We are currently SEEKING VOLUNTEERS to chair meetings for the academic 
year 2011-2012. Any BMVA member can propose a topic and chair a relevant 
meeting and this is evident by the history. From well-regarded 
professors to young researchers, alone, in pairs or even in groups, BMVA 
members take the opportunity to bring existing research communities 
together or develop forums for new research areas. This volunteering 
task is not only important for the success of the meetings, but also 
very beneficial for the chairs themselves, as it provides them valuable 
experience and visibility.

Fortunately, chairs’ duties are not onerous. Initially, they need to 
propose a suitable topic to the BMVA Meeting Secretary. Once their 
proposal is accepted, they have to prepare a “Call for Participation” to 
invite contributions to the meeting. At the same time they may want to 
personally invited speakers (BMVA has a budget for their expenses). 
Then, they need to prepare a schedule for a one-day event. Finally, they 
will chair the meeting on the day. They even have the option to edit a 
relevant special issue for the BMVA Annals.

BMVA will normally take care of all the other tasks, such as to 
advertise the Call for Participation and the Programme via its website 
and mailing list, book a venue, arrange catering and finally take care 
of the registration process.

The diversity of meetings is also remarkable. They may focus on 
traditional topics (e.g. “Machine Learning”, “Vision and Robotics”), on 
specific research problems (e.g. “Human Articulated Motion”, “Facial 
Analysis and Animation”, “Segmentation of Anatomical Soft Tissue Regions 
in Medical Data”), on specific approaches (e.g. “Group Theory, 
Invariance and Symmetry in Vision”), on specific applications (e.g. 
“Automotive Application”, “Security and Surveillance”) or even go across 
different disciplines (e.g. “Biological and Computer Vision”).

While the majority of the meetings are hosted in Central London, they 
may take place anywhere in Britain. For instance, two years ago “Facial 
Analysis and Animation” meeting took place in Edinburgh and has been 
proved very successful (that was also attributed to the enthusiasm of 
the chairs: a group of 4 young researchers) and this year the joint 
AVA/BMVA technical meeting on Biological and Computer Vision will take 
place in Cardiff.

Chairing is an important task for the success of the BMVA technical 
meetings and is also rewarding for the chairs themselves. If you are 
interested in chairing one of the future BMVA technical meetings, do not 
hesitate to contact the BMVA Meeting Organiser (Dr Dimitrios Makris, 
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>) and discuss 
your proposal with him, even if it does not exactly fit what has happen 
in the past. Visit the BMVA meeting webpage:http://www.bmva.org/meetings 
for up-to-date information on scheduled meetings, programmes, CfPs and 
detailed instructions for meeting chairs.

Dimitrios Makris
BMVA Meeting Organiser
[log in to unmask]

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