The primary responsibility of topic coordinators is to lead the paper review effort in a specific area, by scheduling regular meeting with the TPC that are assigned to them by the Program Chairs. Although the papers to be reviewed by each TC will be bid on by the TCs, the PCs will make the final decisions on the papers assigned to each of the TCs. The TCs themselves will also be assigned papers to review and therefore they need to be fluent in the research area. Moreover, given the leadership role they play, the TCs need to be recognized as leaders in the research area they are overseeing. The TCs assist the PCs and need to work closely with the PCs to conduct a thorough review process defined as ensuring each paper has the minimum number of reviews and that each review is good quality. The TCs can petition the PCs for additional TPC in cases where the quality of the review process is threatened by the inability to get a solid set of reviews for each paper. Given the tight relationship between the TCs and PCs, the TCs are appointed by the PCs. The following outlines the process in more detail.

• Program chairs survey the set of submitted papers and decide on a set of Topics
• PCs will finalize the selection of TCs
• TCs will bid on papers to review
• PCs will make final decisions on assignment of papers to TCs
• PCs will assign a group of TPC to each TC, using recommendations from TCs
• TCs make recommendations on paper assignments to TPC, PCs make the final decision on the assignments and make the actual assignments on the conference website
• TCs schedule regular meetings, once a week as the final review (see below) approaches, and ranks the papers in their area, with accept and reject decisions included in the ranking
• TC MUST be proactive to ensure that each paper receives the minimum number of reviews recommended by the SC and OC, and discuss problems with the PCs IN ADVANCE of the final review
• PCs schedule a final review meeting, which must be attended by the PCs and TCs
• Each TCs will provide a written proposal in advance of the meeting on the papers they recom- mend for acceptance, and a ‘strength’ rating which reflects how strongly their group feels about the paper
• TCs will bid for sessions and provide session titles based on the number of papers they recommend for acceptance
• PCs will make final accept/reject decisions based on the feedback from the TCs and a need to maintain a certain amount of diversity in the program

For papers submitted by members of the TC and TPC that would be assigned to their group, the Program Chairs will choose a suitable alternative TC to handle the paper. The TC will be asked to drop off the call during the final review during discussions related to their paper