Publicity Guide page	Responsibilities page	Publicity channels page	Planning page	Website tie-ins & tracking page
Mass emails : page	IEEE-CIS ListServers page	SENDER Instructions page	EDITOR Instructions page	OWNER Instructions page

Conference Guides for [IEEE-CIS, INNS] conferences : Although this guide was initially set up for IJCNN2019, and was used for IEEE WCCI 2020, hopefully some of the basic information may still help [organising committee members, authors] up to 2023-2025 (assuming a half-life of links and process information of 3-5 years?). The Authors' and Publications menus have been combined, allowing authors to see the Publications Chair perspective as well. I am no longer keeping this up to date. Bill Howell, 11Dec2020

Mass email SENDER instructions

Introduction :

The IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (IEEE-CIS) [sole,co]-sponsors a large number of [conferences, symposia, workshops, etc] (referred to generically as "conferences" in the rest of the web-page). Starting with WCCI2020, a number of IEEE ListServers have been set up so that recipients may [sub, unsub]-scribe to the conferences for which they will receive publicity mass emails. As of summer 2019, only the WCCI2020 ListServer is actually being used, but the lists will be available to other conferences for their future use if they decide to use them.

Note that a basic IEEE-CIS policy is that a maximum of 8 mass emails are allowed to publicize any conference, with one or perhaps two additional emails being allowed by the IEEE-CIS President for exceptional situations. Additional emails mostly arise where serious mistakes have been made in emails, or special issues arise requiring one more email.

General information about the IEEE-CIS ListServers can be found via the links on the Menu above. This web-page focusses specifically on SENDERS.

[Roles, Responsibilities, Access] of SENDERS

understand and apply the mass email policies of [INNS, IEEE-CIS]
compose a DRAFT mass email, and they must check [content, links, mailtos, images, etc]
send the DRAFT email to the conference [General, Publicity, Web] Co-Chairs for [additions, deletions, corrections, comments]
once finalised, send it to the intended IEEE-CIS ListServer (eg PUBLICITY-IEEE-CEC@listserv.ieee.org
check email responses for [inquiries, problems, comments] from the users
it helps to set up an email filter for the responses (check for cc @listserv.ieee.org)
do not have access to the ListServer management, and cannot view the email lists.

Approved email addresses for SENDERs

Typically with email servers, you can only use your pre-approved emails addresses to send a mass email to the email server, as emails received from your other un-approved email addresses are simply ignored.

That is certainly the case with [WCCI, IJCNN] conferences as per the mass email policies of [INNS, IEEE-CIS]). An OWNER can change the server settings so that it will [accept, hold] a SENDER's email. Each email must be approved by an [EDITOR, OWNER] before it is finally sent out to the mass email distribution list.

My suggestion is that SENDERs use an alternate send-from email address that is different from their normal email addresses, as the latter can be "flooded" with responses to a mass email. Filtering is a simple option as well.

Preparing a mass email

Selection of email packages

SENDERS MUST be able to email with images "in-line" (link to web-based image file so the email isn't too long)

Thunderbird email
Others (Yahoo, Google mail, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Macs) - you have to find the right way to do it - run tests

"Mailto" [instructions, examples].

"Mailtos" are an important means for :

making it easy for readers of mass emails to direct questions to the right contact on the Organising Committee.
prompting the sender to provide specific details with the inquiry
providing some information to the Organising Committee contact as to the [context, origins] of an email

