SIGGRAPH Conference Newsletter September 2002 ----- CSE News September began with Labor Day and Father's Day (in New Zealand). It included Grandparent's Day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Respect for the Aged (in Japan), and the Autumn Equinox. It ends with the Queen's Birthday (in Australia). Not to be outdone, SIGGRAPH also had a couple of meetings (both in Florida), an EC meeting and the S2002 Wrap-up. The Wrap-up this year was a different format, focusing on conference-wide changes for the future. We also held the Contractor Debrief, focusing on operational issues at the Wrap. It was a very productive meeting with Rock demonstrating outstanding beach volleyball skills much to the chagrin of the opposing team. Looking ahead, the CAG will have a meeting in Washington D.C. in October. The meeting agenda is posted on the CAG site for those interested. S2003 is working hard on their budget and will have the budget meeting in November in San Diego. Final reminder to get in all outstanding S2002 expenses immediately! On the home front, Capstone would like to welcome aboard Debbie Morris as a new Program Coordinator. She will be joining April in supporting various Programs for S2003. Dino dino@siggraph.org RESULTS OF LAST MONTH'S SIGSURVEY: 55% of respondents to last month's survey do find SIGGRAPHITTI useful (vs. 35% who do not & 10% with no opinion). ----- Fun Facts Did you know... - San Diego is California's second largest city and the United States' seventh largest. - Has a citywide population of nearly 1.3 million residents and more than 2.8 million residents countywide. - Is know for it's 70 miles of pristine beaches with a dazzling array of world-class attractions, including SeaWorld San Diego and LEGOLAND California. - San Diego's arts and culture community is also making a name for themselves, both nationally and internationally. Balboa Park, the largest urban cultural park in the U.S., features 15 museums, numerous art galleries, beautiful gardens, the Tony Award-winning The Globe Theatres, and the World-Famous San Diego Zoo. - And if you like golf you'll be happy to hear San Diego County features 92 golf courses ----- EC News In September, the Executive Committee met in Miami, FL, for our annual strategy and planning meeting. Alain Chesnais, ACM SIGGRAPH President, started the weekend off with a talk at the monthly meeting of the Fort Lauderdale Chapter held at Florida Atlantic University. Other EC members were present for pre-and-post event socializing. For the last two years of strategy meetings, we have been working on ideas around the Graphics HUB, developing and supporting an online community. At this year's meeting, we moved into implementation mode. After identifying our key strengths as a group, we formulated an action plan to carry us through the end of the year. Look for some exciting new additions to our web site in the next few months. And, because of our push to get the Graphics HUB in place, we have the need for a couple good volunteers. We are especially interested in folks with skills in web design, database development and web planning. If you are interested, please contact us! Gudrun enger@siggraph.org ----- CAG News The CAG did not have any meetings in September but we were still quite busy. Three new volunteer positions have been placed under the CAG's responsibility since they deal with multi-year issues. One, the Bird's Of a Feather (BOF) Chair, is responsible for receiving requests from groups wanting to meet at the annual conference and coordinating their approval and meeting logistics. Sue Ebert will be fulfilling this role. The second new volunteer position is a Conference Endowment Chair and will be handled by Adele Newton. Adele will be looking into the possibilities for endowing different conference programs, such as Papers. The CAG recognizes this can be a long process and take several years to realize. The third position is not new, but rather is being moved from the conference committee level, and that is the Technology Outreach Chair. Anselmo Lastra has been working with different groups to try to get more diverse content into SIGGRAPH and also the possibility of co-locating with SIGGRAPH. It became obvious that some of his outreach efforts could take more than one year to come to fruition, so it made sense to do this in a multi-year fashion. He is coordinating his efforts with the ACM SIGGRAPH Vice President (Barb Helfer) who is in charge of the ACM SIGGRAPH Small Conferences subcommittee. The CAG will meet the first weekend in October in Washington, DC. Topics for discussion include: - Contracted services - Budget issues - Conference access and contributor recognition - Program reviews Scott owen@siggraph.org ----- S2002 News SIGGRAPH 2002 concluded it's tenure as the "N" conference with an absolutely fabulous wrap-up weekend on a Melbourne, FL beach. Despite the call of the sand and the surf, we spent the majority of our time discussing the issues that SIGGRAPH now faces. I'd like to personally thank the committee for taking the time to brainstorm, discuss, theorize, and formulate ideas that we hope will be useful as future committees take up the mantle of staging this wonderful event. Just the other day, a director of a government directorate and one of his contractors came into our lab for a demo on one of our products. As we were talking, he noticed my stylish S2002 polo shirt and asked if I had attended this year's conference. I replied I had (without going any further). His government counterpart was new to his position and said he had heard of SIGGRAPH but wasn't sure what exactly it was. His associate then informed him that "SIGGRAPH is the Holy Grail of computer conferences." I didn't dispute him although upon reflection, the Holy Grail is something for which many search and it always seems to be just out of reach (just ask Indiana Jones). SIGGRAPH is not; it is there for the taking and while it may not have divine powers, it does seem to have rejuvenative powers (go figure). As this is my last newsletter entry, I'd like to publicly thank everyone who has helped me along over the past 3 years. It has been an amazing journey and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. See you at the next "Fast Forward!" Tom appolloni@siggraph.org ----- S2003 News One final salute to the 2002 committee. They met the third weekend of September to debrief and pass the torch. Not only did they put together a superb conference, but they were excellent mentors for 2003. They had a lot of experience and ideas for the future. Thanks you guys. I am seeing many names come in as potential jury and subcommittee members for the different programs. I recognize how difficult it is to jury content and then execute the presentation, but when I see the quality of the people volunteering and realize the work and dedication it requires, I have to say that SIGGRAPH has one of the best systems for discovering and presenting new ideas I know and it is a privilege to work with the>volunteers who make this happen. October will be an important month for budget decisions. In the current economy this has made the upcoming budget ramifications all the more important. The one advantage that SIGGRAPH possesses over many of the other conferences that are struggling is a large core of dedicated followers - a really great community! Rock rockwood@siggraph.org ----- S2004 News It feels like SIGGRAPH 2004 plans are really beginning to take shape this past month. The committee selection process is nearing its final stages, and although certainly nothing is final yet, it feels quite near now that these decisions are weeks, rather than months, away. The other task at hand is the preliminary budget for SIGGRAPH 2004. We are trying to trim the budget down. Please send me e-mail with any creative (or even not-so-creative) suggestions you may have. Looking over all of the budget details makes one appreciate all of the effort and coordination that is necessary to put on a conference. In other SIGGRAPH 2004 news, it is now official that we are going to Los Angeles for the 2004 conference. My hope is that this will give us the opportunity to try some new and exciting things in a familiar city and space. Dena (slothower@siggraph.org)