Purpose:
The Communications Committee shall organise the internal and external communications of DATE, ensuring timely establishment and execution of the overall communications and promotion strategy of DATE.

Composition:
The Communications Committee will be chaired by the General Vice-Chair and is composed of at least the following Chairs:

Communications Chair (filled in by the General Vice-Chair)
Publicity Chair
Vendors Chair
Web Chair
Proceedings Chair
Awards Chair
Fringe Meetings Chair
Travel Grants Chair
Local Arrangements Chair
Liaison Chairs USA, Asia, EDAA, EDA Consortium and IEEE.

The Communications Chair may decide to invite communications experts to join the Committee for specific assignments. In its meetings it is advisable to invite the professional Conference and Exhibition Secretariats to participate and contribute.

Each Liaison Chair must be a member of EDAA, IEEE Computer Society, a member of any other co-sponsoring organisation or of a similar local professional organisation.

Term:
The term for DEC Chairs shall be as indicated in the description of the DEC. Other persons may stay on the Committee as long as their activities are deemed necessary by the Communications Chair.

Responsibilities:
The Communications Committee shall be responsible for the internal and external communications of DATE. The Communications Committee shall be responsible for the DATE Communications Plan that specifies yearly the targets to be achieved in the different areas of activity of DATE. The DATE Communications Plan shall be a major component of the permanent quality improvement program for DATE.

Liaison Chairs of each sponsor shall be responsible for informing the DEC of all policies of, and requests from, their respective sponsor as far as relevant for DATE. They shall be responsible for representing the DEC to the appropriate individuals and groups within their sponsoring organisation.

Liaison Chairs of other organisations and regions shall be responsible for representing DATE in their communities, that DATE receives sufficient attention in their communities and that the image of DATE in their communities improves year after year as the high-quality European Event in Design, Automation and Test.

Tasks:
The Communications Chair shall update yearly the current DATE Communications Plan. This plan shall describe the vision, mission and objectives of DATE, the target groups, the messages to be transferred, and the media to be used for that purpose. The plan shall describe how to measure the degree of success of its implementation. The plan shall describe the internal and external relations of DATE and the value of these relations for DATE. The plan shall describe the communication structure with the relations of DATE in making explicit the meetings (and their Charters) in which DATE representatives participate. The plan shall specify the responsibilities for external relations with the technical press both at academic and journalistic level. The plan shall effectively co-ordinate all promotional activities of DATE both towards the academic world and towards the industrial worlds of designers and of EDA vendors. The plan shall describe the measures taken to create a consistent image of DATE. The plan shall include a manual that describes rules to be followed for a consistent use of logo and name of DATE. The plan shall specify under what conditions external parties can be allowed the use of the DATE logo and name. The plan shall contain the yearly publications and promotion plan and corresponding budgets. The update of the DATE Communications Plan shall be ready before the closing date for paper submission (early September) to allow sufficient time for planning of promotion and publicity. Preferably it shall be ready before the European holiday season. Liaison Chairs from organisations and regions shall in the context of the DATE Communications Plan, at least perform the following tasks, and report quarterly to the Communications Chair on achievements:

• Recommend avenues for the dissemination of the Call for Papers, the preliminary program, and other approaches to provide publicity for DATE.
• Assist in acquisition and selection of papers to be presented.
• Assist in the solicitation of high-quality reviewers and Topic Chairs.
• Recommend individuals from their organisation/ region for participation on the Conference Program Committee.
• Assist the General Chair in finding excellent Keynote speakers for the Opening Session of DATE.

Liaison Chairs of the sponsors shall assist in promoting the relationship with the sponsors and deal with any situations that may arise concerning the sponsors.

Meetings:
The Communications Committee for DATEnn+1 shall meet during DATEnn to establish the required co-ordination of activities and plan the update of the DATE Communications Plan. Further meetings are at the discretion of the Communications Chair.