Call for Workshops

IEEE VR 2021: the 28th IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces
March 27-28 and April 2-3, 2021

Important Dates

• December 15th, 2020: Proposals and CFPs due
• December 24th, 2020: Notification of results
• January 31st, 2021: Latest accepted workshop paper notification
• February 12th, 2021: Camera-ready submission of workshop papers for inclusion in the IEEE Digital Library
• March 27th-28th and April 2-3, 2021: Workshops

Overview

We invite individuals or teams interested in organizing such a workshop to submit proposals that will work well in an online format for IEEE VR 2021. Since IEEE VR 2021 is going to be fully virtual, we are encouraging workshop submissions that fit well with an online format that maximizes engagement. Although longer workshops will be considered, we encourage shorter efficient workshops, or workshops split over sessions spanning two or more days with long breaks between sessions in order reduce video-conference fatigue and to provide attendees time to reflect between sessions.

Workshops are intended to bring together researchers, developers, technology providers, practitioners and users for a lively and interactive discussion of issues through an informal exchange of ideas and information. Workshops may target a specific application area, a specific research area, or a topic of general interest. Workshops should be more than just a mini conference of paper presentations. Workshops may include, but are not limited to:

• A focus on creating and exchanging of new ideas and opportunities to meet new people
• A balance of formal presentations with informal discussion and ideation
• Emphasis on attendee participation and interactive discussions
• Thought experiments and playing with ideas
• Curated panels
• Position papers
• Recorded sessions prepared in advance of the conference for attendees to watch at their convenience before live workshop discussion
• VR experiences for attendees to try remotely before live workshop discussion
• Live application development by both speakers and attendees
• Inclusive VR and geographical diversity
• Creative ways of supporting participation across different time zones
• Breakout groups and presentation of ideas generated by the groups
• A summary session concluding with lessons learned, insights gained, and new ideas generated from the workshop
• Continued discussion after the conference.

Submission Guidelines

Workshop submissions require a short two-page maximum proposal and a call for papers (CFP).

• The Workshop Proposal is an internal document for decision-making purposes only. We strongly encourage submitting the proposal through this Google Form.
• However, organizers without access to Google are welcome to email a PDF proposal (two pages max) to the Workshop Chairs at workshops2021  should address:
  • Workshop title (and acronym if applicable)
  • The goal of organizing the workshop
  • Has the workshop been organized before?
    • If yes, how many times has it been previously organized?
    • If the workshop has been organized before, how many people attended last year?
  • Primary organizer name
  • Primary organizer email
  • Names, contact information, and short bios of all the organizers (one page max)
  • Other speakers and/or contributors
  • Attendee technical requirements (if any) beyond video conferencing (e.g., hardware/software required to fully participate)
  • Target audience and/or attendee prerequisites
  • Type of output from the workshop e.g., position paper, videos, collection of short papers, etc.
• The Workshop CFP is the public document that will be posted and publicized. We strongly encourage submitting a PDF of the CFP through the Google form above. However, organizers without access to Google are welcome to email the PDF (two pages max), which should include:
  • The workshop title and acronym
  • Expected workshop date(s) (tentative to change depending on conference limitations)
  • The workshop website
  • A brief overview and description of the workshop (500 words or less)
  • A list of the workshop’s topics
  • The workshop’s format and submission guidelines, including for example speakers, discussion format, duration, topics, types of acceptable papers (e.g., research papers, position papers), acceptable lengths, and acceptable format (i.e., TVCG format).
  • A list of important dates (if applicable to the format), including
    • Abstract deadline (if applicable)
    • Submission deadline
    • Notification deadline
    • Camera-ready deadline
  • A list of the workshop organizers, including their affiliations, and how to contact them

The deadline for workshop proposal and CFP submissions is Tuesday, December 15th, 2020. Notifications of results will be sent out on Thursday, December 24th. Accepted workshop CFPs may be posted and publicized.

If accepted, workshop organizers are expected to distribute their CFP and announce the workshops through their professional networks. As listed in the Workshops CFP submission,, workshop organizers are required to provide a workshop website and are expected to update that website as workshop details become better defined.

Workshop organizers are expected to issue any acceptance decisions to their contributors no later than Sunday, January 31st, in order to allow sufficient time for planning and advance registration to the conference. IEEE VR Workshops proceedings will be published electronically through the IEEE Digital Library dependent on the on-time submission of the proceedings by the workshop organizers, before the mandatory IEEE deadline of Friday, February 12th, 2021. Organizers of accepted workshops are encouraged to seek assistance from the Workshops Chairs to navigate this process.

Contacts

For more information and inquiries, please contact the Workshop Chairs at workshops2020:

• Jason Jerald, NextGen Interactions, USA
• Mashhuda Glencross, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
• Sabine Coquillart, Inria, Grenoble, France
• João Madeiras Pereira University of Lisboa IST/INESC-ID, Portugal