may be allowed by ignoring some formalities.  This requires approval of the Program Chair and registration with payment.  It may be withheld if the program is otherwise healthy.

FREQUENT FOLLOW-UP IS NECESSARY

Plans are in place.  Commitments have been made.  Now you have to be persistent to make it happen.

The conference is still months away, and we are all subject to daily and weekly pressures and deadlines.  You may begin to hear excuses instead of progress reports.  You have no authority.  We are all volunteers.  You see some attrition from your plans.  Frequent follow-up is necessary.

If you have started early enough, you can set a routine.  Nag every week or two.  Commiserate, inspire, cajole, promote desire and involvement, but don't get upset.  Remember, we are all volunteers.

When you win, it's great.  You did it though leadership.  When you lose, it's because you have no authority!

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STRUCTURING YOUR SESSION(S)

The Abstracts are in.  Now you must organize the presentations.

Session lengths are set by the Program Chair, usually one and one-half hours with three papers per session.  Think about the allocation to sessions, if you have more than one.  Work with your Track Chair if your papers don't allocate well.  The track has a bigger pool to work with.  Think about the order of presentation within each session.  Fix on session titles.  Settle on a Chair and Discussant for each session.  Transmit the result to your Track Chair.

Your Track Chair needs Session information soon after the Abstract deadline, to merge with other Groups into a Preliminary Program, which receives wide distribution as a promotion for the Conference.  It probably will be required before you are ready to fix it in concrete.  Do the best you can.  Fix it in jelly.  You will have time to correct it for the Final Program.

Be alert for and inform your Track Chair of any special considerations you would like in the overall program layout.  You may be aware of other sessions with similar audience interest that should not be scheduled in direct conflict.  You may want your sessions in a particular order.

YOU'RE AT THE CONFERENCE

Meet your participants.  Gather sufficient material for introductions.  Confirm the signage for your Sessions and see that they are moved to a spot outside your assigned room.  Check the room, especially for appropriate projection equipment.

CONDUCTING A SESSION

The AlaSim session format allocates thirty minutes for each presentation, nominally twenty minutes for the speaker, 5 minutes for discussion, and 5 minutes for transition to the following speaker.

You are the boss.  Run your session your way.  Emulate what you have observed others doing, that you like.

Here's one way that works; good guy, bad guy.  The Chair is the bad guy, making introductions, and watching the time so that every presenter gets a fair portion.  Give the speaker warning when the time limit nears.  Cut the speaker off if necessary.  Allow an appropriate time for discussion.

DISCUSSANT'S DUTIES

The Discussant, the good guy, handles a short discussion following each presentation.  As Discussant, you may be provided with abstracts, papers or presentation materials in advance.  With available information and by listening to the Speaker, you should comment briefly with constructive criticism about questions addressed, methodology, novel content, quality of the analyses, and credibility and import of results.  Encourage audience participation.  Expose controversial issues.  Provoke discussion, but beware of impossible critique.  Don't let controversy become unpleasant.  This situation doesn't arise often, but it can.  If necessary, the chair can plead time pressures and "defer further discussion for later." If the audience is asleep, with help from the Chair, carry on a short discussion with the speaker.

MODERATING A PANEL

Again, you are the boss.  Do it your way.  Here are three suggestions:

Your panelists may be prepared, arranged in advance, to give short presentations.  Substantial time should be reserved for discussion following, and possibly during, each presentation.

The moderator may be the only prepared presenter, with panelists and audience expected to participate throughout.

Another way is to have "set-up" questions pre-arranged for each panelist, allowing each to answer, with discussion interspersed.

However you run a panel be sure each invited panelist has a fair time share.  Look to TV talk shows for ideas.

THANKS, POSTMORTEM AND NEXT YEAR

Within the week or two following the conference, it is polite to thank each participant in your puddle of influence.

This is also an easy time to gather suggestions and begin planning for an even better next year.

Hide Chair's Role

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Paper or Briefing?             Calls             Deadlines and Fees

The technical program includes Peer reviewed papers, Committee reviewed papers, and Briefings.

All alternatives begin by submitting an abstract. Abstracts for Briefings and Committee reviewed papers are reviewed by the conference committee. Abstracts for Peer reviewed papers are reviewed by a team of peers. When an abstract is accepted, the next step for Committee reviewed papers and Peer reviewed papers is to submit a paper. These papers are reviewed by the Conference Committee and the Peer Team, respectively. There is no paper submission for Briefings.

PEERS         PAPERS         BRIEFINGS         POSTERS
 
PANELS         WORKSHOPS         TUTORIALS
 
All seven Calls in one .pdf file.  Please Print and Post.

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Deadlines for Peer Reviewed Papers
   Friday, October 21, 2011 - Abstracts -
   Friday, October 28, 2011 - Notification of abstract acceptance
   Friday, December 23, 2011 - Papers -
   Friday, February 10, 2012 - Notification of paper acceptance
   Friday, March 2, 2012 - Author Registration @ $350

Deadlines for Committee Reviewed Papers
   Friday, December 9, 2011 - Abstracts -
   Friday, December 16, 2011 - Notification of abstract acceptance
   Friday, January 27, 2011 - Papers -
   Friday, February 10, 2012 - Notification of paper acceptance
   Friday, March 2, 2012 - Author Registration @ $350

Deadlines for Briefings, Posters, Panels, Workshops and Tutorials
   Friday, January 27, 2012 - Abstracts and Proposals -
   Friday, February 10, 2012 - Notification of acceptance
   Friday, March 2, 2012 - Author, Participant and Presenter Registration @ $350 (Students @ $175)

PARTICIPANT AND ATTENDEE REGISTRATION FEES
Early registration fee is $350 ($300 for AMSC members) through Friday, March 2, 2012.
   Authors missing the early registration may be dropped from the program.

Pre-Registration is $400 ($350 for AMSC members) through Friday, April 20, 2012.

On site registration is $450 ($400 for AMSC members) after Friday, April 20, 2012.

Student registration is $175 ($125 for AMSC members), available to full time university students.

Exhibitors fee is $50 for exhibitors who do not plan to attend any other activities. Otherwise regular fees apply.

Sponsors may be admitted at No Charge. See Sponsor policy at http://www.alasim.org.

High School students - attending only to view the exhibits, No Charge. Must check in at the registration desk to pick up a badge.

High School students attending as sponsored participants are charged a special, one day rate of $50. This is normally paid by the Sponsor. Must check in at the registration desk to pick up a badge.

AlaSim 2012 PUBLICATIONS, MEDIA, DATES AND CONTENT
• Files provided by 3/2/12 are included in the Preliminary Proceedings.
• New or revised files provided by 6/1/12 are included in the Final soft copy Proceedings.
• One Preliminary Proceedings DVD is provided to each conference registrant.
• Final Proceedings, both DVD (at $25) and print (at $95), are not included in the registration fee.
• Abstracts and proposals are limited to one page.
• Authors of papers are charged $5.00 for each page over ten.
• Presentation files are optional and are limited to 14 MB.
• Submission of Presentation files is optional for Papers, Briefings and Posters.