VLDB ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Principles, Policies and Guidelines
CONTENT:
1.		Name of Conference
2.		VLDB Logo
3.		Conference Language
4.		Conference Date Selection
5.		Submission and Approval Process for Conference Proposals
	5.1 Policy
	5.2 Procedure
6.		Proposal Contents
7.		Committees
	A. Conference Executive Committee
	B. Conference Operations Committee
	C. Program Committee
8.		Responsibilities of the Conference Officials
	General Conference Chairperson
	Endowment Representative
	Geographical Area Chairpersons
	Organization Committee Chairperson
	Program Committee Chairpersons
	Treasurer(s)
	Sponsorship Correspondent
	Publicity Chairperson
	Proceedings Editors 
9.		Endowment Advisory Officials
10.		Liabilities
11.		Legal Designation of Authority to the General Conference Chairperson 
12.		Sponsors and Supporters 
13.		Promotion of VLDB Activities
14.		Conference Budget
15.		Conference Proceedings
16.		Awards
17.		Registration
	A. Registration Fee
	B. Registration Cancellation Policy
18.		Endowment Financial Obligation
19.		Conference Account
20.		Distribution of Conference Funds
	A. General
	B. Surplus Distribution
21.		Conference Program
	A. Technical Program
		i. Papers
		ii. Panels
		iii. Special events
	B. Tutorials
	C. Social Program
	D. Exhibits 
22.		Site and Locale Arrangement
23.		Conference Report
	A. Preliminary Report
	B. Report
	C. Final Financial Report and Records
24.		Travel 
	A. Obligation
	B. Conference Attendee Travel Subsidy
	C. Program Committee travel and communication
25.		Other Conferences
Appendix I
     Miscellaneous Hints for Running a Conference
Appendix II
     Sample of VLDB Conference Plan and Checkpoints
 Appendix III
     VLDB Annual Conference Treasurer's Report
Appendix IV
List of VLDB Program Commitee Co-Chairs

September 1984; October 1988; October 1991; July 1995; August 1997; July 1998; October 1998; August 1999.
Prepared by the VLDB Endowment, with copyrights

1.	NAME OF CONFERENCE
The official title of the Conference is "Nth International Conference on Very Large Data Bases", and may be abbreviated to "Nth VLDB Conference". In the following guidelines it shall be referred to as the Conference or the VLDB Conference .
The governing board for the Conference is the VLDB Endowment, Inc. which is subsequently referred to as the Endowment.
2. 	VLDB LOGO
The VLDB Logo should be used whenever appropriate and possible. The Logo can be modified slightly to add a touch of local flavor of the host country, but it should  be  done tastefully. Any significant departure from the Logo should be cleared with the Endowment first before its appearance in print.
In addition to the logo, the following text is to appear: "VLDB Endowment, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization, incorporated in the US for the purpose of promoting and exchanging scholarly work in databases and related disciplines among all the peoples of the world. VLDB is an affiliate of IFIP."
The VLDB URL: www.vldb.org should appear on all publicity material and documents.
3.	 CONFERENCE LANGUAGE
The language for the conference is English. When required and deemed necessary by the Conference Executive Committee, simultaneous translation to a host country language can be made, but the cost for this must be included in the budget.
4.	 CONFERENCE DATE SELECTION
The  conference date should fall into the time range of September 15, give or take one month. Overriding circumstances may cause the selection of a different date as determined by the Endowment.
The conference should make all reasonable efforts to avoid major religious holidays over this period.  Two particular Jewish celebrations - Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - occur at varying times in September and should be taken into account when deciding on the conference dates.
The trustee responsible for “Conferences” is responsible for advising the organizing chair of unsuitable dates.
The paper submission and processing window should fall into the range of March to May.
Conference organizers may choose the actual date and window within these ranges with due regard for the interrelationship between the two. They make take their own needs into account, and should also coordinate the exact date with the organizers of other well-established major conferences in the same or related topical areas in order to avoid potential conflicts (see appendix I).
