Essential Activities for Preparing International HL7 Interoperability Conferences

Essential activities for preparing International HL7 Interoperability Conferences

At the May 2014 HL7 Working Group Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, the International Council has approved the implementation of a Carer function of HL7 Germany for preparing future International HL7 Interoperability Conferences (IHICs), starting with the IHIC 2015 in Prague. The intention is to encourage small Affiliates to act as IHIC organizer despite the lack of experiences in organizing international conferences, so broaden the basis of potential candidates hosting such event.The experiences gathered in the context of preparing and realizing the Prague event has clearly justified the value of this decision.

Based on the experiences with IHIC 2015 as well as a big number of other international conferences, in the following the obligations of conference organizers will be detailed, thereby distinguishing between the Carerand the Local Organizers especially in cases where the conference is organized by a small and unexperienced Affiliate.

Obligations of the Carer in preparation and realization of International HL7 Interoperability Conferences after location and date of the event have been approved by the International Council:

• Defining and harmonizing with the Local Organizer the topics the IHIC should address
• Creating with the Local Organizer and potential actors an agreement on additional activities bound to the event such as Tutorials
• Drafting the Call for Contributions to the IHIC regarding Scientific Full Papers (including submissions for the Joachim W. Dudeck Award) and Practice Reports, thereby also fixing the requirements submissions have to meet (length, style and format of the different submission types).
• Defining, updating and controlling the time table for preparing and running the event (dates for publishing the Call for Contributions, submission deadlines for the different submission types, reviewer assignment and notification for the different submission types, review submission, re-submission of the revised documents, registrations)
• Throughout the process, caring for meeting the time table by pushing the corresponding actors, sending reminders, etc.
• Communicating regularly and additionally occasionally with the Local Organizer
• Frist check of all revisions
• Communication with authors in case of incomplete submissions
• Assigning and notifying reviewers for the different submission types
• Checking the review results, managing inconsistencies by assigning additional reviewers and personally check all the reviews for QA (revising the outcome in very critical cases)
• Notifying the authors on acceptance and detailing the requirements for re-submission (in specific cases also with individual statements)
• Checking and editing the submissions for publication (especially in cases of high level requirements such as international journals, official books, etc.)
• Detailing with the Local Organizer the final program
• Assigning with the Local Organizer Session Chairs, combining foreign and local representatives if possible
• Managing the Joachim W. Dudeck Award competition process by defining the Jury, applying the rules, and assessing the outcome to choose the winner
• Organizing the notification of the winner, performed by the acting Chair of HL7 Germany when present

Additionally to the explicitly mentioned tasks, the Carer may cooperate in some moreof the listed work items with the Local Organizer also as training for future events, however without delegating the responsibility or removing himself from the process.

Obligations of the Local Organizer in preparation and realization of International HL7 Interoperability Conferences

• Establishing the IHIC Website
• Establishing and technically administering the online submission system
• Establishing and managing the registration system including the payment procedures
• Communicating with, including the, Carer in eventual problem solving processes
• Providing and managing the local facilities (rooms, , equipment, infrastructure incl. Internet, etc.) needed according to the defined topics and the detailed program layout
• Maintaining the on-site registration and help facilities
• Preparing and managing satellite events including the Social Event
• Performing the paperwork required by printing badges, flyers, advertising materials, program and locally produced proceedings
• Managing the host process for VIPs (planning, administering and financing corresponding resources such as accommodation, registration, tickets, etc.)
• Managing the local advertisement to attract local people to the event
• Depending on given agreements, providing the financial report about the event