Version 1.2 – updated December 14, 2021

CHI Steering Committee Policy Document – Steering Committee Rules and Procedures v1.2 Download

Table of Contents

Article 1: Aim of the CHI Steering Committee

For reference: http://prior.sigchi.org/conferences/chi/responsibilities

The ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) is hosted by ACM SIGCHI, the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction. CHI has been held annually since 1982 and attracts thousands of international attendees. The ACM SIGCHI CHI Conference Series Steering Committee (or CHI Steering Committee or CHI-SC for short) is responsible for oversight of the annual ACM CHI conference and the conference series itself.

The committee consists of appointed members and elected officers.

The objectives of the CHI Steering Committee (CHI SC) are to:

Within the scope of the “long-term vision for CHI” provided by the SIGCHI Executive Committee (EC) define and shape the CHI conference goals and direction and determine the overall strategy and vision for the CHI conference series;
Serve as the focal point for communications between the CHI Conference General Chairs (GC) and Technical Program Chairs (TPC), the SIGCHI Executive Committee (EC), and ACM Headquarters staff;
Advise on the CHI conference operations and finances;
Support each year’s General Chairs (GC), Technical Program Chairs (TPC), and Paper Chairs (PC) of CHI by providing advice, giving feedback, and supporting them in their interactions with the EC and the CHI community;
Promote and maintain the CHI conference as the most prestigious in the field of human-computer interaction and the premier international venue for researchers and practitioners in human-computer interaction;
Within the scope of the “identification of regions of interest for future sites” provided by the EC, CHI SC selects and confirms conference locations and dates;
Approve appointments of the main conference chairs including General Chairs (GC), Technical Program Chairs (TPC), and Papers Chairs (PC);
Grow and develop the volunteer base to identify future conference chairs, organizing committee members, steering committee members, and working group members;
Provide history and continuity for the conference series;
Ensure that ACM and SIGCHI policies which apply to CHI conferences are correctly applied;
Create procedures and policies that apply to the CHI conference series;
Resolve general issues with the CHI conference series;
Support CHI conferences officers in decision making;
Ensure SIGCHI Executive Committee (EC) responsibilities with respect to CHI conference and the CHI SC are communicated and understood;
Ensure information exchange and mutual awareness with the SIGCHI Executive Committee.

Article 2: SC membership

Section 1: Members

The CHI Steering Committee shall consist of representatives with interests aligned with ensuring the continued success of the CHI conference series. The committee will represent the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, including researchers and professionals across the various specialities within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Further, the CHI SC aims to represent the diversity of our CHI community, including, but not limited to gender, domain of research, research methodology, geographical location.

The CHI Steering Committee was created by the SIGCHI Executive Committee in 2016. Its first meeting was in Denver (USA), December 10th-11th 2016. The CHI Steering Committee ensures that the objectives of the conference (as established by the Steering Committee and Executive Committee of SIGCHI) are met and oversees the activities of all conference committee chairs.

The qualifications to serve on the CHI Steering Committee include:

Senior level or significant involvement with prior or upcoming CHI Conference Organizing Committees;
Regular attendance at the CHI conference;
Support from employers for the time needed to attend CHI SC meetings.

The CHI SC supports two types of members:

Voting members are expected to attend meetings, receive emails sent to both the CHI_SC_non-voting and CHI_SC_voting email lists, participate in discussions, and vote on motions, including but not limited to motions on the SC membership, future CHI conference locations and chairs, and the strategies and implementation of the CHI Conference series.
Non-voting members are invited to attend meetings (unless there are voting-only issues being discussed), receive emails sent to the CHI_SC_non-voting email list, and participate in discussions open to the larger steering committee; however, non-voting members do not vote.

All ratified future TPCs and GCs will be invited to the steering committee as non-voting members for the duration of their term, which expires 12 months after the end of their CHI conference. It may be that after their CHI conference is complete, TPCs or GCs who are non-voting members will be invited to serve as voting members, at which time they would begin a term as outlined in Article 2, Section 2.

Section 2: Inviting new members

(1) The SC will invite future members by choosing among previous GCs, TPCs, and PCs of the CHI conference series or previous or active members of the CHI organizing committee who show a high commitment to the conference series.