5.	 SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL PROCESS FOR CONFERENCE PROPOSALS
5.1 	Policy
The VLDB Conference is the only truly international, annual event in the database area. The Conference site should rotate among all continents and countries of the world. However, it has been the practice to host the Conference in odd-numbered years in Europe or adjacent countries and to strike a balance between continents during the other years. Also, countries should be selected on the basis of the organizers' ability to hold a successful conference of the quality traditional to VLDB, and a commitment that no restrictions are imposed by the host country on participation at the Conference.
5.2 	Procedure
 The VLDB Endowment has the responsibility of encouraging and fostering  proposals  and making decisions on all proposals. A proposal of a VLDB Conference can be made by any person or a group of persons and shall be made in writing to the President of the Endowment.
The decision for awarding the Conference is made at the Endowment meeting 3 (three) years before the conference year. As a rule, the Endowment meets in conjunction with the Conference. Copies of the final proposals should be submitted to the President, or as directed by the President, no later than three months before that Endowment meeting.
Proposers are strongly advised to submit preliminary proposals to the Endowment meeting four years before the proposed conference year. During the ensuing year the Endowment will work with the proposers and give them proper guidance to prepare the final proposal for the next meeting. 
The Endowment is free to deviate from these rules in exceptional cases such as unexpected political instabilities or particularly long lead times.
6.	 PROPOSAL CONTENTS
A proposal should contain:
(1)	Location of Conference
(2) 	Key Conference officials according to section 8 (including background, affiliation, title, address, and telephone, telex and computer network address)
(3) 	Preliminary budget according to form (see appendix III).
(4) 	Sponsors and Supporters (committed or potential)
(5) 	Tentative Conference date
(6) 	Acknowledgement of receipt and statement of acceptance of the VLDB Conference Guidelines
(7) 	Conference plan and milestones
(8) 	Experience of key conference officials in organizing conferences
(9) 	Projected number of attendees by region
(10) 	Projected costs for participants
(11) 	Location description
(12)	Anticipated problem areas and possible solutions (e.g., travel restrictions, economic conditions, etc.)
Proposers are encouraged to consult with the Endowment trustees of their geographical region, the Endowment Executive Committee, or the appropriate officials of the Endowment during the preparation.
7. 	CONFERENCE OFFICERS
The committees and the key officials should reflect the international nature of the Conference and its high standards, and draw broadly from multiple regions of the world. The following are representative organizations for the committees which have been successfully deployed in past conferences. Members can be added or deleted as needed.
A. Conference Technical Committee
The following members are suggested:
• General Conference Chairperson
It is recommended that the same individuals are not appointed multiple times in this role.
• Program Committee Regional Chairpersons (Proceedings Co-Editors)
It is strongly recommended that the same individuals are not appointed multiple times in this role. Appendix IV lists all the PC Co-Chairs for previous conferences.
• Panel Chairperson
• Tutorial Chairperson
• Industrial Chairperson
• Exhibition Chairperson
B. Program Committee
The Program Committee (PC) is normally partitioned into two or three regional subcommittees, each consisting of a number of PC members and headed by the Program Committee Regional Chairperson. The co-chairpersons are entrusted with the close liaison among the subcommittees, and report to the General Conference Chairperson.
Program committee members should be selected approximately in proportion to the expected number of papers from each geographical area. The number of members in this committee should be such that a PC member is not expected to be responsible to referee more than 10 papers. It is recommended that PC members should not be nominated for this role in any two consecutive years. However, some departures from this guideline may be unavoidable.