Compose email in TextEditor using HTML raw code

ALL URLs [links, mailtos] should have "%20" in place of space!!! - Exception : the "mailto:" email address in a mailto. For example : <.A HREF="mailto:Amir Hussain. General Co-Chair. WCCI2020 Glasgow. Edinburgh Napier U. Scotland. UK ?subject=WCCI2020%20Glasgow,%20UK%20-%20General %20Inquiry&body=If%20your%20[questions,%20comments]%20are%20related%20to%20the%20Calls%20above,%20or%20to%20the%20responsibilities%20of%20Organizing%20Committee%20as%20listed%20at%20https://www.ijcnn.org/organizing-committee%20,%20please%20contact%20the%20appropriate%20Chair%20directly.%20%20I%20would%20be%20happy%20to%20answer%20%20your%20other%20[questions,%20comments].%20%20Please%20add%20them%20below,%20then%20send."> Amir Hussain
- Actually, you can get away with spaces rather than %20 in some places, but it may be better to be safe than sorry.
Introductory paragraph - repeats information in the image for those whose email programs won't show the images:
“...The 30 November 2006 deadline is fast approaching for proposals of Special Sessions and Panel Sessions for the 2007 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (www.ijcnn2007.org) which will take place from August 12th to17th in Atlanta, Florida...”
Actually, I don't worry about this, as it's not normally a problem if the images don't show in my mass emails. All information is in the text.
Images - should be "in-line" & referenced to a public website image so the email isn't too large in size.
- IF image file is on someone else's website - simple reference the source, eg :
  <.IMG moz-do-not-send="true" SRC="http://www.ijcnn2013.org/img/inns_logo.gif" NAME="INNS" BORDER=0>
- IF I have fetched the image file : put it onto MY website for reference, eg :
  <.IMG moz-do-not-send="true" SRC="http://www.BillHowell.ca/IJCNN_2013_Dallas/Dallas_photos/AT&T Plaza and American Airlines Centeraza_crowd.jpg" NAME="AT&T Plaza and American Airlines Centeraza" WIDTH=245 HEIGHT=245 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT>
Ending Notice - Copy & paste at the bottom of the emails's HTML
(adapt as necessary, ignore the "." in "<." which was inserted to display the code) :
<.FONT COLOR="#808000">
Click on this mailto link to
<.A HREF="mailto:LISTSERV@listserv.ieee.org?subject=Change my IEEE ListSERV subscriptions&body=subscribe%20publicity-wcci%0D%0Asubscribe%20publicity-ijcnn%0D%0Asubscribe%20publicity-ieee-cec%0D%0Asubscribe%20publicity-fuzz-ieee%0D%0Asubscribe%20publicity-ieee-ssci%0D%0Asubscribe%20publicity-ieee-cibcb%0D%0A%0D%0A#%20Change%20'subscribe'%20to%20'unsubscribe'%20for%20any%20lists%20that%20you%20wish%20to%20be%20removed%20from.%0D%0A#%20This%20email%20MUST%20be%20sent%20from%20your%20email%20address%20that%20you%20wish%20to%20[add,%20remove]%20from%20IEEE%20ListServers%0D%0A#%20This%20email%20MUST%20be%20sent%20ONLY%20in%20text%20format%20(not%20[html,%20rich%20text%20(rtf),%20other]%20formats)!!%0D%0A%0D%0A#%20publicity-wcci%20%20%20%20%20%20=%20IEEE-WCCI%20-%20World%20Congress%20on%20Computational%20Intelligence%0D%0A#%20publicity-ijcnn%20%20%20%20%20=%20IJCNN%20%20%20%20%20-%20International%20Joint%20Conference%20on%20Neural%20Networks%0D%0A#%20publicity-ieee-cec%20%20=%20IEEE-CEC%20%20-%20Congress%20on%20Evolutionary%20Computing%0D%0A#%20publicity-fuzz-ieee%20=%20IEEE-FUZZ%20-%20Fuzzy%20Systems%20Conference%0D%0A#%20publicity-ieee-ssci%20=%20IEEE-SSCI%20-%20Symposium%20Series%20on%20Computational%20Intelligence%0D%0A#%20publicity-wcci%20%20%20%20%20%20=%20IEEE-CIBBI%20-%20Computational%20Intelligence%20in%20Bioinformatics%20and%20Computational%20Biology%0D%0A%0D%0A#%20The%20LISTSERV@IEEE.org%20response%20will%20report%20errors%20for%20lines%20in%20this%20email%20starting%20with%20'#'%20-%20just%20ignore.">
[sub, unsub]-scribe to the IEEE-CIS publicity ListServers.

Further information can be found on the <.A HREF="http://www.BillHowell.ca/Neural%20nets/Conference%20guides/Author%20guide%20website/IEEE%20ListServe%20publicity%20subscriptions.html">IEEE-CIS ListServers web-page.

Image inclusion as links-only

You MUST be able to email with images "in-line" (links to web-based image file rather than the image file itself) so that the email isn't too long! Very long emails can result in HUGE email responses from email systems to the SENDER! It's also annoying for some recipients.

Thunderbird email
- set moz-do-not-send="true"
- select all and paste from the “Preview” window of HTML-kit or the HTML file viewed in a text editor!!
- Example : <.IMG moz-do-not-send="true" SRC="http://cnd.memphis.edu/ijcnn2009/index_files/atlanta.jpg" NAME="Atlanta" ALIGN=LEFT BORDER=0>
Other email programs (mutt, Yahoo, Google mail, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Macs) -you have to find the right way to do it - run tests
Use a texteditor to verify that for each image <.IMG , paste "moz-do-not-send="true" occurs just before “SRC=”
For example the bash command example identifies 3 incorrect image specs :
$ grep "<.IMG" "/media/bill/PROJECTS/System_maintenance/text processors/0_test regexpr in kwrite using IJCNN2019 mass email 181108 v181106.html" | grep --invert-match "moz\-"

<.TD><.IMG SRC="http://www.billhowell.ca/Neural%20nets/2019%20IJCNN%20Budapest/Giles,%20Lee.png" NAME="Lee Giles" WIDTH=85 align=right BORDER=0 alt="">

