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The Communications Committee ​manages ACM SIGGRAPH’s digital presence through the recommendation, design, and implementation of the organization’s communication channels. These communications serve ACM SIGGRAPH members and constituents providing them with information and support while amplifying the talents and achievements of our members. The Communication Committee Works with the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee to realize and share strategic initiatives and meet marketing and visibility goals. 

The Communications Committee has recently restructured to better reflect the needs of ACM SIGGRAPH. The incoming Communications Committee Chair will be responsible for implementing best practices and industry standard communications in many formats and platforms based on this restructuring. The Chair will lead, identify, and manage a committee of five volunteers and three contractors filling the roles of External Programming Chair, Social Media Manager, Member Profiles Editor, Video Manager, Frontiers Newsletter Manager, Video Editor, PR Consultant, and Content Manager. A majority of these roles are currently filled. 

The Chair must submit a budget request to the Executive Committee every January and submit an annual report in June. The Chair can expect to spend 5 or more hours/week on the chair activities. 

For those interested in applying for this position, please contact Rebecca Strzelec, Chair of the Nominations Committee. Provide a CV and vision statement (why you’re interested in being chair and what you hope to accomplish in this volunteer role). The Nominations Committee will review all the candidates, conduct interviews, and make recommendations to the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee in order to identify the next Chair.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled and will begin as soon as possible after shadowing the current Communications Chair. The term is three years, renewable in September.

SIGGRAPH’s mission is to nurture, champion, and connect researchers and practitioners of Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. Members of the EC are primarily responsible for oversight and strategic planning for ACM SIGGRAPH. EC members also serve as liaisons to the ACM SIGGRAPH Standing Committees, lead strategy teams, and serve as representatives to the conference advisory groups for the SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia conferences. They attend 3-4 physical meetings per year, including the annual SIGGRAPH Conference as well as regularly scheduled (on average two to three per week) teleconference meetings for the Executive Committee and various sub-committees. The average workload is around 6-10 hours per week. 

An ACM SIGGRAPH Director is a voting member of the Executive Committee who helps make decisions on behalf of ACM SIGGRAPH.

Expectations for all ACM SIGGRAPH EC members:

• Set the strategic direction for the organization to best support the community of researchers, practitioners, and artists working in computer and graphics and interactive techniques
• Promote technical and creative excellence, through taking an active role in the community as individuals
• Adhere to the cultural expectations of the organization
• Supervise the operational activities of the organization which include:
  • Provide benefits for ACM SIGGRAPH members within the scope and financial resources of the organization
  • Provide high-quality resources and programs (conferences, newsletters, etc.) within the scope of ACM SIGGRAPH’s mission statement
  • Promote communication and interaction both within ACM SIGGRAPH and between ACM SIGGRAPH and the broader community
  • Oversee conferences, symposia and workshops, both for quality and fiscal soundness
  • Promote and publicize ACM SIGGRAPH achievements

Specific duties of Directors include:

• Take on two of the following jobs:
  • Lead or actively participate in one of the four teams which are collectively responsible for the strategic work of the Executive Committee
  • Act as a liaison to a group of 3-6 of the ACM SIGGRAPH Standing Committees
  • Act as a liaison to one of the conference advisory groups (SIGGRAPH or SIGGRAPH Asia)
• Lead or actively participate in two calls/month for each of the groups selected from the above list
• Vote on important decisions affecting ACM SIGGRAPH strategy and operations
• Attend ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee meetings (both 3-4 in-person meetings per year and two hour-long calls/month)
• Some directors will also serve as Chair and Treasurer for one year during their term.

More information about the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee can be found in Section 2 and about the Standing Committees and Strategy Groups in Section 6 of the ACM SIGGRAPH Policy Guidelines.

New ACM SIGGRAPH Bylaws took effect September 1, 2018, and we are in a transition period. When the term of the current Officers is over, new Officers will no longer be elected by the members but there will be nine Directors and the Officers will be selected from the Directors by the Executive Committee, with duties shown below.  This means that new Directors may be asked to serve as one of the Officers.

Duties of the Officers: from the ACM SIGGRAPH Bylaws:

Article 5. Duties of the Officers

The EC shall select, from among its directors, a Chair, Chair-elect, Treasurer, and Treasurer-elect who will fulfill the duties outlined below.

5.1 Chair. The duties of the Chair are:

• Leading and managing ACM SIGGRAPH;
• calling and presiding at EC meetings; and
• conducting ACM SIGGRAPH’s activities in accordance with the policies of the ACM;

5.2 Chair-elect. The duties of the Chair-elect are:

• Assisting the Chair in leading and managing ACM SIGGRAPH; and
• residing at meetings when the Chair is absent.

5.3 Treasurer. The duties of the Treasurer are:

• Managing ACM SIGGRAPH’s finances according to the Financial Accountability Policy of the ACM.
•  Reporting ACM SIGGRAPH’s finances to members at least once a year in ACM SIGGRAPH’s regular publications.

5.4 Treasurer-elect. The duties of the Treasurer-elect are:

• To shadow and assist the Treasurer in managing ACM SIGGRAPH’s finances.