C. Conference Organization Committee
The Conference Organization Committee comprises the representatives for all functions which are critical or necessary to the successful operation of the Conference. The Committee is under the supervision of the General Conference Chairperson. The following members are suggested:
• General Conference Chairperson
• VLDB Endowment Representative
• Organization Committee Chairperson
• Geographical Area Chairpersons
• Local Arrangements
• Treasurer
• Publicity Chairperson (more than one if needed)
8.	 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CONFERENCE OFFICIALS
General Conference Chairperson
The chairperson has overall responsibility for all conference matters. As such, the chairperson reports directly to the Endowment through its President or designate on the planning, progress, operation and final results of the Conference. In particular, the chairperson is responsible for planning and control of the overall budget and of the organizational milestones. Appendix II show a sample of the VLDB Conference Plan and Checkpoints.
As a trend, grants assume an important and overgrowing role in conference budgets, presently covering on the average about one third. Because grants seem critical to the financial viability of a conference, major attention should be devoted to acquiring sponsorships. This person is responsible for maintaining contacts with local sponsoring organizations, soliciting grants, and keeping continuous track of the flow and disbursement of grants.
To dispense these duties, the chairperson is expected to stay in close communication with all other conference officials.
Additionally, this person is responsible for the appointment of the conference technical committee and the coordination of the entire technical program. The conference technical committee establishes the overall structure of the conference program, e.g., the number and balance of research papers sessions, application/experience sessions, tutorials, panels, keynote speakers and other invited talks.
If the General Conference Chairperson feels that it is appropriate, the program coordination duties can be allocated to a specially created position - the Technical Program Coordination Chairperson.
Program Committee Regional Chairpersons
Responsibilities include:
• naming of PC members and obtaining their pledges to perform their required duties,
• soliciting and processing papers,
• supervision of review and selection process,
• coordinating the activities of the regional PC subcommittees,
• setting up the final program in consultation with the General Conference Chairperson and other appropriate chairpersons,
• supervising the conduct of the program during the conference,
• appointing sub-committee from PC to select VLDB 10 Year Paper Award,
• editing the Proceedings	
Endowment Representative
The Endowment Representative acts as a bridge between the Conference and the Endowment at the operation level. In this capacity, the Representative will in particular
•	advise the Conference officials on all conference matters,
•	work with the General Conference Chairperson to set up all necessary procedures, in particular those that allow to resolve money management satisfactorily,
•	see to it that the bookkeeping procedure satisfies U.S. laws,
•	assume additional responsibility as agreed with the General Conference Chairperson.
The Endowment Representative should usually be a person knowledgeable in organizing a VLDB Conference and in the Endowment's operations. The Representative should work closely with the General Conference Chairperson to be familiar with the Conference's operation, and the advice provided should be strongly heeded.
Geographical Area Chairpersons
These persons are responsible for close communication between potential participants and supporters within a given geographical area. The Area Chairpersons report directly to the General Conference Chairperson. The areas typically identified are The Americas/Pacific/Europe/Africa/Near East. Combination or further differentiation may take place whenever advisable. Responsibilities include:
•	publicity in that geographical area,
•	get sponsors and supporters from the area,
• 	help prepare budget and control procedures as needed,
•	appoint geographical region or country coordinators to support the aforementioned responsibilities.
Organization Committee Chairperson
This person is responsible for all matters relating to the smooth running of the Conference, and reports directly to the General Conference Chairperson. Responsibilities include:
•	all local arrangements in the conference host country,
•	overall coordination of publicity and technical support (e.g., letterhead, printing of call-for-papers, advertising),
• 	social program,
• 	registration,
• 	day-to-day operation of the conference.
Treasurer
Treasurers are responsible for managing all money matters, and report to the General Conference Chairperson. The Organizing Committee Chairperson may be one of them. The Endowment reserves the right to appoint a treasurer outside the host country when necessary (e.g., in case of restrictions in currency conversion).
The treasurers are collectively responsible for the receipt and disbursement of conference funds. Each treasurer must keep records and procedures to satisfy participant country and U.S. Internal Revenue laws to maintain the Endowment's not-for-profit organization status. Treasurers must do final conference accounting in accordance with the format of appendix III and in agreement with the VLDB Endowment Treasurer.