(2) New SC members can be invited at any time and will be voted for inclusion by theexisting members of the SC. A ⅔ majority is required to vote in new SC members.

(3) Non-voting members who wish to become voting members can self-nominate, and will beevaluated based on their recent and active participation in the organizing committee of the conference.

(4) Volunteer recruitment is a priority of the CHI SC and public calls for volunteering on the steering committee will occur at minimum annually.

Section 3: Membership termination and conversion to non-voting

(1) Membership of an SC member can be converted to non-voting when they:

have not attended three SC meetings in a row (either physically or virtually) or
are frequently inactive in the SC discussion and decision process as archived on the SC mailing list or
are frequently inactive in terms of attending the CHI conference.

Membership of an SC member can be terminated when they

do not adequately perform or abandon their assigned tasks (see Article 3).

(2) Each year, before the SC meeting held adjacent to the CHI conference, the SC Chair willcheck the activity status of each member during the last 12 months. The SC Chair will then report to the SC members, who will vote on SC membership conversion and termination. In addition to the SC Chair, any SC member can report inactive SC members and call for a vote on their membership status.

(3) Before voting, the SC member shall first receive a written notice from the SC Chairexplaining the reason(s) for the proposed conversion or termination and shall be given an opportunity to challenge the proposed conversion or termination to the other SC members.

(4) SC membership conversion or termination requires a ⅔ majority vote by the SC. SC members can also choose to voluntarily withdraw from the SC by notifying the SC Chair at any time.

(5) SC members whose membership has been converted will become a non-voting member; those who were terminated because of not adequately performing or abandoning assigned tasks will not become non-voting members (see above).

(6) SC members or non-voting SC members who perform general conduct unworthy of CHI (such as corruption, sexual harassment, or other serious misdeeds as outlined in the ACM policy against discrimination and harassment: https://www.acm.org/about-acm/policy-against-harassment) will be immediately ejected from the SC and will not be invited to be (or remain as) non-voting members. The SC Chair, Chair-emeritus, and Chair-elect must agree that the misconduct meets the criteria for ejection.

Article 3: SC member roles and responsibilities

Section 1: Roles and Responsibilities

The CHI SC shall aim to have members with the following roles:

