Call for IF&E Proposals

The 2017 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) will be held on 21-25 May 2017 in Paris, France, and is sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society.  The conference provides an attractive Industry Forum & Exhibition Program, which features Keynote Speeches, Industry Panels, Executive/CTO Forums, Industry Demos and Exhibits, Podium Presentations, and Lightning Talks.  Therefore, the Industry Forum and Exhibition (IF&E) Program of IEEE ICC2017 solicits proposals as follows:

Industry Panels

Industry panels are an important component of ICC 2017, which bring together industry and researchers from around the world, for an interactive discussion on a specific topic among panel speakers and the audience.  Panels provide opportunities for the practicing professionals to both share and learn about the latest ideas, trends, and products and innovations of particular interest to industry in communications and networking.
 
Industry panel sessions are 90-minute moderated discussions, which are scheduled from Monday 22 May to Wednesday 24 May. A panel submission must include:
  • A Panel Organizer with a commitment to arrange the specific topic of interest;
  • 4 Panelists with a commitment to join in under the specific topic.
Before the submission of a panel proposal, it is expected that the Panel Organizer contacts all the envisaged Panelists in order to get their agreement for serving on the panel.  The Panel Organizer will serve as moderator during the panel.
 
The following structure is supposed to be taken for the panels.  The panel should not have more than 4 participants, plus the moderator.  The organizer/chair has to establish a few questions to be addressed by the participants.  The chair gives a presentation up to 10 minutes at the beginning of the panel, to introduce the topic.  Participants should address the questions posed, in a presentation up to 10 minutes each (very strict time control!). Basically, the presentation should have 6 slides, i.e., the cover slide plus one per question.  With this scheme, there will be enough time for discussion in the panel (which is the main goal of a panel).
The panel proposal should include:
  • Title for the proposed panel
  • Name, affiliation, contact information, and short biography of the Panel Organizer
  • Motivation and background for the panel, indicating topics to be discussed as well.
  • Names, affiliations, and short biography of the Panelists intended to invite.
Interested Panel Organizers should submit their proposals, using the template (available here), to the IF&E Co-Chairs by email as a PDF file attachment by 11 November 2016. The due date for the acceptance notification is on 16 December 2016.

Executive/CTO Forums

The Executive /CTO Forum will follow the same format as the Industry Panels.  The only difference is that the organizers and the panelists will be restricted to be company executives, like CEOs and CTOs, who will give their vision on the forum topic to the audience.
 
Interested Executive /CTO Forum organizers should submit their proposals, using the template (available here), to the IF&E Co-Chairs by email as a PDF file attachment by 11 November 2016. The due date for the acceptance notification is on 16 December 2016.
 

Industry Demos

Industry Demos are hardware and/or software demonstrations that are meant to showcase new and innovative technologies.  Demonstrations will be scheduled from Monday 22 May to Wednesday 24 May.
 
To broaden the diversity of the conference, there is an integrated exhibition area close to coffee breaks, technical and poster sessions.  This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your company as well as engage with other scientists from industry and academia.  In addition to provide the best possible benefit, the exhibition area will be grouped by topic.
Each booth is equipped with a power supply.  Any furniture or additional equipment is subject to additional fees.  Placement of the exhibition booth is determined by conference organizers.  The costs of the booths are: 2,500 € for 6 m2 (2 x 3 m2) and 4,000 € for 12 m2 (2 x 6 m2) (the fees are in Euros; the French VAT does not apply, as the IEEE France Section is exempted from VAT).

Each demonstration proposal must include:
  • Title for the proposed demonstration
  • Name, affiliation, contact information, and short biography of the Organizer
  • Motivation and background, objective, and description of the demos/exhibits, emphasizing its timeliness.
Interested Demos and Exhibits Organizers should submit their proposals, using the template (available here), to the IF&E Co-Chairs by email as a PDF file attachment by 17 February 2017. The due date for the acceptance notification is on 3 March 2017.

Podium Presentations

Podium presentations will have a 20-minute duration and will be held during the morning and afternoon coffee-breaks in the Exhibits Hall.  Their number will be therefore limited to 6.  Those presentations will typically focus on products, services, and solutions offered by companies. In order to maximize attendance, lucky draw prizes will be offered at the end of each presentation.
Interested Podium Presentation Organizers should submit their proposals, using the template (available here), to the IF&E Co-Chairs by email as a PDF file attachment by 17 February 2017. The due date for the acceptance notification is on 17 March 2017.

Lightning Talks

Lightning Talks are short 5 minutes talks on technical topics, to be held on Wednesday 24 May in an afternoon time-slot.  About 15 talks will be presented in this session. The point of a Lightning Talk is not to give a detailed talk, but rather to present briefly a main idea.  The topics acceptable for these talks are any subject that is conference related.

Come to talk about your company’s product, a nifty algorithm trick, some thoughts triggered by presentations at the conference, or if you are a student, share the highlight of your thesis project.  The main goal of the talk should be making your point fast and then, we move on to the next talk.  No hard and fast rule about the presentation format, no judgment either.  However, the 5 minutes time limit is strictly enforced, and you will be asked to stop at the end of 5 minutes.
 
Interested Lightning Talks Presenters should submit their proposals, using the template (available here), to the IF&E Co-Chairs by email as a PDF file attachment by 17 February 2017. The due date for the acceptance notification is on 17 March 2017.

IF&E Co-Chairs

Luis M. Correia luis.m.correia@tecnico.ulisboa.pt
Jamshid Khun-Jush khunjush@qti.qualcomm.com