Publicity Chairperson
This person is responsible for all conference publicity matters, and wherever necessary coordinates the activities with those of the Geographical Area Chairpersons and the Organization Committee Chairperson.
9.	 ENDOWMENT ADVISORY OFFICIALS
The Endowment provides the services of certain officials to the Conference organizers. 
Conference liaison. 
This official performs as an institutional memory in all conference matters and is the primary Endowment contact for the Endowment Representative.
Publication liaison. 
This official follows all aspects of the Endowment's publication affairs and should be contacted on behalf of contacts with Morgan Kaufmann or the Proceedings of the Conference.
Public relations and publicity liaison.
This official maintains contacts to ACM, IEEE, and other computer societies, is responsible for the promotional material of the Endowment, and provides the liaison to address lists and mailing services.
10.	 LIABILITIES
Conference officials should be aware that they may become individually liable in case of violation of copyright laws, claims of plagiarism, claims of slander, errors-and-omissions, trip-and-fall accidents, selection of unsafe carriers, to name the major risks. The officials are strongly advised to minimize their risks by taking an aggressive problem-prevention policy. This includes shifting the burden to authors by requiring them to sign copyright statements and transfer agreements; to participants by signing disclaimers on registration; by employing external organizations for providing all services not directly connected to running the conference, such as hotel reservation agencies or travel agencies, have these organizations assume responsibility for all corresponding risks, and place a corresponding disclaimer in the conference announcements; by having the organization providing and running the conference venue assume the risks connected with the conference locale.
The following disclaimer should be included in all conference publications: “The Organizing Committee of a VLDB conference is not liable for any loss or damage arising from the activities of this particular conference as exercised by its agents: conference organizers, carriers, proceedings, publications and programme committee.  Neither can the VLDB Endowment Inc, nor its Board of Trustees, be held liable.”
Officials must make sure that liability insurance is available to them to cover the remaining risks, and in particular to persons who are authorized to issue conference funds. This insurance should be purchased unless it can be provided by the local computer society.
11. 	LEGAL DESIGNATION OF AUTHORITY TO THE GENERAL CONFERENCE CHAIRPERSON
Upon approval of a conference proposal, the President of the Endowment shall write a letter to the General Conference Chairperson to provide him with the right to act on  behalf of the Conference, including commitment of funds in organizing the Conference. Under no circumstances, however, will the Endowment be liable beyond the maximum sum as designated in sections 17 and 19.
12.SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS
"Sponsor" designation should be reserved to those who contribute significantly, financially or otherwise. Not-for-profit sponsors may share profits if agreed beforehand. 
"Supporter" designation can be assigned to all organizations supporting the Conference in a lesser role, financial or otherwise.
The term "In Cooperation with" is to be used when a professional organization agrees to let the Conference use its name but accepts no financial involvement.
The term “In Cooperation with” is to be used when a professional organization agrees to let the Conference use its name/logo but accepts no financial involvement, e.g., ACM. From 1999 onwards, it will be necessary to apply every year for IEEE “in cooperation” status.
The European Consortium for Informatics & Mathematics, ERCIM, has “in cooperation” status. ERCIM offers 2kECU per conference in exchange for their logo on publicity material, on the conference Web site, and the placement of their brochures at the conference. In return, ERCIM publices the conference via their Web site and newsletter.
No political or other organizations that practice discrimination based on religion, race or creed can be sponsors or supporters.  Governmental agencies are not deemed to belong to this category.
13.	 PROMOTION OF VLDB ACTIVITIES
The Conference organizers are strongly encouraged to promote the various activities of the Endowment on announcing or during the Conference. For example, a form for subscribing to the Conference proceedings could be attached to the call-for-participation, advertisements or call-for-papers for the VLDB Journal could be included in confirmations of registration. Conference organizers may also elect to cooperate with the Journal editors by considering the best conference papers for publication in the Journal.
A table, an advertizing board and audio-visual equipment (if possible) should be made available at every VLDB conference to promote the following year’s conference. Any resonable cost for this activity will be met by the current conference.
