This page contains guidance for current and future SPLASH General Chairs, compiled from the experiences of previous chairs.
Also See:
Originally documented by Annabelle Satin (SIGPLAN PCO in the 2010’s) and then amended during and after COVID by the SPLASH General Chairs, including Alex Potanin (2022), Manu Sridharan (2024), and Ilya Sergey (2025). Future General Chairs are expected to keep these notes up to date.
Important: All documents related to SPLASH must be stored on the SPLASH Google Drive provided by SIGPLAN, which is the central repository for all essential documents. This ensures continuity across years and that future chairs can access prior materials.
The current SIGPLAN PCO (Professional Conference Organiser) is Neringa Young, who supports the GC across budgeting, logistics, and communications throughout the conference cycle.
ACM’s conference planning guide is the authoritative reference for running an ACM conference. It is worth at least scanning the table of contents to know which topics it covers (reimbursing speakers, taxes, etc.) so you can refer back later.
SPLASH typically consists of the following events.
The essential conferences can be assumed to be occurring at every SPLASH. For regularly co-locating conferences, the GC should confirm whether the conference will co-locate that year. Note that some of the co-located communities tend to stay to themselves and value their independence.
Workshops vary from year to year based on a call for proposals. It is worthwhile for the workshop chairs to reach out to organizers of the previous year’s workshops to solicit repeat proposals where sensible. Numbers have ranged from around 7 to 15+; 15 is typically the maximum accommodated over 3 days.
Co-located workshops must adhere to the SIGPLAN Workshop Guidelines. In particular, any proceedings must be published in the ACM Digital Library (or not at all).
Form the organizing committee at least 12 months prior to the conference. For nearly all positions invited by the GC, each chair serves for two years — one as the “junior” chair and then one as the “senior” chair — for continuity and knowledge preservation. It is common to ask the senior chair (from the previous year) for suggestions on who to invite as the junior chair for the current year.
A Finance Chair is not required as SIGPLAN PCO (currently Neringa) can handle this.
Beyond the organizing committee, the GC is the direct contact for the chairs of any other co-located conferences (SLE, GPCE, etc.). Typically, workshop organizers raise queries with the workshop chairs, though they may also contact the GC directly.
See the SPLASH 2022 Organizing Committee as an example.
Various @splashcon.org email aliases must be updated every year. Ask the previous General Chair for the CSV file listing all the splashcon.org email aliases. Update the addresses for the current year, then email technicalsupport@acm.org and ishelpdesk@hq.acm.org, attaching the updated CSV, and ask them to update the aliases.
SPLASH typically has 3 keynote plenary talks. Traditionally:
Coordinate together to ensure a diverse set of speakers.
As of 2024, SPLASH keynote speakers receive free conference registration and up to $2k reimbursement for travel expenses. For other co-located events, there has not been a standard budget line for keynote reimbursement. If the budget allows, consider giving at least a one-day complimentary registration to keynote speakers at co-located events for the day they are speaking. See also the SIGPLAN Conference Complimentary Registrations Policy.
For all SPLASH-related proceedings (and the OOPSLA PACMPL issues), camera-ready deadlines must be coordinated with Conference Publishing (info@conference-publishing.com) to ensure sufficient time for the papers to be available on the ACM DL before the conference. Submission and notification deadlines should be set appropriately. For workshops, guidelines should be given on these dates and communicated to co-located conferences. The Publications Chair can help with this.
SPLASH since 2022 has included a SIGPLAN track, inviting talks for papers that appeared in the previous year’s SIGPLAN conferences (PLDI / POPL / ICFP / SPLASH) but whose speaker was unable to give an in-person talk. The number of slots allocated to SIGPLAN track papers is at the discretion of the GC. Typically, only a small number of authors ask for such a talk (there was 1 at SPLASH 2024). Please keep this option available every year — it offers a second chance to present for those who could not attend the previous year due to travel, visa, or other constraints, and is extra registration revenue.
TOPLAS has an agreement with OOPSLA where papers published at TOPLAS may request a talk slot. Acceptance of such talks is at the discretion of the OOPSLA chairs and the GC.
The following DEI events are typically held during SPLASH:
The DEI Chair may also organize additional events; e.g., at SPLASH 2024 there was a Newcomer’s Coffee. Work with Neringa and the DEI Chair to schedule these events. Announce at the conference that attendees who did not pre-register are welcome at the Women@SPLASH dinner, LGBTQ+ lunch, and URM lunch.
