The tone of an ICASSP is set by its Technical Program. Nothing is so important to the success or failure of an ICASSP as the quality of the Technical Program, and the role of the Technical Program Committee is crucial. In addition to recommendations about paper selection, the Technical Program Committee has a number of tools at its disposal to set the tone. These include subjects requested on the Call-For-Papers, invited sessions, plenary sessions, tutorial sessions, and the choice of session chairpersons. Consider evening topical panel/audience discussion sessions to enliven the program.
There are many pitfalls for a Technical Program Committee to avoid. The role of the Technical Program Committee for an ICASSP is quite different from that of the Technical Program Committee of many other conferences. The ICASSP Technical Program is the shared responsibility of the Technical Program Committee and the SP Technical Committees. Neither has veto power, and it is expected that any disagreements be negotiated. Much coordination with the SP Technical Committees is required. It is a big job and a substantial committee is a necessity.
We have been fortunate in the past to have attracted many strong papers to non-invited sessions. We have limited invited, plenary, or tutorial sessions in our program. Mainly, this is due to the simple fact that including these sessions required the exclusion of a non-invited session and the rejection of an additional dozen papers. Indeed the primary consideration in deciding whether to include such a session is judging whether it is of sufficient interest and importance to justify excluding a regular session. Currently the Society's Education Committee organizes tutorials for the day preceding ICASSP, thus there is no need to include tutorials in the main ICASSP program.