North American Summer School in Logic, Language and Information

In this section we provide more details on how to prepare a proposal for organizing a NASSLLI summer school. There is no "application form" to dictate the exact form of a proposal; instead we provide below a number of points that the proposal should cover. Proposers should feel free to add information that could be relevant for the SC to judge whether the proposal is realistic.


Here is a brief timetable for the application procedure: Anyone thinking of proposing to host NASSLLI is encouraged to get in touch with the SC for preliminary consultation. A formal application should be made around 18 months before the actual event. One year before the NASSLLI is going to take place, the Local OC has to present its working budget to the SC. During that year, we strongly encourage the host institution to arrange a visit by one of the SC members.

INTRODUCING THE TEAM

Organizing a NASSLLI takes teamwork. Usually one can observe in the local organization of a NASSLLI a group of people devoted to higher level organizational issues, notably fund raising and making a budget, and a group of people devoted to arranging practical matters, such as accommodation arrangements, preparing the location, setting up a website, financial administration, registration, social events of various sorts, etc. It is important to realize that proper organization of a NASSLLI relies on active involvement of both groups, working as one team. Therefore, a proposal should — preferably — present the local organization as a team, and list previous organizational experience where possible (and relevant).

It is also important to know what services are available at the host institution, and what kinds of commitments departments and administrators are likely to make. For example: is there a conference bureau that will help with the registration at a low cost? Will relevant departments help financially, or with secretarial help?

The size of the organizational team varies from 4-8 persons, the majority of whom are concerned with practical matters. For selecting prospective sites the impression made by the local team is at least as important as the attractiveness of the site itself. Preferably the members of the local organization have taken part in previous NASSLLI’s or ESSLLI's, either as a lecturer or as a participant. NASSLLI has a certain atmosphere that is incomparable with any other conference. To create such an atmosphere as a local organization, the members should have experienced it.

INTRODUCING THE SITE

When introducing a prospective site, the following aspects are of prime importance in judging its suitability for NASSLLI.

Lecturing facilities There are a number of requirements/desiderata with regard to a site.

  • Lecture rooms should be located in short walking distance from one another (< 5 minutes), preferably in the same building.
  • There should be two large lecture halls (70-80 participants) available, one very large lecture hall (120-150 participants), and two to five small lecture rooms (30 participants).
  • There should be a room in a central place (that can be locked) where the secretariat could be housed during the event, possibly with the capacity to register participants.
  • There should be several rooms available for discussion, study, preparation of lectures, etcetera.
  • There should be at least one laboratory (with a capacity of about 10-20 computers) where courses offering “hands-on experience” can be held.
  • There should be one or more computer rooms offering participants email and Internet facilities. If possible, wireless access should be made available to participants.
  • Preferably, the (main) building would have a large hall where book exhibits could be held, where coffee and refreshments could be served and posters could be displayed.

One of the important criteria on which lecturing facilities will be judged is whether all the rooms are located in the same building or in neighboring ones. The main reason behind this is that such a situation enables participants to meet with one another in a central place (rather than being spread all over a campus).

Accommodation facilities During the event, about one hundred participants will have to be accommodated nearby the site of the summer school, and about twenty lecturers. Registration fees do not cover accommodation — participants have to choose (and pay) for whatever accommodation they want. Usually a local organization offers various options, differing in price (and class). Given that about 75 to 80 % of the participants are students, such usually means that most of what would be offered should be affordable for students. Very often university dormitories are booked for this purpose. Accommodation for lecturers is payed from the budget of the school overall. A lecturer is offered accommodation for the duration of the course plus extra days at the beginning and the end of this period to provide flexible arrival/departure times. Also, some students have chosen to pay for more luxurious accommodations.

Dining facilities During the lunch break — usually lasting about two hours —roughly 100 people will have lunch. It is therefore important to list what dining facilities are available on-site and within walking distance, and what a realistic estimate is of their seating capacity and throughput.

Location The site should be easily reachable from any major city in North America. One major concern for participants is the amount of money they have to spend to travel to the summer school. It would be advantageous if there would be an international airport nearby, or if there would be a good connection to one.

BUDGET / FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS

NASSLLI is a non-profit organization which relies on fundraising by the local organizers. Below we outline the major budget items, where one could look for sources of income, and what issues should be taken into account when determining the registration fees.