Aim to not schedule important events in conflict with DEI events. For example, at SPLASH 2024, the URM lunch was re-scheduled to be an URM coffee to avoid a conflict with an Awards Lunch.
All event co-organizers should be encouraged (or required) to have the schedule of their event up to date on the main splashcon.org page for the conference. Some events have their own websites, which is fine, but it is important that schedule info also appears on the splashcon.org page so attendees can see a consolidated schedule. Try to have this populated a few days before the early registration deadline.
The researchr web interface for creating and modifying the schedule can be counter-intuitive. The Web Chairs typically retain institutional knowledge on how things work and can help out.
SPLASH does not have a formal business meeting during the conference.
The following awards are typically presented at SPLASH:
The GC coordinates these award presentations, arranges printing of certificates (with Neringa’s help), and schedules the announcements. It is nice if at least the OOPSLA Most Influential Paper winners can say a few words when accepting.
Plan a dinner for anyone on the OC or the RC. Invite the next year’s GC if they are attending, and also the Student Volunteer and Video Chairs if at all possible. The RC is large, but a significant number do not attend the conference.
Student volunteers typically serve for 2 days in exchange for free registration (3 days if the schedule is tight). Budget accordingly. Recently there has been significant last-minute “melt” of accepted student volunteers due to inability to travel; depending on the difficulty of recruiting local volunteers, this may need to be factored into how many student volunteers are accepted initially.
The Student Volunteer Chairs are essential to the smooth running of the conference — they deal with many of the logistical issues during the event. Choose carefully, and make them feel appreciated.
Beyond student volunteers, avoid giving free registrations if at all possible — it can easily get out of control. (Yannis once suggested, when SPLASH was in Athens, giving each sub-conference a small allocation of free regos based on its size and letting the sub-conference decide how to use them.)
The Video Chairs both organize the video recording and streaming during the conference and help facilitate remote talks and participation. They also manage and set up the virtual platform (Discord, recently). There is typically no need for a separate virtual chair. Help them by forwarding their announcements and requests to the various event organizers.
See also the SIGPLAN Video Recording Policy.
Past survey results can be found on the SPLASH Google Drive.
Traditionally, OOPSLA / SPLASH ends with ice cream for attendees. At SPLASH 2024, due to the lengthy OOPSLA schedule on the final day, ice cream was served at the final coffee break before the last session.
Send a post-conference survey to gather attendee feedback. A Google Forms template based on previous years exists; contact the most recent GC for editor access and any updates. Sharing results from Google Forms can be painful; one approach is to take screenshots of the charts and put them in a Google Doc.
The primary OOPSLA-specific guidance lives in Objectives of OOPSLA and the SIGPLAN PC Chair Resources. The notes below cover items that surface at the GC level.
Note: OOPSLA has operated a two-round model with different dates in recent years. See Objectives of OOPSLA for the current scheduling guidance.
The PC (now RC) is selected by the PC/RC Chairs, subject to the SIGPLAN Diversity Policy. Composition must be approved by the EC Vice-Chair before invitations are issued. The PC Chair should also work closely with the SPLASH SC Chair to avoid surprises.
The SIGPLAN diversity policy is intentionally vague. Historical prescriptions for OOPSLA’s committees have included:
Suggestions for identifying members:
Historically, OOPSLA’s ERC was primarily used to review submissions from members of the Program Committee. This had several advantages: fewer conflicts of interest during the PC meeting, less imbalance in PC-meeting attendance, and consistent treatment for reviews of PC papers. Historically, PC papers received 4 reviews and non-PC papers received 3. ERC composition followed the same policies as the PC. See Objectives of OOPSLA for the current model.
Introduced in 2025 and continued in the 2026 CfP, the Reserve Reviewer policy requires that at least one senior author (PhD completed 5+ years ago) per submission register as a reserve reviewer, unless exempt. Exemptions apply when: the paper has no senior authors; a senior author is already an RC member; or all senior authors are new to SIGPLAN/SIGSOFT (fewer than 3 major conference publications), chairing a 2025–2027 conference, or have documented exceptional circumstances. Reserve reviewers must upload 5–10 prior papers to TPMS for expertise matching. This has been a reliable load-balancer for OOPSLA’s growing submission volume and future chairs are encouraged to continue refining it. See Objectives of OOPSLA for further details.