SC Chair (Steering Committee Chair)
- The chair should liaise with the EC to ensure a smooth working relationship and flow of information;
- Organize meeting agendas, facilitate face-to-face meeting logistics, and chair meetings;
- Follow-up on SC tasks that have been assigned;
- Take corrective action when a conference committee member does not or cannot perform their duties (i.e., removing conference committee members);
- Ensure SC roles are filled and conduct succession planning;
- Attend the SIGCHI Council of Steering Committee Chairs meeting or find a replacement member to attend;
- Create preliminary CHI budgets and approve consolidated CHI budgets each year along with the SC budget committee.
- The SC chair shall have the power to delegate specific responsibilities to the Chair-elect, Chair-emeritus and other SC members as appropriate. The SC chair is an ex officio member of all committees and working groups of the SC.
SC Chair-Elect (active as Steering Committee Secretary)
- Schedule face-to-face meetings;
- Schedule virtual meetings;
- Minute meetings, or work with administrative support to do so;
- Set-up video conferencing during meetings and provide logistical support;
- Keep track of the schedule and progress of the SC task forces;
- Chair meetings when the SC Chair is unable to attend.
SC Chair-Emeritus (most recent past SC chair)
- Participate in working groups related to evolution of the conference series;
- Support the Chair and onboard the chair-elect into the position;
- Liaise with the EC, as appropriate;
- Ensure that documentation of the activities as SC Chairs (Chair, Chair-Elect and Chair-Emeritus) is up-to-date.
SC GC Liaison Director
- Ensure continuity and sharing of institutional knowledge among previous, current, and future general chairs;
- Manage the documentation of CHI organising committee roles and milestones together with TPC Liaison;
- Ensure a full conference organizing committee (ensuring diversity of representation);
- Ensure that GCs follow prescribed best practices for accessibility (digital and physical);
- Implement contract approval procedures;
- Manage vendors contracted to the CHI conference series who are not performing adequately;
- Check, understand and oversee the CHI budget for the current and future CHI conferences;
- Consider increases and decreases to the registration fees;
- Consider the number of paying attendees (to build the budget) and how much registrants of each category should pay;
- Consider the costs of the convention center and the technology for remote participation in CHI budget each year;
- Keep track of the financial objectives for the current and future conferences.
SC TPC Liaison Director
- Act as first point of contact for proposals to change aspects of the technical program of CHI (including subcommittee changes, review process changes, PCS changes);
- Ensure a standard for the technical program by working with the current TPCs, PCs, and other venue chairs for presentation of content at CHI;
- Ensure diversity of the technical programme venue chairs and papers committee (subcommittee chairs and associate chairs);
- Maintain the standard for the reviewing process in collaboration with the TPCs, PCs, and SIGCHI VP for publications, including the management of the program committee meeting and evolutions thereof;
- Maintain knowledge and advise TPCs around systems, including PCS 2.0, ACM DL, Cobi, Confer, Sheridan, Qoala and communicate with the current chairs regarding these systems;
- Manage the documentation describing roles and activities of CHI venue chairs together with the GC Liaison;
- Liaise with SIGCHI VP for operations and VP for publications.
SC Future Chairs & Volunteer Management Director
- Conduct outreach for identifying future GCs, TPCs, Paper chairs, SC members, and other SC volunteers;
- Maintain a list of potential candidates and confidential comments on those candidates provided by the SC members;
- Maintain volunteer list resulting from the annual open call for volunteers;
- Facilitate voting processes for incoming SC members, GCs, and TPCs;
- Handle conflicts when soliciting feedback on potential candidates;
- Process GC and TPC invitations individually to systematically invite future chairs;
- Solicit volunteers, develop people for future roles, ensure diverse representation (e.g., geography, research methods, gender); ○ Invite student volunteer chairs to the CHI debrief meeting.
SC Long-Term Strategy and Policy Director
- Chair task forces and working groups made up of members of the SC and CHI Community, related to the long-term strategy of the CHI conference;
- Develop the long-term vision for the CHI Conference: (e.g., Towards CHI 2030);
- Organize discussions around scale of CHI, growth of CHI, feel of CHI;
- Establish ongoing conference objectives, formats, and policies;
- Follow up on evolutions within a conference and assesses its value (usually over a period of 3 years);
- Maintain a definition of the CHI audience year over year;
- Provide alternative models of what CHI could look like, based on working group results and input from the CHI community;
- Develop CHI conference policies;
- Create and manage a schedule for the review of policies;
- Ensure appropriate communication of policies to the CHI organizing committee, CHI attendees, and the larger CHI community;
- Ensure that the conference committee adheres to ACM policies and procedures;
- Review and approve contracts related to sites and vendors;
- Manage long-term contracts.
SC Site Selection Director
- Conduct and Manage Site Visits, including:
  - Suggest regions of interest for future sites to the SC;
  - Review and update meeting requirements for the CHI conference and physical program committee meetings (if any);
  - Plan and conduct site visits together with ACM representatives and the conference planning support vendor (presently Executive Events);
  - Ensure an adequate facility for CHI conferences;
  - Ensure an accessible facility for CHI conferences;
  - Maintain and update the Request for Proposal sent to the cities;
  - Conduct site visits for affiliate events as needed prior to GC selection (e.g., offsite conference reception, dinner and lunch venues).
SC Data Organization and Analysis Director
- Manage the collection, analysis, and storage of data from conferences, including:
  - CHI conference surveys;
  - PCS Data;
  - Registrations at CHI;
  - Program committee surveys and other on-demand surveys.
- Communicate the gathered data to the larger SIGCHI community, by working with the current TPCs, papers chairs, and analytics chair to prepare and release reports summarizing and contextualizing the data.
SC Sponsorship Director
- Work with the professional contractor on year-to-year sponsorship;
- Maintaining lists of sponsor contacts year over year;
- Work with the US-based Doctoral Consortium chair to prepare and submit the NSF grant that funds the DC program.
SC Web/Communications Director
- Manage the webspace and ensure it is up to date;
- Communicate via social media the function and decisions of the SC;
- Monitor social media for topics/issues that need to be considered by the SC;
- Correct misinformation that is observed being discussed online in public forums;
- Organize annual Town Hall Meeting at the CHI Conference.
SC Accessibility Director
- Liaise with the SIGCHI Accessibility community;
- Work to support CHI conference chairs in ensuring that CHI meets standards for accessibility as defined in the guidelines put forth jointly by the SIGCHI Accessibility community and SIGACCESS;
- Identify accessibility issues in process and materials (digital and physical) administered by the SC;
- Support SC efforts to include accessibility in decision making about CHI prior to the appointment of conference chairs (e.g. site visit);
- Liaise with the EC to address digital and physical accessibility issues across SIGCHI.