Those interested in applying for any of these positions please contact Rebecca Strzelec. 

CHICAGO — As the SIGGRAPH 2020 North America conference goes to a virtual format starting on 17 August, 2020, the 3rd annual installment of ACM SIGGRAPH’s Diversity & Inclusion Summit welcomes best-selling children’s author and illustrator Trevor Romain as its virtual keynote speaker. In addition to going virtual this year, the Summit will also span across two days from 22-23 August in alignment between the two week conference in the Pacific Time Zone (UTC/GMT-7). After 28 August, access to the conference content will be available until 27 October, while the ACM SIGGRAPH Diversity & Inclusion Summit will be permanent on SIGGRAPH.org and ACM SIGGRAPH Facebook page courtesy of the ACM SIGGRAPH Diversity and Inclusion committee. 

Romain, who serves as the president of the Trevor Romain Company based in Austin, TX, established a career spanning over 30 years as a successful children’s book author, illustrator and featured in the award-winning Comical Sense animation series shown on PBS affiliate stations around the United States. Today, he has sold over a million copies of his books and published in 22 languages. Previously, Trevor served as the past president of the American Childhood Cancer Organization and known for his work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the United Nations, UNICEF and the USO. 

“The ACM SIGGRAPH Diversity & Inclusion committee is truly honored to have Trevor Romain to keynote the 3rd annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit for SIGGRAPH 2020. In honor of this year’s ‘Think Beyond’ theme, we are excited to engage into Trevor’s fresh perspective from South Africa, and spotlight the importance to inclusive storytelling from his life, career and how it’s essential moving forward.” said ACM SIGGRAPH Diversity and Inclusion Chair Tony Baylis, of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  

For the keynote session, Romain will share his upbringing in South Africa, intentions from behind the scenes of creating Comical Sense and the importance of inclusive storytelling to give virtual attendees insight to a hopeful future today. Romain will also do a fireside conversation with Daniel Ramamoorthy on Exploring Empathy & Creativity to Tell Inclusive Stories on 23 August at 9:45 a.m. PDT. 

Romain shared, “I am honored to present at ACM SIGGRAPH’s Diversity & Inclusion Summit at SIGGRAPH 2020 to discuss the importance of inclusive storytelling. The Trevor Romain Company creates materials designed to help kids to become happier, healthier and more confident through a variety of resources. We are excited to share our work and the thinking behind our interactive communication strategies at the 3rd Annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit.” – Trevor Romain, President at The Trevor Romain Company 

The 2020 ACM SIGGRAPH Diversity & Inclusion Summit keynote session will be streamed virtually on Saturday, 22 August at 12 p.m. CDT (1 p.m. EDT, 10 a.m. PDT). Access to this keynote is available to the public and available through the ACM SIGGRAPH Facebook page. This event is open to all, but registration for SIGGRAPH 2020 is highly encouraged at s2020.SIGGRAPH.org/register. The Summit’s diverse programming also includes presentations from Buzzfeed Animation, Women in Animation, Google, Industrial Light & Magic as well as discussions on the topics of Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, Unconscious Bias, Homelessness, Deafness and Working from Home.

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About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Conferences 

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field’s challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM that serves as an interdisciplinary community for members in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH Conferences, held in North America and Asia, are the world’s leading annual interdisciplinary educational experiences showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques.

The ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee is recruiting for a Chair of their External Relations Committee. In concert with the Executive Committee, the External Relations Chair coordinates and oversees the efforts to build stronger alliances and partnerships with organizations, conferences and institutions in fields related to SIGGRAPH.

The main responsibilities and tasks of the Chair are

• Set the priorities on topics and fields to explore and grow the SIGGRAPH community and keep it vibrant and novel.
• Coordinate a team of volunteers, who will help identify potential partners, intersecting and new fields. This includes email communication, bi-weekly (or monthly) calls, individual calls depending on the areas to explore.
• Start negotiation processes with potential partners with the aim to achieve mutual benefit.
• Draft agreements and elevate them to the EC for approval. 
• Communicate with other standing committees and groups (e.g. Communications, Education, Chapters, Diversity and Inclusion, Computer Animation Festival Advisory Board) to establish common goals, collaborations, and partnerships with 3rd parties. 
• Communicate with strategy groups (New Communities, 21^st Century Digital Presence, Nurturing Communities)
• Maintain a good and healthy relationship with our partners. 
• Propose space for exchange and new ideas within SIGGRAPH (e.g. “Meet the Partners” session).

The Chair must put in a budget request to the EC every January and submit an annual report in June. The Chair can expect to spend 5 or more hours/week on the chair activities. 

For those interested in applying for this position, please contact Rebecca Strzelec, Chair of the Nominations Committee. Provide a CV and vision statement (why you’re interested in being chair and what you hope to accomplish in that role). The Nominations Committee will review all the candidates and make recommendations to the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. All applications received by August 15 will receive full consideration.

The position will begin September 1 and run for a three-year term with the possibility of renewal for an additional three years.