Summary of ACP-IOC meeting July 4 at 14:00 CAT

Present: Funmi, Mounia, Sanae, Reatile, Dolly, Benard, Kenneth, Uli, Ulrich, Obinna, Diallo, Kétévi

Apologies: Azwinndini 

1. Logistics. 
   • The LOC has prepared and sent invitation letters to all the invited speakers listed the googledoc. That googledoc should now have only 3 types of invited speakers: the one confirmed for in-person attendance (in black), those confirmed for online engagements (in green), and the speakers that were approached and they responded with interest but have not yet given confirmation of participation (in blue) https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1frvqWk7qqFUS8fQArsE4MbigzeunInxL/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107679597454071245660&rtpof=true&sd=true.
   • Parallel sessions are planned for Monday (September 25), Wednesday (September 27), Thursday (September 28) and Friday (September 29). The ones of September 29 is about the special sessions, whereas the others are for the selected contributed abstracts. For each days, 2 parallel sessions are planned. The LOC informed us that we will use the main conference room and an additional room for the parallel sessions. 
   • A reception is planned on Monday (September 25) and the conference dinner will be on Thursday (September 28). The early career physicists colloquium / panel discussion will be during the reception; there will be a keynote address during the conference dinner. The conference reception and dinner will take place at a different hotel (The Hawthorn Boutique Hotel), not far from the Protea Hotel, more information will be shared by the LOC.
   • Airport transfers in George. The LOC will arrange one hired car for the entire conference; additional transports will be arranged on September 24 and September 30 when we expect a large number of participants to arrive or depart.  
2. Abstract reviewing. We showed a demo about the process of reviewing the abstracts and we spent a significant discussing it. We recommend that:
   • You review and rate only abstracts that are in your domain of expertise.
   • Each abstract should be reviewed by at least one IOC member; an abstract may be reviewed by more than 1 person.
   • Do not judge the abstracts yet; just review and rate them.
   • Do not review and rate your own abstracts.
   • We would like all the abstracts reviewed and rated by July 17, so that we may discuss abstract judgement and selection at our next meeting on July 18.
   • You should accept the abstracts of your invited speakers. If your invited speakers have not yet submitted abstracts, please contact them again. Also encourage them to register. Abstracts submission is now closed; late abstracts from invited speakers should be sent the IOC, and we will insert them into the Indico database.  
   • Abstract judgements and constraints: for oral presentations, we need to selected 32 abstracts, most for (13+2)' and a few for (17+3)'. For the poster presentations, we should select 36. In-person posters will be discussed at the venue and online abstracts in Gather Town. 
   • If we ended up more good abstracts than we can accommodate in 2 parallel sessions, we will add another parallel session. The LOC was informed of this and has made proper arrangement should a 3rd parallel room be needed.
   • We need to finalize the abstract selections by August 1. We need to inform early the people who abstracts have been are selected; some will need to seek travel funds when their abstracts are accepted. By August 1, we will be at <2 months from the event and that would be getting too late. So we should not delay further than August 1.
3. AOB. 
   • Kenneth asked to organize an outreach event. Need to discuss this with Azwinndini and the LOC.
   • A number of participants have asked for conference proceedings. We should discuss this in more detail at the next meeting, we will do the proceedings only if we have experts to review the contributions!