GROUP 2022/23 Registration FAQ

GROUP is known for its special conference experience. With typically around 100 participants, its intimacy and welcoming atmosphere are one of its major draws. But being such a small conference with content-based overlap with other SIGCHI conferences, it is also somewhat financially fragile. After moving to PACM publication in 2020, which means that paper presentation at the conference is longer required, attendance dropped slightly. For these reasons, we rely on conference registration fees to pay the costs of publication.

To ensure that GROUP can continue into future years, we have been looking into different models that can help us cover the publication costs. After weighing various options, our solution is to require that one author from each paper registers for the conference. To make this option work logistically, we require one author registration prior to the camera-ready paper deadline. In the event that no authors from a paper can attend, that registration can be refunded, less a publication fee: $150 for Research Papers and Design Fictions; $100 for Notes; and $50 for companion publications, e.g. Posters). We anticipate that this advanced registration will not affect most authors, since in past years for nearly all papers at least one author has attended the conference.

FAQ This policy is going to cause problems for me!

Please email [email protected] so we can help work through any issues on a case-by-case basis.

If I’m an author planning to attend the conference; what does this mean for me?

This advanced registration means that one author from your paper needs to be registered by the camera-ready paper deadline - but other than that, everything is exactly the same as for past conferences!

What if we don’t know yet who will attend the conference?

It will be possible to transfer a registration into someone else’s name prior to the week before the conference.

Will registration fees be higher due to including publication costs?

Registration fees for GROUP (and other ACM conferences) have always included publication costs. In short, the answer is no, they are not higher than usual!

What if a paper has more than one author? Do they all have to register?

No, only one author from each paper has to be registered.

Can a single person be the registered author for more than one paper?

Yes! If one person is an author on multiple papers, their single registration fulfills this requirement, even if none of the other authors are registered. And if that single author then cannot attend the conference, but is an author on multiple types of submissions (e.g., a paper and a poster), the highest publication fee (e.g., the $150 for the paper) will be kept back from the refund.

If multiple authors from a paper are planning to attend, do all of them have to be registered prior to the camera-ready deadline?

No, just one! Other authors can register whenever they like (including on-site), and as noted above, registrations can also be transferred to another author if needed.

If I’m an author and I can’t attend the conference, why aren’t you refunding the entire fee? I thought that because the paper is published in PACM I couldn’t be required to attend the conference.

Yes, no one will be required to attend the conference or to pay the full registration fee if canceled by the deadline. We considered charging a separate publication fee and attendance fee, but we anticipate that most authors will be attending the conference to present their work (and therefore this requirement does not change anything). Also, a separate publication fee would have made things much more difficult for most authors due to various ways in which institutions manage travel costs. Our solution was to deal with the smaller number of refunds. If another author on your paper is registered, you do not need to register at all (or will receive a full refund), and if not, you will only pay the paper processing fee.

Is this a hybrid conference? Why isn’t there an online only registration?

We discussed options for a hybrid conference, but mostly due to GROUP’s small size, we decided that this was not financially viable nor (after speaking to many members of our community) logistically desirable. However, we are committed to providing authors who cannot attend due to COVID a way to present remotely.

How much does full GROUP conference registration cost?

Registration is already open and the fee table is available on the Cvent registration page. Please note that we have discounted rates for registrants in economically developing countries.

I have another question that you haven’t answered, or I need clarification for my situation.

Please email mailto:[email protected]. We will also update this FAQ as people bring questions to us. Thank you for your understanding as we move forward and keep the GROUP conference series up and running!