Request
for Proposals for Hosting SDL2009
The SDL Forum Society is requesting proposals to host
the 14th System Design Languages Forum which will probably be
held in June or July or September 2009.
Following established procedure the decision in principle to
hold an event in 2009 would normally have been made at the Society AGM
in 2007 and a final decision will be made at the Society AGM in 2008. At the AGM
in 2007 no firm decision on SDL 2009 was made and proposals are still invited up
to mid-2008.
If you are interested in helping host the conference in your
area, please assemble the following information, and send it to admin of sdl-forum.org with
a copy to members of
sdl-forum.org.
The proposal may be brief and informal, but needs to address
the following questions, which will help the Society evaluate the
viability of the proposal.
- Who is making the proposal? These will be one or
more individuals (representing an organization) willing
to be responsible for local arrangements. Although this
is optional, they should also include someone who is
willing to serve as co-chair for the conference (other
co-chairs will be appointed by the SDL Forum Board). This
co-chair person is not signing up to be responsible for
the whole show - the SDL2009 Organizing
Committee is responsible for that. If the proposal is
selected, the person (or people) that you list will be
added to the Organizing Committee, and the chair people
of the conference (to be named later) will assign
responsibilities to various members of the committee. The
proposer should be a member of the SDL Forum Society. If
a non-member wishes to make a proposal they should either
collaborate with a member or join the Society.
- What would be the main subject of the forum? The
trend has been "Meeting UML" in 2001 and
"System Design" languages in 2003,
"Model Driven" in 2005 and "Design for Dependable
Systems" in 2007. Although this trend has been away from the core
base of ITU-T languages, some participants have noticed increased focus on
use of the ITU-T languages. There are also new ITU-T standards such as the
UML profile for SDL-2000, a proposed upgrade for SDL-2000 to SDL-2008,
work on MSC including an MSC profile, the final issue of URN as a
standard and ongoing evolution of TTCN and ASN.1. So one possibility could
be to re-visit the use of ITU-T languages. The scope (as finalized by the
programme committee) is put in the call for papers and is a key factor in
getting papers, participants and acceptance for publication.
- In what venue do you propose it be held? Ideally,
this venue should be able to handle to plenary sessions
of up to 150 people, and one or two parallel sessions. In
the past parallel sessions have only been used for
tutorials (on an additional day and usually charged for) or for
evening workshops. There should be adequate hotel accommodation near (or at) the venue.
- How much will the meeting cost? An estimated
meeting cost and participation fee should be given.
Assume attendance of between 80 and 150 for 4 days. The
figures can be approximate, as long as it gives an idea
of how much it will cost both for the whole conference
and for each attendee. In any case it shall agreed that
any gain or loss will be shared at least equally by the
SDL Forum Society and the local organizer. An outline
budget should be provided.
- Can arrangements be made for demos by participants?
The Forum usually has both commercial stands and research
project demonstrations.
- How the proceedings will be
published? The Society expects to publish the
proceedings in time for SDL2009 in the LNCS series. Acceptance in the LNCS series is not automatic
and will depend to some extent on convincing the LNCS series editors to
continue to publish the SDL Forum series. Other proposals
may be considered. There is usually other material such
as a programme booklet, and tutorial and workshop notes
that need to be printed or copied. The possibility to
distribute material on CD-ROM in addition can be
considered.
- Dates when the venue should be
reserved. The venue should be available for 5 days
from Monday to Friday even though the event will probably
be 4 days or even 3 days. For 2007 there was one tutorial day, two paper
presentation days and a final short day of a workshop character. However,
the final programme and length of the event will be decided by the
programme committee, based partly on the papers received.
- Are there any potential local
sponsors? This will be relevant to local support and
the budget. Sponsors are welcome to
provide any level of support from making the whole workshop free to attend to providing delegate badges,
provided the sponsorship is acceptable to the SDL Forum
Society. At recent events there has been a sponsorship deal linked to
tool demonstrations.
- What publicity is planned? Recent events have not attracted as
many participants as anticipated, and publicity is probably one factor.
Relying on distribution by email lists is insufficient, and the publicity
planned to reach the intended participants is an important factor.
- Will people enjoy coming? Hopefully the meeting
will be in a pleasant area and easy to access for
international travellers. Cost of travel and staying at
the location will also be a factor.
- Any other point that will help us to select the best
proposal.
Proposals received one week before the calling notice is sent out for the SDL
Forum Society Annual General Meeting in 2008 will be considered at that meeting (providing a final decision has not
been approved by the Society membership before that date). The
deadline may be extended to a later date before the meeting if
necessary by the Board of the Society.
Proposals that arrive later than the deadline will be considered
only if a decision is not made at or before the meeting.
If you have further questions, please direct them to admin of sdl-forum.org.
R. Reed
Chairman June 2006 (Updated Sept. 2007)
