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Now that your proposal for a Dagstuhl Seminar or Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop has been accepted you are an organizer.
You can now look forward to a number of joys and duties in this role.

After your initial proposal has been approved, you will have to submit a final invitation list of the proposed participants and possibly a list of alternates - including their full addresses and preferably also e-mail-address and URL - approx. one year before the seminar is due to take place. In analogy to your proposal, please mark on that list young researchers, people from industry and woman, as well as the field of research of the invitee. Schloss Dagstuhl LCI uses this list to send out invitations to them. The invitations are sent approx. ten months in advance of the seminar. Those receiving the invitation also receive a short description of the proposed content of the seminar (motivation text) in addition to a reservation form and an information sheet on Schloss Dagstuhl LCI.

 

No registration date is specified but rather the invitee is asked to return the registration forms to our office as soon as possible. We ask that organizers receiving any replies forward them directly to us.

 

Approx. six weeks after sending out the letters of invitation a reminder is sent to those who have not yet responded requesting that they indicate whether or not they will be able to attend. Another reminder with travel informationen is sent via e-mail approx. six to eight weeks before the seminar takes place.

During the preparation phase, and any time the organizers request, they are sent an update report on the registration status. This enables them to inquire with the participants who have not yet registered what their intentions are. In case no list of alternates has been compiled, this can be done now. In preparing this list, an attempt should be made to replace those who have declined the invitation with individuals providing for a similar range of expertise (cf. Invitations).

 

Individuals may also be added to the list who have recently become known to the organizers and couldn't be taken into consideration for the initial list submitted with the proposal. After consulting with the organizers, the alternates are sent an invitation.

 

Approximately six to eight weeks before the seminar the participant list is published on our website and information and travel tips sent to all those who have not declined the invitation. In many cases this enables the situation to be quickly clarified as to who of the invitees will be attending.

 

It is not necessary to register individuals shortly in advance of the seminar in order to make up for a perceived lacking full complement of participants. Dagstuhl Seminars achieve and maintain their high standard by virtue of the quality of the participants. The results are not negatively impacted by virtue of a smaller number of participants.

We expect the seminar participants to make presentations covering their present work. When the travel information is sent out approx. 6 weeks prior to the seminar the participants are asked to upload the title, an abstract, etc. and any other material relating to their proposed presentation to our server (cf. Seminar Materials).

 

The program is compiled by the organizers. In order to make the seminar as dynamic as possible we recommend not planning the entire week down to the last detail beforehand. It is important to leave ample time for discussion. Wednesday afternoons are typically used to go on a hike or an excursion in the surrounding area so that there are five mornings (from Monday morning to Friday morning) and three afternoons available for the seminar per se. We recommend not trying to incorporate more than 32 presentations in the seminar program.

 

Already when sending out the invitations we point out that not all of the proposed presentations might be included in the final program. Discussion might also take place in separate groups. There are certainly enough rooms and facilities at the seminar center for this purpose. Some of the seminars have been successfully used for the discussion of fundamentals which turned up open problems and future developments.

 

The program for the following day can be finalized the evening before. This enables the discussion results to determine the pace and sequencing of the seminars. This is the key element which sets Dagstuhl Seminars apart from run-of-the-mill workshops, making them particularly productive and efficient.

The guests are expected to arrive at Schloss Dagstuhl on Sunday afternoon starting at 3 p.m. Guests cannot be admitted inside the seminar center any earlier as our staff is normally not available between Saturday and Sunday. Consequently, we suggest that guests arriving on Saturday stay at hotels located in the immediate vicinity or in the city of Mainz. Everybody arriving at the Frankfurt Airport travels through Mainz on their way to the Center when taking the train. The same applies to guests from overseas who get economy air fares by including a weekend and wish to extend their stay after the seminar. In this case they can stay on until after breakfast on Saturday morning and then proceed to a hotel in the vicinity or elsewhere.

 

A staff member is at the reception desk (in the new building) between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. on the arrival day to welcome the arriving guests and answer any questions they might have.

 

The guests receive coffee and cake during the afternoon and supper in the evening.

 

Self-Checkin: After 9 p.m., guest may checkin by themselves. For entering the house, the door code emailed together with the travel information is needed.  At the reception in the new building, they will find a list with room assignments. The guests who have already arrived or the organizer should explain things to those who are just arriving. Consequently, this means that at least one of the organizers should arrive on Sunday afternoon.

 

On Monday morning we request that the organizers come down to the administrative office to become acquainted with the Center's team and clarify a couple of organizational issues.

 

Opening hours of the administrative office:

• Monday–Thursday: 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Friday: 7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

 

We expect the participants to be present during the entire week as arriving and departing between Tuesday and Thursday has a substantial detrimental impact on the seminar itself and program planning.
Guests normally leave early Friday afternoon, however they also have the option of staying until Saturday morning.

Childcare can be arranged for those seminar participants who are unable to arrange for childcare at home and who would otherwise have to turn down an invitation to a seminar. These participants are kindly asked to contact us in a timely manner before the seminar (service(at)dagstuhl.de).

