Plenary sessions are useful to welcome ICASSP attendees and to mark special ICASSP occasions. Many ICASSPs have included plenary sessions every morning before the regular sessions. Some plenary sessions have been overviews, immediately followed by a regular session on the same topic in the same room. If possible, plenary sessions should be kept short (45-50 min). Any technical material to be presented at a plenary session should be cleared with the appropriate technical committee well before the final arrangements are made.
IEEE policy (and the Society Constitution) specify that no honorarium may be paid to any speaker, however, ICASSP can reimburse for travel expenses may arrange for plenary speakers to have a complimentary room. The only exceptions to this policy is for educational talks for which a separate fee is charged (e.g. tutorials).