Setup & Settings
Configure your conference's core details, attendance mode, proceedings, withdrawal policy, status, public URL, branding, and clone/delete actions — all on one tab.
Purpose
The Setup & Settings tab is the single place where you edit your conference's core configuration. From here you control the basic facts (name, dates, venue, subject areas), how attendees experience the event, how proceedings are published, when authors may withdraw papers, whether the conference is publicly visible, its public web address, its branding, and high-level actions like cloning or deleting the conference.
Everything on this tab is saved together with the Save Changes button at the bottom — including the branding section.
When you use it
- Right after creating a conference, to fill in details and pick a public URL slug.
- Whenever the dates, venue, description, or subject areas change.
- When you're ready to make the conference public — by switching its Status from Draft to Open.
- To set the proceedings publisher (e.g. IEEE) and volume front-matter.
- To define your paper withdrawal policy (Full-tier conferences).
- To set brand colors, banner, and logo.
- To clone the conference for a new edition, or to delete it.
The Review Settings note and the Paper Withdrawal Policy sections only appear for Full (complete academic conference) conferences. Light and Standard conferences won't see them.
Walkthrough
- 1
Open the Conference Leadership Console, pick your conference, and select the Setup & Settings tab.
- 2
Fill in Basic Information: conference name, acronym, year, city, country, start and end dates, timezone, and a short description. Name, acronym, and both dates are required, and the acronym must be unique for the chosen year (the field checks this for you).
- 3
Pick one or more Subject / Research Areas from the checklist, or type a custom area in the box — custom areas are merged into the list when you save. These drive cross-conference filtering on the public CFP directory, so adding at least one is recommended.
- 4
Set the Proceedings Publisher if you publish proceedings. Choosing a publisher reveals its specific fields — IEEE asks for the PDF eXpress ID, eCF Conference ID, and exact publication title; other publishers ask for series, volume number/title, copyright form URL, and author instructions. This setting is conference-wide and replaces the per-program publisher.
- 5
Choose the Conference Mode — In-person only, Virtual only, or Hybrid. This is the single source of truth read by registration, the presentation system, the schedule, and other modules.
- 6
(Full tier) Review the Review Settings note. Review mode is configured per program in the PC Chair Console, not here. Then set the Paper Withdrawal Policy: choose a policy type (Permissive, Deadline-Based, Strict, or Public Record), an optional deadline and consequences, tracking/limits, whether PC Chairs may override per program, and an optional message shown to authors before they confirm a withdrawal.
- 7
Under System Configuration, set the Status: Draft (hidden from public), Open (accepting submissions), Closed, or Archived. The System Level (Light/Standard/Full) is shown here but is locked — it is set at creation and cannot be changed.
- 8
Set your Conference Website URL. Use Option A to point at your own custom domain, or Option B (recommended) to claim a hosted URL slug. The slug must be unique and use only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens; the field validates and confirms availability as you type.
- 9
Adjust Branding Settings — brand colors, banner image, and logo. These are saved together with the rest of the form.
- 10
Click Save Changes. A confirmation appears on success, and the updated details propagate to the console header and conference card.
- 11
Use Conference Actions when needed: Clone Conference copies all settings, programs, and committee structure into a new conference; Delete Conference permanently removes the conference and its data.
Tips
Branding lives in its own section but isn't on a separate save button — it's written together with the rest of the form when you click Save Changes. Make all your edits, then save once.
Your hosted URL slug (Option B) is how people reach your public page at
/c/your-slug. Choose something stable and recognizable early, before you
share links — changing it later breaks any URLs already in circulation.
The Light / Standard / Full system level cannot be changed after creation. If you need a different tier, you'll need to create (or clone into) a new conference at the right level.
Delete Conference removes the conference and all associated data and cannot be undone. If you only need a fresh edition for next year, use Clone Conference instead.
A POC email verification banner appears on this tab when your contact email is unverified. Verifying it unblocks opening registration and publishing your CFP, so take care of it early.