Every VLDB conference must provide facilities - at no cost to the Endowment Board - for publicity of VLDB material (VLDB Journal, VLDB Proceedings etc.).
14.	 CONFERENCE BUDGET
A preliminary budget must be submitted with the preliminary proposal to the Endowment. A complete budget in accordance with the format of appendix III must be part of the formal proposal. If necessary, additional information should be provided as part of the final budget.
As a matter of policy, the Endowment will only approve a budget if it contains provisions for insurance, whether by purchasing insurance or using the coverage of the local computer society.
If the Endowment imposes budget changes or conditions on the proposal, a revised budget must be drawn up and submitted to the VLDB Executive Committee within six months after the acceptance of the proposal.
Updated budgets must be submitted to the Endowment for approval annually, or whenever there are substantial changes in the budget. It is the responsibility of the General Conference Chairperson and the President of the Endowment (or their designates) to resolve any differences.
Endowment meetings at a conference are to be organized by the Conference Organizers but invoiced to (and paid by) the Endowment. The cost of refreshments shall appear as both an outgoing and an income. The cost of the room shall be met by the current conference.
15. 	CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Proceedings will be published for each conference. Copyright  of the proceedings must be assigned to the VLDB Endowment.  Each author or co-author must sign an agreement to assign the copyright to the Endowment when his or her paper is accepted before it will be published in the proceedings.
The format, front matter and copyright notice of the Proceedings should follow guidelines stated in the VLDB Proceedings Management Guide.
The Endowment draws significant income from after-conference sale of proceedings, and will commission printing for Morgan Kaufmann in North America of 1000 copies of later sales.* The conference should print locally what it requires: enough to be distributed to the Conference attendees and extra on-site purchases. Any surplus may be shipped (at the expense of the conference) to Morgan Kaufmann. The conference will be reimbursed by VLDB Endowment Board at the price per copy of (*) above. Conference officials must secure the masters of the Proceedings immediately after they have been printed and forward the masters to Morgan Kaufmann Publ., Inc.
Printing of the Conference proceedings occupies a significant portion of the Conference budget. The proceedings costs for the participants are to be included in the registration fee.  
16. AWARDS
The annual VLDB 10 Year Paper Award is an award to be given at the VLDB conference to the co-authors of the paper from the VLDB conference ten years earlier deemed to have turned out to be the “most influential paper in the VLDB Proceedings 10 years ago”. The PC Chair should decide how best to implement this award. It is not mandatory to give an award if there is no suitable paper. Selection of the award paper should take into account the impact of the paper on subsequent database research and/or practice, as measured by such factors as whether or not the paper started a new line of research, now heavily cited the paper is, and other appropriate criteria.
The VLDB Outstanding Paper of the Current Year Award is a paper nominated by the PC members. A sub-committee of the PC considers the nominated papers, and recommend their choice to the PC via email. Only one paper may be given this award per year. It is similarly not mandatory to give an award if there is no suitable paper.
17. 	REGISTRATION
A. Registration Fee
The level of registration fee is part of the formal proposal and as such subject to confirmation by the Endowment. The size of the fee should be such that the broadest possible participation at the Conference is attained.
As a general policy, no preferential treatment shall be given to members of particular organizations or institutions, Endowment trustees, conference officials, or speakers. Reduced fees are permitted for early and student registrations. In planning the registration fee the organizers may consult with the VLDB Executive Committee. 
B. Registration Cancellation Policy
When an individual wants to cancel his/her registration after it has been made, the decision on how to handle this matter will be made by the Conference Executive Committee (i.e. full refund, partial refund, no refund, etc.). Every effort should be made to limit the penalty to a small handling fee. 
18.	 ENDOWMENT FINANCIAL OBLIGATION
Conferences are expected to operate on a non-loss basis. To aid in addressing cash-flow problems during the start-up phase of the Conference, the Endowment will provide the following loans. The conference organizers are expected to raise at least an equal amount from other sources, preferably in the form of grants so as to keep the registration fee as low as possible.
