SNUG Silicon Valley Bylaws

Introduction

The Synopsys Users Group (SNUG) conferences provide users of Synopsys tools and IP with an opportunity to share experiences, learn about Synopsys’ newest technology and future product direction, and network with experts and members of the local design engineering community. Each SNUG conference is organized to reflect the needs of local Synopsys users and ensure a high-quality technical program.

These bylaws are written with the intent of both providing for a valuable conference for Synopsys users and promoting the development of a body of useful peer-reviewed papers.

Technical Committee:

The Technical Committee comprises Synopsys users and, as needed to provide expertise, Synopsys employees. The committee solicits, selects, and reviews user papers and presentations that are presented at the conference and advises Synopsys on conference topics and structure. The Technical Committee recognizes papers for their technical excellence.

Technical Committee Chair:

The Technical Committee Chair is a selected member of the Technical Committee. The Chair is responsible for ensuring a quality process for the Technical Committee. The Chair partners with the Program Manager to ensure that the Technical Committee membership is representative of the local user community, has the expertise necessary to review paper submissions across a broad range of technologies and Synopsys products, and meets as required to accomplish its goals. The Chair is the primary liaison between the Technical Committee and Synopsys for conference-related planning and issue resolution. The Chair may be asked to participate in the promotion of SNUG and is typically available at the conference to welcome attendees and recognize award winning user contributions.

Program Management:

Synopsys will designate a Program Manager for each conference to facilitate the operations and activities of the Technical Committee. The Program Manager ensures open communications between Synopsys and the Technical Committee, solicits input, and regularly updates the Technical Committee on conference planning and status.

SNUG Governing Board

The SNUG Governing Board comprises the current and immediate past Chairs of each SNUG conference and a representative designated by Synopsys.

Rules to Modify SNUG Bylaws

1. The SNUG Silicon Valley Bylaws will be reviewed by the Governing Board annually, soon after SNUG Silicon Valley.
2. Any Technical Committee member of a member SNUG can petition for a change to the bylaws. That petition will be reviewed and voted on by the Governing Board within 30 days. A majority vote of the Governing Board is required to change the bylaws.
3. Proposals submitted to the Governing Board that are not approved are not eligible for re-submission for one year.

All member SNUG conferences must abide by the latest rules in effect at the time of their Call for Papers.

Technical Committee Membership

1. Technical Committee members must qualify to attend SNUG in order to participate on the Technical Committee.
2. Technical Committee members must have at least 2 years design experience with Synopsys tools and have attended at least 1 SNUG conference.
3. Technical Committee members must have previous experience in writing or reviewing technical papers.
4. Synopsys employees may act as members on the Technical Committee, as needed.
5. Addition of new members is by agreement of the Chair and the Program Manager.
6. The Chair and the Program Manager, by agreement, may remove existing members if performance consistently falls below expected participation as outlined under 'Role of the Technical Committee Member'.

Role of the Technical Committee Member

1. The primary role of the Technical Committee member is to perform peer reviews of user papers and presentations, including working with the authors to guide the development of their papers and presentations and giving suggestions on papers and presentations for improvements. This must be done in a timely manner to meet deadlines as communicated by the Program Manager and Technical Chair.
2. Technical Committee members advise presenters on issues such as dry-runs, presentation tips, etc.
3. Technical Committee members advise and collaborate with the rest of the committee on user submissions regarding acceptance.
4. Technical Committee members should communicate with authors through the official SNUG web site such that another reviewer may be aware of the status of the paper and presentation preparations.
5. Technical Committee members participate in scheduled Technical Committee conference calls.
6. Technical Committee members must review papers, according to the Chair’s instructions, as part of the process of selecting the winners of the Technical Committee Awards. Technical committee members may not vote on their own papers for purposes of determining award winners and should recuse themselves from voting on papers by their co-workers or friends, or any other case of possible bias.
7. Technical Committee members are encouraged to make suggestions/recommendations and provide feedback regarding the overall conference.
8. Technical Committee members are encouraged to act as ambassadors of the conference and should whenever possible attend, contribute to Q&A during sessions, interact with attendees and gather feedback, observe and raise issues onsite, etc.
9. Technical Committee members should expect to commit ~30 hours over five months.
10. Experienced members may be asked to mentor new committee members during their first year of membership.
11. Technical Committee members may be asked by the Chair and the Program Manager to act as moderators for presentations given at SNUG conferences.