Cost of the Event Although the total (projected) cost of a NASSLLI may vary strongly depending on the part of North America where the event will be held, The major items on the cost side of a NASSLLI budget are the following:

1. Lecturers and workshop organizers:
(a) Travel costs (probably the largest overall expense)
(b) Accommodation
(c) Lecturers dinner
(d) Lunches

2. Support for the workshops

3. Publicity
(a) Brochures
(b) Posters
(c) Fax & phone costs
(d) Envelopes
(e) Postage
(f) Website

4. Rental costs of
(a) lecture rooms
(b) computer laboratories
(c) additional equipment

5. Employment
(a) Part-time/full-time secretary/secretaries
(b) Other staff

6. Visit by NASSLLI SC member (should be coordinated with one or more departments).

In addition there may be items covering events (welcome reception, NASSLLI party/parties), administration (software, banking costs), possibly free refreshments for participants (coffee), unforeseen costs (8-10% of total), stationery, and support of satellite events. But the items enumerated above constitute the major part of a NASSLLI costs. Each of these items can be further characterized as follows.

Lecturers Travel costs and accommodation for lecturers are fully covered from the NASSLLI budget. Additionally they do not have to pay a registration fee. The costs are estimated to take 50-55% of the whole budget. Though they might receive a small honorarium if available, lecturers are not paid for their teaching at the summer school. The number of lecturers teaching at a summer school is ideally around 20. A worst-case budget would cover travel costs for all lecturers, and offer accommodation to all lecturers for the full period of the event. In reality, some lecturers will not need their travel costs reimbursed, because they obtain reimbursement from their home institution or from a grant. Furthermore the costs can be lowered by offering accommodation only during the course-duration, and to limit the reimbursement of travel costs. For workshops with many participants, it has been the rule that they receive a lump sum. The lecturers are typically invited to dinner during the school in the middle of the week. Lunches are often covered as well.

Workshop Organizers Only one of the organizers gets reimbursed for the travel and accommodation costs. Each workshop is offered a lump sum which they can use to support workshop speakers which are less fortunate. Note, that workshop speakers have to register as normal participants, but it has been decided that they pay the early student registration fee at any time.

Publicity A NASSLLI is publicized in the traditional way by means of posters and/or brochures, and even more by means of the Internet (email, website). Normally around 1500 posters and brochures are sent out to institutions in North America and Europe. Email announcements at major news groups related to disciplines in logic, language and computer science nowadays play a major role in publicizing NASSLLI. The NASSLLI website plays a central role in the advertising.

Lecture Rooms It is very important to have good relations with the hosting university and department(s). Still, the local OC might have to pay for renting lecture rooms and computer labs. Most lecturers will want to use beamers, so these must be arranged also. In the proposal it should be clear what rentals are needed.

Employment It is not uncommon that the OC employs one or two people to help organizing the event, part-time or full-time, particularly for the period January-June (in the year of the event). Often these are either students or else secretarial staff whose work on NASSLLI is considered part of their regular employment.

Potential Sources of Income As might be concluded from the above discussion of the costs for a NASSLLI, there are substantial amounts needed for financing a NASSLLI. A NASSLLI should be self-sufficient from a financial perspective, and as a consequence the local OC has to be confident that enough people will attend the summer school and that enough funds are raised to supplement the income from registration fees. In general 50% of the costs is covered by the income of the registration fees. A safe number to start calculating incomes from registration is 100 participants. 75% of that will be registering as students, 25% as scholars for a higher amount. The number of industrial participants is usually in the order of 1-5 and as such might be better neglected as a projected source of income.
?Students usually register before the early registration deadline; most of the scholars do not. The difference between the early and “late” registration fees is in the order of 10-15%. For the calculation of the registration fees (especially for students) one should look at the whole cost for a participant (accommodation, fees, food, travel costs, etc). . A grant -at least- means exemption from the registration fee (some organizers offered a few grants that included coverage of accommodation as well). Although future organizers are not compelled to make such grants available, they are strongly urged to do so. Without exception, grants have made a difference in whether or not people were able to attend, and grants were always accepted gratefully.

Financial infrastructure Of some concern is the local financial infrastructure: Can the local OC easily access her financial resources, can credit cards be easily accepted, and is there some advance money to cover initial expenses for the event (i.e. before any funds or registration fees would be transfered to the organization)? The overall NASSLLI can provide help with some of these matters, such as start-up funds. But it is wise to cover these matters far in advance.

Planning for ill fortune and good fortune In the past, NASSLLI has basically broke even. But should attendance be unexpectedly large, the event would raise money. Some of this money could be passed on to students in the form of reduced registration fees or course materials fees. And some should be sent back to the overall NASSLLI to seed future schools and for possible losses down the line. Part of a proposal should include a proposal on how additional income would be shared between the institution, the NASSLLI SC, and the attendees at the NASSLLI in question. Prior budgets and financial records are available from the NASSLII SC.