(1)	An advance loan of US$12,500 to the General Conference Chairperson or designate for operating expenses,
(2) 	A further loan of up to US$10,000 may be released by the VLDB Executive Committee subject to the following conditions:
•	a request for these funds and a revised budget has been submitted by the General Conference Chairperson,
• 	an equal amount of loan or grants above that in the approved budget has been brought in from other sources,
• 	the loan has been formally approved by the VLDB Executive Committee.
(3)	A reserve loan of US$ 2,500 to be available for the VLDB Executive Committee's use for emergency troubleshooting (primarily travel) in conjunction with the Conference. 
The amounts stated above can be revised by the Endowment as circumstances change.
Loan money is to be repaid in USD to avoid currency fluctuation problems.
19.	 CONFERENCE ACCOUNT
One or more accounts can be opened for managing the money of the Conference. All accounts should be in the name of the Conference and not individual names. A savings account (or interest-bearing checking account) when available should be used in addition to a checking account to earn additional income when funds are not disbursed immediately and when the amount is sufficiently large.
Strong care should be taken in order to ensure central control of money flows and expenses. Conference organizers should make sure that central authority for budget and financial control including proper reporting has been established.
20.	 DISTRIBUTION OF CONFERENCE FUNDS
A. General
General income from conference registration, loans, and other sources should be used as follows (in order of priority):
1. operating expenses, 
2. repayment of Endowment and obligated loans,
3. repayment of forgivable loans, 
4. payment of tentative commitments (e.g., Conference official expenses or travel),
5. surplus distribution.
Loan money is to be repaid to the Endowment within 1 month of the conference. With approval from the Treasurer, this may be delayed until 31 December of the year of the conference. If the conference is in profit, then:
• The conference must repay the loan by 31 December of the year of the conference, otherwise it becomes liable for interest of 2% over the deposited interest rate in USD. The VLDB Endowment liability is limited to an absolute maximum of 25K USD.
• The conference can deduct from the loan repayment, the cost of printing a the surplus-to-requirements proceedings provided Morgan Kaufmann acknowledges that the proceedings were received undamaged.
If the Conference runs into deficit, liabilities within a priority will have to be negotiated between the various parties before distribution as above.  However, it is recommended that the deficit will be shared among the parties at a priority according to the amount of their commitment. The maximum liability that can be absorbed by the VLDB Endowment is limited to the total amount of its advances and loans to the Conference. A liability agreement must accompany the budget.
B. Surplus Distribution
All surpluses after repaying expenses, advances, and loans, will be shared in principle at 50% each between the Endowment and the host country sponsors, but may be negotiated. The host country share is to be reserved for the support of persons from the host country to promote and attend future VLDB Conferences. The decision as to how this fund will be applied will be based mainly on the recommendation of the key conference organizers of that conference with the Endowment's consent.
21.	 CONFERENCE PROGRAM
A. Technical Program
The technical program structure and format is determined by the Program Committee under the guidance of the General Conference Chairperson. The final program should be set with the concurrence of the Conference Executive Committee in a final program meeting. Highest consideration must be paid to maintain a quality technical program.
Further information is given in the Guidelines and Recommendations for the VLDB Program Committees.
i. Papers:
The Call for Papers specifies the types of papers and the appropriate criteria for acceptance, including length, for all conference paper tracks. 
Except for invited papers, each paper must be refereed normally by at least three (3) program committee members. Papers should be selected primarily on the basis of quality, although a balance of different topics should be taken into consideration as well.
Acceptance quotas are set by the region based on the number of submitted papers and historical acceptance rates. There are hard quotas for a limited number of “unconditionally accepted” papers, and a soft quota for “may be accepted” papers.
