Conference Organization: Team, Responsibilities and Tasks

TPC Chair

TPC co-chairs are responsible for:

writing the CfP
inviting the TPC members
managing the review process
chairing the in-person TPC meeting where the final paper selection is made
structuring the selected papers into sessions
selecting the best paper
suggesting invited speakers
suggesting possible co-located workshops
organizing a special issue of a journal with the best conference papers
reporting on reviewing process statistics to the steering committee

General Chair

The general chair is responsible for, and may delegate to others as needed:

the conference budget and financial issues
the conference website
finding financial sponsors
asking co-sponsorship if allowed by the steering committee
the conference registration process (possibly including hotel reservation)
the local organization (rooms, lunches, coffee breaks, dinner, social event, ...)
hosting the in-person TPC meeting
suggesting invited speakers
suggesting and hosting co-located workshops
preparing a summary of the student travel grant applications
write visa letters (template, or individually, if EDAS is not used to generate them)
reporting conference attendance statistics to the steering committee
reporting on conference budget to the steering committee
if there are no publicity nor publication chairs, the general chair is also responsible for these parts

Publicity Chair

The publicity chair is responsible for:

advertising the CfP (mailing lists, calendars, other conferences)
advertising the conference
advertising availability of student travel grants (usually on the website)

Publication Chair

The publication chair is responsible for:

asking for an ISBN number and coordination publication with the publisher or professional society
ensuring that copyright transfer forms are collected
giving instructions for the camera-ready versions of accepted papers
tracking the collecting of the camera-ready versions, including ensuring that the papers meet format and PDF (e.g., font) guidelines
preparing the proceedings
sending the proceedings to the publisher(s), together with the copyright transfer forms, if applicable

Steering Committee

The steering committee is responsible for:

finding or choosing the conference location and general chair
deciding on the conference date
choosing and inviting TPC co-chairs
deciding deadlines for submission and for camera-ready papers
defining the publication policy (publisher, paper size, targeted acceptance ratio)
defining the conference format (duration, number of tracks, size of TPC, invited speakers, etc.)
deciding on conference materials (USB? CD?)
deciding on possible extension of submission deadline
reviewing the TPC member list
suggesting and deciding on invited speakers
suggesting and deciding on co-located workshops
helping the general chair and the TPC co-chairs on all matters

Some conferences allocate responsibilities differently, assigning, for example, more responsibility to the general or technical program chair, or, for larger events, have separate registration, local arrangement and workshop chairs.