The following items are under ongoing discussion and would benefit from a SPLASH- or OOPSLA-specific policy page:
The following timeline was originally maintained by Annabelle Satin. Months are relative to the conference date; dates in the original were anchored to a specific year and are omitted here.
| Months Before | Task | Comments / Who |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Submit PAF | Needs city, date, PC Chair, and GC |
| 14 | Site selection | PCO checks possible venues / ACM requests formal quotes / GC visits and requests formal contract from ACM / GC + PCO review and approve |
| 14 | Appoint committee members | PCO updates list of previous committee; GC picks committee |
| 13 | Create logo | GC picks designer, or PCO connects GC with regular supplier |
| 12 | Create website | Elmer creates link; Web or Publications Chair populates; individual workshops populate their own pages (Workshop Chair sets up pages) |
| 12 | Submit TMRF | PCO provides copies from previous years for Part I; PCO creates budget for Part II (discussed with GC) |
| 12 | Approve hotel / venue contract for submission | GC with PCO |
| 12 | Schedule fortnightly calls with Conference Manager | |
| 12 | Call for workshops | Workshops Chair posts |
| 10 | Prepare the Call for Papers (CFP) | |
| 10 | Contract CPC | GC reviews current contract |
| 9 | Solicit corporate support | PCO provides contact list from previous sponsors, full list of previous attendees, and committee (no direct contacts by default, but can be provided on request) |
| 9 | Select food & beverage provider(s) | Banquet vs. daily social? PCO gathers quotes |
| 9 | Select A/V equipment and Wi-Fi provider | PCO gathers quotes from suppliers |
| 9 | Select registration provider | RSL |
| 9 | Select banquet venue & caterer | Daily social vs. banquet? GPCE / SLE may find their own venue |
| 9 | Update the budget with variable costs | PCO updates; GC approves |
| 9 | Contact tourist office, local authorities, etc., for accommodation arrangements | PCO provides list of nearby (alt) hotels |
| 9 | Apply for potential grants for students, speakers, etc. | PLMW applies for NSF |
| 6 | Start student page / application | PCO updates and works with captains |
| 6 | Submit schedule of events to the conference venue | PCO updates post workshop acceptance |
| 6 | Schedule calls with Conference Manager (fortnightly or weekly) | |
| 5 | Send acceptance and copyright forms to authors | CPC sends |
| 5 | Prepare advance program (print or electronic) | GC if full booklet; PCO if 2-page schedule |
| 5 | Decide on registration fees and models; communicate with registration provider | PCO revises budget and works with RSL |
| 5 | Invite keynotes | PC + Onward! + GC pick and invite |
| 4 | Obtain camera-ready papers from authors | CPC sends |
| 4 | Set up the registration system | RSL |
| 4 | Select sites for PC and SC dinners | Usually lunch on-site for SPLASH |
| 3 | Notify the venue of exact A/V needs | PCO reviews and finalizes |
| 3 | Notify the caterers of menus (numbers TBC) | PCO revises |
| 3 | Open early registration | RSL brings live |
| 3 | Call for participation | Publications Chair sends |
| 3 | Publish the advance program | PC provides program; Workshops Chair follows up with workshops |
| 3 | Schedule calls with Conference Manager every 7–10 days | |
| 2 | Prepare print-ready proceedings | |
| 2 | Prepare plaques or certificates | Define awards and responsibilities |
| 2 | Establish signage needs and arrange for printing | PCO works with hotel |
| 2 | Source and contract supplier of registration bags, etc. | PCO finds supplier |
| 2 | Book venue for PC and SC dinners | Usually N/A for SPLASH |
| 2 | Liaise with speakers for travel and accommodation needs | PCO |
| 1 | Print final program | SLE keynote title; poster session location |
| 1 | Determine social activities | |
| 1 | Liaise with sponsors on comps and print material | |
| 15 days | Establish needs for badges (special diet, social events, etc.) | |
| 7 days | Deliver final printed program to venue | |
| 7 days | Liaise with registration and caterers on special dietary needs | |
| 7 days | Print badges |
| Months After | Task |
|---|---|
| 1 | Liaise with Conference Manager to ensure all bills have been added to the budget |
| 3 | Submit the final financial report to ACM |