Role of the Technical Committee Chair

1. The Chair has a maximum term of three years (per conference).
2. Any member who serves on the Technical Committee for three or more years is eligible to be the Chair.
3. The Chair partners with the Program Manager to organize submissions, make decisions on acceptance/rejection, and address concerns raised by members of the Technical Committee.
4. The Chair assists with the composition of the Technical Committee to ensure all technical expertise areas are represented. Synopsys users are preferred members, then Synopsys employees if needed.
5. The Chair coordinates the Technical Committee Award voting process.
6. The Chair works with Program Manager to assist with other special events for the conference.
7. The Chair leads Technical Committee conference calls.
8. The Chair may act as Master of Ceremonies at the conference:
   • Welcomes attendees during the general session
   • Introduces the Keynote speaker/ Guest speakers
   • Announces and presents User Awards at the conference
9. The Chair moderates the Technical Committee review meeting at the conference.

Process for Selecting a New Technical Chair

When it is time to select a new Technical Chair, the current Technical Chair and the Program Manager identify a qualified candidate. The current Chair contacts that committee member to explain the responsibilities of the role, and to gauge interest. If the committee member is interested in the position, the current Chair nominates the committee member to the entire committee and all are asked to accept or reject the nomination. The current Chair collects the votes and maintains voters' privacy. The majority vote decides. If the majority rejects the nomination, then a new qualified candidate is identified and the process is repeated

SNUG Authors

1. Authors must qualify to attend SNUG in order to submit a paper for SNUG.
2. Authors are required to complete a paper that is primarily written by users. Papers substantially written by a Synopsys employee are ineligible.
3. Authors should communicate with the Technical Committee and any Synopsys reviewers through the official SNUG web site.
4. Authors may be invited to present their accepted papers at SNUG. Authors are responsible for their own travel expenses.
5. The author(s) presenting at the conference must possess a strong command of the language in which the conference is being conducted, and must be able to present clearly in that language.
6. Authors are required to accept the SNUG usage and copyright statement requirements at time of initial submission.
7. Authors are required to review and adhere to guidelines as outlined on the abstract submission web page.

SNUG Submission and Acceptance Process

1. Preliminary paper acceptance is based on an initial proposal via the official SNUG web submission form. At the preliminary acceptance level, authors are invited to submit a draft and final version of their paper.
2. Conference presentation spots are awarded to authors after the final paper is complete, reviewed, and approved by the Technical Committee.
3. The Technical Committee reserves the right to rescind acceptance at any submission/review stage if a paper or presentation goes outside the scope of the originally accepted proposal or does not meet SNUG criteria or guidelines.
4. Submissions received after the Call for Papers deadline has passed may be considered and accepted on a case-by-case basis.
5. The same submission may be submitted to more than one SNUG conference, and will be considered independently for each conference.

SNUG 'Publish Only' Guidelines

In some cases, submissions may be accepted for paper publication only with no presentation spot awarded. SNUG submissions may be accepted for ‘paper only’ as per the following guidelines:

• Author request
• Relevance
• Topic/Presentation space
• Travel
• Presentation history

SNUG Papers & Presentations

1. Each submission (paper and presentation) will be assigned to a Technical Committee member for review.
2. A Synopsys engineer may also review the submission, in coordination with the Technical Committee reviewer
3. Submissions should be based on either publicly released Synopsys tools or on general design methodology.
4. Submissions should not be based on third party proprietary tools.
5. Any submission found to contain incorrect information shall undergo further technical review. The Technical Chair may remove any paper or presentation from the conference program that appears out of compliance with the Paper and Presentations requirements.
6. After the final presentation submission is made, the presentation may not be altered.