Acceptance of papers submitted by program committee members is allowed. PC members should submit their own or co-authored papers to their own region for review. The regional PC chair ranks these papers separately from others papers, and at the regional PC meeting, presents a ranked list of their scores without identifying the papers or their authors. The PC decides where to place the cutoff threshold, without discussing individual papers. It is expected that the cutoff threshold will take into account the number and quality of non-PC papers.
The PC should invite contributions particularly from those sectors, like industry, which don’t usually submit papers. The PC may accept presentations, but not papers, if appropriate. At all times, the PC should treat all types of papers fairly, and the PC Chair should decide if the paper is to be considered by one of more PCs.
Papers should not be judged severely on English style and form. Papers should not be rejected purely because the English form is not good, unless understanding the papers is severely impaired. When possible, persons should be assigned to improve this kind of papers to whatever extent possible.
Submissions should be accompanied by a disclosure of prior publication or submission for publication elsewhere, or intent to do so. In general, papers that are published in another conference or in a journal are not acceptable. However, if a paper is published only in a local conference or journal, it can still be accepted, provided the circulation of that publication is very limited. 
Invited papers should be used very sparingly and in consultation with the General Conference Chairman. They are accepted without going through the normal refereeing process. However, to assure the technical quality of an invited paper, at least one program committee member should read it and suggest modifications if needed. Invited speakers should be informed that this will  be done and that they are expected to cooperate. When an invited paper is low in quality, it is the Program Committee Chairperson's responsibility to assure that the quality be improved or the paper will not be accepted. This should occur rarely as extreme care should be used in inviting papers.
ii. Panels:
A fair number of sessions should be reserved for panels. The panel chairpersons will solicit proposals for session topics from the community-at-large. They will submit to the Conference chairpersons those of whose quality they satisfied themselves. When setting up the final program the program committee will select among the proposals. The panel chairpersons are then entrusted with organizing the panel sessions and ensuring their high quality.
iii. Special events:
To encourage more innovative and forward-looking perspectives at Conferences, organizers should consider the following ideas:
• An award for the most novel and/or innovative paper
• A special track or special reviewing process to encourage high-quality innovative papers.
• A special panel session on "future vision".
B. Tutorials
The Conference Executive Committee may decide to hold tutorials as part of the conference program. General tutorials cover broad areas and are primarily intended for practitioners. Technical tutorials address more focussed research areas. Usually the general tutorials will be scheduled before or after the Conference and technical tutorials during the Conference. 
When a decision is made to have a tutorial, the tutorial program must meet the high standard of the VLDB Conference. Therefore, the Program Committee will be put in charge of the contents of the tutorial program.
The Committee may elect to charge a separate fee for general tutorials. The tutorial budget must be part of the overall budget, but should be planned to be either profit-making or as a strong drawing card to get more attendees.
Tutorial speakers should be paid a flat fee. How the speaker then utilizes the payment is their own business. The exact amount will be decided by the local organizers and will depend on:
•	Whether or not the speaker is located within the same continent as the conference,
•	Local accommodation and living costs,
•	The length of the tutorial.
C. Social Program
 As a tradition of the VLDB Conferences, a strong social program is encouraged. In past conferences, host countries have taken the opportunity to hold social and cultural events in conjunction with the technical program to show the host country culture to Conference visitors. They have become highlights of the conference complementing the technical program.
This program is a discretionary program to be decided by the Conference Executive Committee. Strong consideration should be paid to the feelings and the traditions of the host country.
The program, however, should be run in such a way that much of the expenses should be covered by contributions from the host country organizations, private or public. However, the Conference banquet and reception alone, when moderately done, can be included in the registration fee. Optional events at an additional charge may be offered to the conference attendees. In no case should the social events cause the Conference to go into deficit when general income is used for this purpose.
D. Exhibits
Where warranted the Conference arrangements may include an exhibit of commercial products as well as research prototypes. Exhibits should be solicited, judged and organized by the Organization Committee. Financial arrangements should be kept entirely separate from the other conference finances.