The Center is open to the participants of a seminar for one week. Small groups of informatics specialists, individual research guests or a second, smaller seminar might also be using the Center in parallel to the Dagstuhl Seminars. The Center is characterized by an atmosphere of trust. All rooms are unlocked, though valuables may be secured in lockers. We attach considerable importance to the outside doors not being left open, and that only the individuals personally invited by us are present. This is indicated by wearing the name tags issued by us. We can accommodate a small number of individuals accompanying the invited guests. Please notify us in advance if you are expecting any guests for the day.

 

Service times for meals:

• Breakfast: 7:30 – 8:45 a.m.
• Lunch: 12:15 p.m.
• Dinner: 6 p.m.

 

Coffee is set up at the entrance to the conference hall in the morning; a coffee table and cake is set up in the dining room in the afternoon. At lunch a light meal is available; a hot dinner is served in the evenings. We would like to take this opportunity to ask you to make every effort to adhere to the designated mealtimes. The seating of the participants changes at every meal. This is intended to seat people together who are not yet (well) acquainted with one another. Coffee is available in the wine cellar and the cafeteria on a self-service basis and a cheese platter at about 10 p.m.

 

You do our kitchen team a great favor by helping to clear the tables after meals. Carts are available for your convenience for collecting dirty dishes.

Wednesday afternoon is traditionally reserved for a hike into the nearby woods or an excursion. A group activity of this type affords the participants to become acquainted with one another in an informal situation, plus offers them the opportunity of getting some exercise.  Please contact the Dagstuhl team for advice and maps (unfortunately the team is not available as guides).

The Center's hardware extends in particular to UNIX machines, a few PCs and Macintoshes, in addition to printers. The computers are networked and have Internet access. The guests' laptops can be hooked up to the Center's network via DHCP (using an RJ45 plug) or via the WLAN. An account is set up for each of the guests which remains functional up to 4 weeks after the seminar.

 

Computers and beamers are installed in the two large conference halls. Laptops can also be connected to the beamers. Cables are available for this purpose.

There is a WLAN which is available in most guestrooms and in large sections of the Center. Moreover, adapters are available for hooking up laptops featuring an ISDN card or modem to the Center's PBX (phone charges apply in this case).

 

Many of the facilities typically available at a conference center are also available at Dagstuhl: beamers, overhead and slide projectors, flipcharts, bulletin boards, presentation panels, moderator cases, audio system featuring clip microphones, telefax [+49-6871-905133]. We also have a professional video recorder featuring all major standards and a serial port, in addition to mobile video equipment that can be connected to a laptop.
There are also photocopiers available at the Center which can be used by guests. The costs of the photocopies are to be noted on the guest's expense sheet.

Our guests also have access to a well-stocked research library. The library catalogue can be searched via the Center's website. Literature searching can also be done in the Center's online databases. We welcome donations from our guests, e.g. gratis author's copies, particularly of books which have gone out of print and are no longer available.

Our librarian prepares an exhibit for each seminar featuring the books of participants available in our library. Authors are asked to sign their books. If desired, exhibits can be prepared for a specific topic. The library is open 24/7. Being a reference library, books can be borrowed by guests, however they may not leave the Center's premises.

Library

You will find a book in the Center in which all the participants of our seminars enter a handwritten summary of their presentation. This enables each guest to leave behind his or her own personal mark in the history of Schloss Dagstuhl LCI.

Dagstuhl offers various Web platforms to support the seminar participants in their research work. The two main platforms are the Seminar Materials and the Publication platform (cf. Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings). There is also a Submission platform (cf. Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings).

 

The Materials platform (linked on the seminar homepage) serves to support the participants before, during and after the seminar. The platforms enable all participants to upload any materials of their choosing and to change or delete them at any time as needed. Materials extend to the title or abstract of a proposed presentation, collections of slides, an extended (PDF) abstract etc. Organizers can also upload a timetable for their seminar (please file under "General Seminar Materials"). During the seminar, the platform can be used for exchanging documents. All the results of the seminar can be uploaded here.

After the seminar the Materials platform is designed to have a documentation character, meaning that all the titles and abstracts should be corrected or supplemented in accordance with the presentations actually given.

An authorized contribution to the Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings (DSP) series is published for each each seminar. The DSP are permanently published on our online publication server DROPS.
Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings contain:

• an executive summary by the organizers
• for each presentation (at minimum): title, speaker/authors, abstract, keywords
• for exceptional presentations: (draft) paper and/or other documents (please encourage the speakers of selected presentations to submit a paper)
• other material such as the results of the seminar as a whole or the results of group work, extended abstracts, etc. Participants may also submit a paper for publication on their own initiative, which should be briefly reviewed by one of the organizers.

 

Authors retain the copyright to the works published.

 

We request that the organizers designate a collector who encourages the participants to submit papers and abstracts for the proceedings. Submissions should be made using the upload tool on the Materials platform. The upload tool enables the participants to copy their papers or extended abstracts from the Materials platform to the Submission platform for submission to the review process. Papers and extended abstracts that have been accepted are moved by the Dagstuhl team to the final Publication platform so that they can be accessed and cited by virtue of their long-term guaranteed availability.

 

For further information please refer to

• Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings (idea, tasks of the organizers and collector, call for papers, instructions for authors, review process, FAQs)
• DROPS

A final accounting is prepared together with the guests on the last seminar day. For more details, please refer to the Expenses section.

 

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