A: You will have to make separate arrangements for your accommodation during the conference. SMS has contracted for a room block in the conference hotel and those rooms are available for a special price on a first-come-first-serve basis. We advise to make the reservation early to secure a room at the special conference rate.

A: Please find and follow the link to the conference hotel on our conference website for more information. From there, you can click to the online reservation of the Sheraton that is specific for our conference event. Or click here.

A: The conference hotel might make additional rooms available, but not at the special SMS conference rate. There also are a number of other hotels nearby. San Diego hosts a large convention that happens to be coinciding with the dates of our conference. Please be advised to make arrangements early!

A: The conference hotel is very close to the airport and complimentary SHERATON shuttle buses are available to all SMS registrants. Shuttles are running every 15 minutes, 5 am to midnight, 7 days a week.
At airport, please proceed to the courtesy shuttle pick-up area.

A: Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina
1380 Harbor Island Drive
San Diego , CA 92101
USA
Phone: (619) 291-2900

A: General registration began May 07, 2007.

A: The easiest way to register was through our online registration system. Please find and follow the REGISTRATION button. If you did not do so already, you will have to create a short profile to be a recognized user on our website and to access the registration pages.

A: We offer a variety of payment methods

• Online credit card payment on secure site (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, PayPal)
• Credit card via mail or fax: Complete the payment portion on the registration invoice and mail or fax the form to the SMS Executive Office
• Check: Mail copy of registration invoice with your check to the SMS Executive Office
• Wire transfer: Wiring instructions can be found on the downloadable registration invoice. Please make all wiring fees payable by sender.

A: Yes, on-site registration will be available every morning before the start of the program. The registration fees will be higher if you only register during the conference.

A: If you are a submitting author and your proposal has been accepted, then you will have to register by May 17 in order to secure a place for your proposal. To finalize the conference program, we need to know whether an author will definitely be at the conference to present.

A: There is a modest discount for attending PhD students who are not SMS members. Attendees with a SMS student membership have access to the same lower attendance fee than regular members.

A: No refunds will be issued for cancellation of your registration, but you may transfer your registration to another person within your organization or to one of your co-authors before September 14, 2007. Click here for registration policies.

A: After the conference, you can print and download your individual letter confirming your conference attendance.

A: Once you are registered, you will be able to download an individualized letter from our website to use for visa application purposes. Please be aware that the visa issuance is outside our control and often requires time and effort from you. Below are two external links that might be helpful: Do you require a visa? and International Visitors Office .

A: All presenters will be invited to upload copies of their papers to our website and agree to making them available to other conference attendees, who then will be able to download papers of interest to them.

A: It is a new session format that we introduced at the Vienna Conference in 2006. It is intended to be more interactive than the traditional paper sessions. The authors of 5-6 proposals will conduct a facilitated discussion on the topic of their research. The facilitator is a renowned scholar in this field of research. To learn more, please click here.

A: No, as part of the review process, accepted proposals have been designated for a certain session type. Apart from the initial indication of preferred session type with the submission, authors will not be able to influence the outcome.

A: Only once we know from all invited authors whether they will indeed attend the conference, we cannot finalize the session and program planning. Until then, probably mid-June, the session type your proposal has been assigned to can change in the review process.

A: No, we will schedule all sessions and they can be anytime Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday until noon. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate special wishes.

A: As soon as we hear back from all invited authors about their attendance, we will make necessary adjustments to the conference program and schedule each session. You can track the progress of this work on the conference website.

A: Presenters in Paper Sessions will have LCD projectors available, but will have to bring their own laptop computer.
Authors participating in Common Ground Sessions will have access to flipcharts only. Overhead projectors will not be used in any sessions.

A: Sorry, it our policy to only accept or reject submissions. We do not provide submitters with additional information about the review findings.

A: Each Paper Session has a Session Chair. This position is often filled by one of the authors of a paper that is presented in the session. The main responsibility is to introduce the presenters and to make sure that the session starts and stays on its time schedule. Please contact the SMS Executive Office if you can help us by serving in this capacity.