<.TD><.IMG SRC="http://www.billhowell.ca/Neural%20nets/2019%20IJCNN%20Budapest/Guyon,%20Isabelle.png" NAME="Isabelle Guyon" WIDTH=85 align=right BORDER=0 alt="">

<.IMG SRC="http://www.billhowell.ca/Neural nets/2019 IJCNN Budapest/Somogyvari, Zoltan.png" NAME="Zoltan Somogyvari" BORDER=0 HEIGHT=220 alt="">
Save file & view in your browser - Verify that the email looks right! (eg remove extraneous empty lines!)
check the email file size after sending a test message to yahoo account (eg <.35 k or so)

Test and send a mass email

Set these first when using Thunderbird email :

Background color
- Thunderbird Menu -> Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> General -> configEditor
- set "msgcompose.background_color" #D7D7D7 (this is a light-grey)
Confirm "special" HTML email settings :
In my case, as I sometimes send emails that MUST be PURE text (for example, when using mutt to send emails to many more recipients than my normal email can do), in Thunderbird email I have to make sure to of the following settings :
- sftp mailto settings :
  Menu -> Edit -> Preferences -> Composition
  - - > Send Options :
    . Text Format - UN-check "Send messages as plain text if possible"
    b. When sending ... "Send the message in HTML anyway"
  - -> Composition : Check "Check spelling before sending"
Account settings : Bill Howell -> Composition & Addressing -> Check "Compose messages in HTML format"

Create the email :

Note the "To:" address, in this example publicity-wcci@listserv.ieee.org
From : WCCI_World_Congress_on_Computational_Intelligence@BillHowell.ca (NOT from Bill@BillHowell.ca!!!)
To : publicity-wcci@listserv.ieee.org
Subject : IEEE WCCI 2020 Glasgow, Scotland - <.theme of email> (eg theme = Call for papers)
Body : Inserted the HTML code into the body of your email : For Thunderbird email, using your text editor "Select All" html text, copy, then paste into the email through the drop-down menue "Insert -> HTML".
Use a special email address to send from? - You may want to use a special personal address from which to send the email, rather than your normal email address. This is to be able to easily filter emails that you receive and thereby avoid getting “undeliverables”, spam, and inquiries that can flood out your normal email. In my case I created email addresses for each conference that I have worked on :
- WCCI_World_Congress_on_Computational_Intelligence@BillHowell.ca
- INNS_BigData_DeepLearn@BillHowell.ca
- IJCNN_International_Joint_Conference_on_Neural_Nets@BillHowell.ca
Note that you have to look closely at the flood of (mostly robot) responses, as people will respond to the mass emails requesting [information, help] or pointing out problems with the mass emails or their contents.
Final CHECK:
- Images: are "linked" and not included!!! (~15 k file size)
- Examples (change as required) :
  - IJCNN To: PUBLICITY-IJCNN@listserv.ieee.org From: IJCNN_International_Joint_Conference_on_Neural_Nets@BillHowell.ca Subject : IJCNN2017 Ankorage Alaska : Call for papers
  - WCCI : To : PUBLICITY-WCCI@listserv.ieee.org From: WCCI_World_Congress_on_Computational_Intelligence@BillHowell.ca Subject : WCCI2018 - World Congress on Computational Intelligence : Call for papers
- Content - copy HTML code from [prepared, reviewed, corrected] text file into email :
  Menu -> Insert -> HTML

Personal check - Send the email to yourself and perhaps other accounts that have different email packages that may display the messages differently.

test the email message to yourself (in my case Bill@BillHowell.ca)
check its size (no pictures attached, instead linked), and to make sure that it is correct, complete, and is properly formatted
make SURE that the email is html, and NOT text-only!

Send to the appropriate IEEE-CIS ListServer

An [EDITOR, OWNER] will approve of your email for distribution.

Post send-out :

reset the Background color :
Thunderbird preferences -> General -> config.editor : search "msgcompose.background_color", change to #FFFFFF (pure white)

Email servers - other than IEEE-CIS ListServers

As far as I know, nobody's using IEEE ListServers for conference publicity other than WCCI2020, and it's not at all certain that use will continue. While the "Publicity Guide" website now contains much of the information relevant to SENDERs, an older document may still have some extra useful information in it (albeit more for OWNERs (=HOLDERs)).

INNS mass HOLDERS instructions.odt

This includes links to [program, script] code that I've used to maintain and track mass email lists.

Example emails (links)

Here are links to several mass emails from IJCNN2019 and WCCI2020. The html code in these files might be helpful for your own coding. Note that the "mailto" links are especially important to make it easy for authors to contact the right people. It also makes it easy for Organising Committee members to filter their emails and to get more precise feedback.

Directory of available files for this webpage