22.	 SITE AND LOCALE ARRANGEMENT
Conference meeting site and locale details that have not already been determined as part of the approved proposal should be resolved by the Conference Executive Committee members of the host country. Consideration should be given to places where free or nominal-charge conference facilities are available, and that are convenient for national and international access.
23.	 CONFERENCE REPORT
A. Preliminary Report
A preliminary report should be issued and verbally presented to the Endowment during its meeting at the Conference. In this report, the Conference Committee should give a synopsis of the attendance, program quality, organization, financial and other status of the Conference, and explain significant variations with respect to the plans and expectations. A preliminary written financial report must be provided.
B. Report
The General Conference Chairperson or his designate must submit a written report to the Endowment within three (3) months after the Conference has been held. It should cover the previously mentioned categories and report on all experiences and recommendations useful for organizers of future conferences.
C. Final Financial Report and Records
A final Financial Report with all the incomes and expenses must be submitted to the Endowment as soon as all matters have been cleared but no later than 28 February in the year following the Conference except for unusual circumstances. This schedule must scrupulously be followed in order for the Endowment to be able to manage its financial affairs. The report must follow the outline of the budget form in appendix III. The report must be certified by the Treasurer(s).
The Endowment Treasurer will provide further guidelines on the final financial report.
The name and address(es) of the person(s) in charge of the host country surplus to be used for future VLDB related activities of the host country should be identified, as well as the amount of funds.
24.	 TRAVEL
A. Obligation
To attract attendees, travel costs to the Conference site should be as low as possible. Organizers should work with travel agencies and airlines to obtain low cost travel to the Conference site.
Under no circumstance will travel be a direct commitment between the Conference and the individual attendees. All travel commitments are to be understood between the travel agencies and the individuals.
B. Conference Attendee Travel Subsidy
 To guarantee the true international character of the VLDB Conference, it is advisable that travel support funds be obtained. Conference registration income cannot be used for this purpose. Contributions from other organizations and surplus from the tutorial program can be allocated  for this  purpose. The algorithm to allocate these funds is the decision of the Conference Executive Committee. Priority should  generally be based on the individuals' contributions to the Conference.
Except for such funds, Endowment trustees, conference officers, invited and other speakers are responsible for their own travel expenses.
C. Program Committee travel and communication
Participation of PC members in the paper selection process and communication between the PC chairpersons are critical to the quality of the Conference program. Limited funds may be provided as part of the budget in order to partially offset travel and communication expenses by PC members for these purposes. These PC members must demonstrate that no other sources are available to them.
25. Associated Conferences and Workshops
Satellite Conferences
• A satellite event is one which is held at the same geographical location as VLDB and as an adjunct event.
• A satellite event has its own organization with independent legal and financial responsibilities.
• A satellite event agrees that VLDB is the primary event, and that the satellite event is a smaller adjunct to the larger conference.
• The amount of shared PC work or organization is dependent on the decision of the local organizing committee each year.
“In Cooperation with” Conferences
“In cooperation with” conferences may be held at a different time and in a different location to the VLDB conference. 
Each case shall be decided individually by the VLDB Executive on the basis of the following requirements:
1.  The organizational and budgetary rules must conform to those of the VLDB conference.
2.  Financial obligations should be entered into only if:
-	the financial situation of the Endowment allows this
-	the conference budget appears to be sound
-	the Endowment has the personnel capacity to check out and monitor the budget
3.  The following criteria should be applied:
(a)	Quality and reputation
(b)	Multi-country
(c)	Promotion of database system orientation in general
(d)	Promotion of database system orientation where it is lacking
• Criteria 3(b) & (c) are mandatory whereas only one of criteria (a) or (d) need to be met.
• The “in cooperation with” conference should make a link to the VLDB web home page from their own conference webpage, and vice versa.
• The “in cooperation with” conference may request the VLDB mailing list.
• The EDBT series of conferences have a permanent “in cooperation with” status with VLDB.