On-demand task forces and working groups may be required, and could be chaired by other SC members taking on temporary leadership director role within the SC (e.g., Chair of CHI Review Process Working Group: 2019-2022).

The remaining SC members will have the title of SC Member (voting or non-voting).

Section 2: Elections

Members of the SC

At or before each SC meeting during (or right after) the CHI conference, elections will beheld for the different roles in the SC if their term has come to an end.
Expiring Director and Chair roles will be made known to the SC at least 3 months prior tothe SC meeting associated with the annual CHI conference. The SC Chair will call for volunteers to fill the roles and will work with the Volunteer Management Director to identify external candidates for each vacant role.
SC Chairs and Directors are elected by a simple majority vote. Directors should preferably, but not necessarily, have served on the SC for a year. The Chairs must have served on the SC for at least two years as a voting member or one year as a voting member plus one year as a non-voting member, before assuming the role. Voting will occur either online prior to the CHI conference or in the face-to-face meeting at the CHI conference.
SC members (voting) are elected by a 2/3 majority vote.
SC members (non-voting) are not elected, but are automatically generated when new GCs and TPCs are chosen.
If two or more members volunteer for the same Director or Chair role, they will try toreach consensus. In case no consensus is reached, the members in question will both be candidates for the role, and the member with the most votes will be considered for Director. This candidate will then be elected according to the rules in item 3) above.

Leadership structure and its members

The CHI steering committee will have the following leadership structure: one Chair-elect, one Chair, one Chair-emeritus. These are all two-year terms. At the end of each two year period, the former Chair-elect becomes Chair, the former Chair becomes Chair-emeritus, and a new chair-elect is chosen. The former Chair-emeritus may leave the SC or run for a director role.

As the Chair-elects serve for two years before assuming the role of SC Chairs, they may be chosen from outside of the CHI Steering Committee, but must meet the requirements for steering committee membership (see rules for SC Chairs in item 3) above).

The Chair-elect will be ratified by the SIGCHI EC after the SC has approved the selection.

If the Chair-elect has not demonstrated capacity to be promoted into the SC Chair position, the SC can choose to replace that person with a ⅔ majority vote. The two-years period as Chair-elect might not apply in that particular case.

Section 3: Terms

A term as SC Chair lasts two years, after which that person becomes the Chair-emeritus for a term of 2 additional years. The term as SC Chair-elect lasts two years, after which that person becomes the SC Chair for a term of 2 additional years.
Tenure in each Director role is by default three years. After three years in the same Director role, the SC member who held that role can apply for another role or re-apply for the same role. There is no maximum time for re-election to a Director role, other than the maximum time (10 consecutive years) that any individual can remain on the CHI Steering Committee.
General SC Members (voting) terms are for five years. Members can be renominated.
A member of the steering committee in any combination of roles would not be expected to serve for more than 10 consecutive years.
Non-voting members who are future GCs and TPCs cannot become voting members of the SC until their particular CHI conference is past, but they can nominate themselves (or be nominated for) to become SC Member (voting).

Article 4: SC meetings

Section 1: Frequency

There will be 9-12 SC meetings per (conference) year:

(1) Face-to-face meetings. There will be a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 face-to-face meetings per year.