Silicon Valley Technical Committee Best Paper Awards

The Silicon Valley Technical Committee recognizes the technical excellence of papers submitted to SNUG through the granting of Technical Committee Best Paper Awards. A cash gratuity is given to the award winners by Synopsys. Winners are selected by a vote of the Technical Committee.

Voting Criteria

Consideration for awards is based on the following criteria:

Voting will be on a scale of 0 to 5, with 5 being the best possible score. Each paper will receive a single rating from each reviewer. The reviewer should take into account the following:

• Technical Merit. The paper should contain information that either can’t be found in the user’s guide, or is presented in a completely different way. It should present something technically relevant to the audience.
• Novelty. The paper should present something new, or a new approach to a known problem, or a creative application of an existing tool.
• Presentation. The paper should flow well, have figures and tables that help illustrate the main points, and follow the SNUG template.

Round One Voting

In the first round of voting each Technical Committee member (as assigned by the Chair), will read and rate papers on a 5 point scale. Each paper must receive between 3 and 5 reviews with ratings based on Technical Committee expertise. After the first round, the Technical Chair will take the top rated paper in each track, as well as the five top rated papers in general (there may be some overlap), and put them into the pool of papers in contention for the Best Paper Awards. This pool will consist of a total of 10 (minimum) – 15 papers.

Round Two Voting

In the second round of voting, the Tech Committee members will sign up for as many papers as they feel capable of reviewing, and read and rate them. Each paper in this round must have a minimum of 10 reviewers, coordinated by the Tech Chair. The Chair will vote only in the case of a tied score. The Chair computes the average ranking of papers from the committee members. The Technical Committee will award a minimum of three (3) best paper awards (1st place, 2nd place & 3rd place). These 3 awards will be given regardless of paper score received, but must be awarded in rank order (highest score = 1st place). In any case where more than 3 papers receive a 4.2 technical committee score or higher, the technical committee may designate additional paper awards up to 15% maximum of the total submissions eligible for the Best Paper Award. The 15% maximum must include the 3 awards mentioned above. All additional awards up to the 15% must score a minimum of 4.2 out of a 5 point scale.

Silicon Valley Technical Committee Best Paper Monetary Award Values:

• First Place: $1,000 US Dollars
• Second Place: $850 US Dollars
• Third Place: $650 US Dollars
• Any remaining 4.2 score or higher award winning papers will be eligible for monetary awards funded out of a pool of $1,500 USD across the winners. Maximum award amount in this category is $500 USD per paper.

Silicon Valley Conference Presentation Awards

Awards for presentation excellence are decided based on a vote of conference attendees. Only users who have submitted a complete paper are eligible for a presentation award.

The number of awards will vary by conference, but recognition can include up to three awards:

• Best Conference Presentation – First Place, Second Place, Third Place

The number of awards will be determined by the Technical Chair and Synopsys program lead using criteria that include the number of eligible submissions, conference attendance, and overall scores.

Silicon Valley Technical Chair Awards

The Technical Chair recognizes exceptional contribution to the SNUG program through the Technical Chair Awards. One or more conference presenters may be recognized with a Technical Chair Award. The awards will be given at the discretion of the Technical Chair after a review of attendee voting of presentations and in consultation and within the budget set by Synopsys. Award eligibility is outlined below.

Silicon Valley Award Eligibility

The following conditions of award eligibility apply to both Technical Committee Paper Awards and Conference Presentation Awards.

1. Only new, unpublished submissions will be considered for awards at SNUG. In the case of papers re-submitted with significant changes, the Chair determines whether the paper is considered new or not.
2. Synopsys employees are ineligible for SNUG awards.
3. Final papers submitted after the published deadline are ineligible for a Technical Committee Award.
4. Final presentations submitted after the published deadline are ineligible for a Presentation Award.
5. Authors are only eligible for one award in each category.

The Technical Chair has final say on any voting issues that fall outside the documented and agreed upon criteria established for the targeted conference such as a statistical tie or minimal.