A one-day meeting will be held directly following the CHI conference as a debrief and planning meeting. The SC Chair has the discretion to move this meeting to occur directly prior to the CHI Conference.A two-day meeting will be held overlapping the program committee meeting that occurs in December.A spring and fall meeting could be proposed in years where there is sufficient work to do that warrants additional face-to-face meetings.
The SC Chair and Chair-elect set the agenda for face-to-face meetings, with a call for agenda items in advance.

(2) Virtual meetings. There will be a monthly virtual meeting, except in months in which there is a face-to-face meeting Exceptions may occur in the summer months.

Meetings of 1 hour (and not to exceed 2 hours) will be scheduled monthly. The meetings will alternate between time zones to spread out the disadvantage to different members.An open agenda will be maintained in which members can add items to virtual meetings in advance of the meeting.
In the first meeting of each year, the group shall consider its Terms of Reference and make recommendations of any changes.

All meetings will be chaired by the SC Chair; the Chair-elect will step in when the Chair is unable to run the meeting. The SC Chair-elect is responsible for minuting the meetings. A majority (50%+1) of all members shall constitute a quorum for all meetings in which votes are being conducted.

Section 2: Attendance

SC members are expected to attend all SC meetings, either physically or virtually. Virtual meeting days will be chosen at each face-to-face meeting and will be scheduled in advance. Non-attendance can lead to termination from the SC (see Article 2, Section 3). Technology will be in place to support virtual attendance at face-to-face meetings to accommodate extreme circumstances that prevent travel.

Meetings will never be video or audio recorded, even if remote meeting technology easily enables recording.

Section 3: Reporting of CHI SC meetings to SIGCHI Council of Steering Committee Chairs (CSCC)

Major outcomes, decisions, and action items from SC meetings will be reported to theSIGCHI Council of Steering Committee Chairs (and by that to the SIGCHI Executive Committee, the Vice President for Conferences).
The discussions and information from the general annual CSCC meeting will be reportedby the person attending this meeting (SC Chair or substitute) at the next CHI SC meeting.
Decisions and action items of concern for the current conference will be reported to theconference GCs or TPCs of the current year (who are non-voting members of the SC).
The SC Web and Communications Director is responsible for reporting outcomes from SC meetings to the larger CHI community.
The SC Chair is responsible for reporting outcomes from SC meetings to the SIGCHI EC and reporting back on EC discussions relevant to the SC.

Article 5: SC communication and decision procedures

Section 1: Raising issues

Any SC member can raise an issue by sending an email to the list of all SC members. SC members should reply to the mail on the list describing their position within a week unless otherwise specified by the sender.

Issues can also be raised by adding items to future meeting agendas, or by communicating with the SC Chair or Chair-elect directly.

Section 2: Voting on Issues

If no consensus on a raised issue is apparent, the SC Chair will call for a formal vote, either online or in person. Every voting SC member has one vote. Every SC member should vote within a week for virtual votes, and immediately in person, unless otherwise specified by the SC Chair. A normal majority of votes will decide the result of the voting procedure unless otherwise specified by the SC Chair. If no vote is received from an SC member within the time specified, this will be counted as an abstention. If there is a tie, the SC Chair’s vote counts as double. A quorum of 50% (rounded up to the next whole number) of valid votes from SC members must be reached in order to accept the voting result.

Issues raised during an SC meeting will be voted upon by the present SC members (either physically or virtually).

Any vote (physical or virtual) can be made by secret ballot (at the discretion of the SC Chair), if requested by a member of the voting SC.

Section 3: Document repository

A document repository will be maintained and shared with future GCs and TPCs, recording the rules and procedures to ensure a consistent organization of the CHI conference. The SC Chair-elect is responsible for maintaining the minutes and agendas, the GC and TPC

Liaisons are responsible for maintaining the documentation on the organizing roles of the CHI organizing committee, and the Data Director is responsible for maintaining the repository of data related to CHI conferences.

Section 4: Changing this document

The rules and procedures in this document can be changed at any time by a 2/3 majority vote.

Article 6: Relationship to the EC

Section 1. Complementary Roles of the SC and EC

The SIGCHI Executive Committee created the steering committee for the CHI conference series. However, the relationship between the CHI Steering Committee and the SIGCHI Executive Committee is evolving.

This article describes the relationship between the SIGCHI Executive Committee and the

CHI Steering Committee in terms of responsibilities and roles, as it exists in March, 2019.

SIGCHI Executive Committee general responsibilities with respect to CHI

Long-term, Joint Sponsorship Agreements between ACM and other societies
Approval of final CHI budget each year
Identification of regions of interest for future sites which is provided to CHI SC
Approval of final CHI site selection
Setting long-term vision (including aspirations and long-term goals) for CHI
Approval of CHI General Chairs as proposed by CHI SC
Approval of CHI SC Chair
Organization of SIGCHI related events at and around CHI (e.g. awards dinner, town hall, local chapters meeting, outreach/volunteer/being an AC sessions, videos/banners, plenaries etc.)

With respect to the final point, the SIGCHI EC has a history of running, encouraging, supporting and proposing such events that are now important ways for SIGCHI to connect, through CHI, to our community at large. The CHI SC liaison to a particular CHI along with the GCs and TPCs should ensure they are aware and agree with the SIGCHI EC what is feasible, given a number of these events have now been running for many years.

At the annual CHI Conference, the SIGCHI EC is specifically responsible for:

Producing content and delivering their parts of the CHI Opening plenary session (awards, welcomes)
Hosting the business meeting (SIGCHI town hall)
Arranging and hosting the SIGCHI awards dinner
Arranging and hosting the SIGCHI “Diversity and Inclusion event” at CHI
Communicating the SIGCHI award talks details to the CHI liaison and TPC
Communicating any requirements for Working Meetings (e.g., Chapter meetings, ToCHI, interactions) to the CHI GC and TPC Liaisons.

Where any of the issues above have a space implication, and the CHI chairs are expected to accommodate the requests, EC requests must be put forward in a timely manner, which is August prior to the conference. Large events that require specific or unorthodox spaces must be specified in advance of the site selection.

Within the current form of CHI there are a number of further aspects that require the CHI SC to coordinate with the EC on, including:

Larger changes to the papers program (e.g., format) may require ACM or SIGCHI VP Publications approval. Major review process and presentation format changes should be advised to the ACM SIGCHI VP Publications.
The VP Conferences needs to approve changes to the conference pricing after consulting the SIGCHI EC. The CHI SC GC Liaison will prepare proposals for changes. Changes to the conference pricing need to be approved by the SIGCHI EC.

Section 2. Joint Membership of EC and SC

To keep separate the actions and goals of the SIGCHI EC and CHI SC, there will be as a rule, no joint members of each committee, excepting the SC Chair who is an adjunct member of the SIGCHI EC.

If a member of the EC agrees to take on a role that positions them as a non-voting member of the SC (e.g., GC or TPC of CHI), then they must resign their role on the EC no later than 2 years before the conference they will chair. If a member of the EC is elected as a voting member of the SC, they must resign their role on the EC. These rules can only be overturned by a unanimous vote among SC members.

If a member of the SC takes on a role on the EC, they are converted to a non-voting member of the SC at the start of their term on the EC and will be asked to step down from the SC within 6 months of beginning their term on the EC.

Article 7: Core to CHI

See the Core to CHI Document under policies.

Appendix A: Current Roles

December 14, 2021

SC Chair (Steering Committee Chair): Regan Mandryk
SC Vice-Chair (Steering Committee Vice Chair): Tovi Grossman
SC GC Liaison Director: Steve Brewster/Aaron Quigley
SC TPC Liaison Director: Anna Cox
SC Future Chairs & Volunteer Management Director: Geraldine Fitzpatrick
SC Long-Term Strategy and Policy Director: vacant
SC Data Organization and Analysis Director: Caroline Appert
SC Sponsorship Director: vacant
SC Web/Communications Director: vacant
SC Accessibility Director: Raja S. Kushalnagar
SC Publications Director: Cliff Lampe
SC Site Selection: Philippe Palanque

Appendix B: Steering Committee composition

Appendix B: Steering Committee evolution