ICMI Steering Committee

International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI) is the premier international forum that brings together multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) and social interaction research. Multimodal AI encompasses technical challenges in machine learning and computational modelling such as representations, fusion, data and systems. The study of social interactions englobes both human-human interactions and human-computer interactions. A unique aspect of ICMI is its multidisciplinary nature which values both scientific discoveries and technical modelling achievements, with an eye towards impactful applications for the good of people and society.

The current ICMI has resulted from three separate meetings: the original International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces meetings in China (1996, 1999, 2000), the Perceptive User Interfaces Workshops (1997, 1998, 2001), and the Workshops on Machine Learning for Multimodal Interaction (2004-2008).

In 1996, the first International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces (ICMI) took place in Beijing, China. This community worked on multimodal interfaces, systems, and applications. In 2001, ICMI had a joint conference with Perceptive User Interfaces (PUI) workshop, and have published the proceedings by ACM since then. ICMI became an ACM sponsored conference in 2003. In 2009 and 2010, the ICMI was held jointly with the Workshop on Machine Learning for Multimodal Interaction (MLMI). The advisory boards of both meetings made this decision to consolidate the community and expand the range of topics. After two years, in 2011, the two meetings were merged and the new conference was named the International Conference on Multimodal Interaction, using the same short name, ICMI.

What we do

The annual ACM International Conference on Multimodal Interaction (ICMI) is the main activity of our community. It is an annual international conference, sponsored by the ACM (SIGCHI), and it rotates between three regions: the Americas, Europe-Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Other activities considered valuable for achieving ICMI community’s mission are also conducted and considered for funding, such as sponsorship of a doctoral symposium and related workshops and symposia.

The selection of the ICMI venue is through a bidding process. The SC circulates a call for bids, two years in advance of the actual conference. While the rotation between three regions is desired, under exceptional circumstances, the conference location may be different or virtual (e.g. under a pandemic). For the most recent call for bids, please visit the webpage of the last ICMI. If you are interested in chairing ICMI, please contact the SC chair to get the ICMI Handbook, which specifies the duties of each organizational role in the conference, as well as the timeline of the conference. The SC will gladly provide feedback and guidance during the preparation of a bid for ICMI.
We also maintain a community e-mail list, “ICMI-MULTIMODAL-ANNOUNCE@listserv.acm.org”. This is a moderated, low-volume list, and each post has to have direct relevance to the multimodal community (and the word “multimodal” should be in the message). To subscribe to this list, please visit this link

Aims of the Steering Committee

The ACM ICMI Steering Committee (SC for short) is responsible for oversight of the annual ACM ICMI conference and the conference series itself. The committee is composed of elected officers, who work on a voluntary basis.

The objectives of the SC are to:

● Define and shape the ICMI goals and direction and determine the overall strategy and vision for the ICMI conference series;
● Serve as the focal point for communications between the ICMI Conference General Chairs (GC) and Program Chairs (PC), the SIGCHI Executive Committee (EC), and ACM Headquarters staff;
● Advise on the ICMI conference operations and finances;
● Support each year’s General Chairs (GC), Program Chairs (PC), and other organization committee members of ICMI by providing advice, giving feedback, and supporting them in their interactions with ACM and the ICMI community;
● Promote and maintain the ICMI conference as the foremost international venue for researchers and practitioners in multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) and social interaction research. Multimodal AI encompasses technical challenges in machine learning and computational modeling such as representations, fusion, data and systems. The study of social interactions englobes both human-human interactions and human-computer interactions;
● Establish relationships with other related conferences and communities, consider and execute mergers and splits, if needed;
● Circulate calls and contacts researchers to organize the ICMI Conference, and to select and confirm conference locations and dates;
● Approve appointments of the main conference chairs including General Chairs (GC), and Program Chairs (TPC); present the chairs to SIGCHI for final approval;
● Grow and develop the volunteer base to identify future conference chairs, organizing committee members and steering committee members;
● Provide history and continuity for the conference series;
● Ensure that ACM and SIGCHI policies which apply to ICMI conferences are correctly applied;
● Create procedures and policies that apply to the ICMI conference series;
● Resolve general issues with the ICMI conference series;
● Support ICMI conferences officers in decision making;
● Ensure information exchange and mutual awareness with ACM-SIGCHI and other scientific communities and interest groups

Membership of SC

The ICMI Steering Committee shall consist of representatives with interests and experience aligned with ensuring the continued success of the ICMI conference series. The committee will represent the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, including researchers and professionals across the various specialities within multimodal Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Further, the SC aims to represent the diversity of our community, including, but not limited to gender, domain of research, research methodology, geographical location.

The number of members of SC is currently fixed to 9. Members are elected for three years, with terms that can be extended.
The qualifications to serve on the SC include:

● Senior level or significant involvement with prior ICMI Conference Organizing Committees (former ICMI General or Program Chairs can be nominated);
● Regular attendance at the ICMI conference;
● Willingness to devote the time needed to attend SC meetings and contribute to its discussions.

New members are invited by nominations to the SC or via volunteering from past ICMI chairs. If you are interested (and qualify), please contact the current SC Main Chair.
Aligned with SIGCHI policy, SC members who perform general conduct unworthy of community representation (such as corruption, plagiarism, sexual harassment, or other serious misdeeds as outlined in the ACM policy against discrimination and harassment) will be immediately ejected from the SC and will not be invited. The SC ⅔ majority vote is required that the misconduct meets the criteria for ejection.

SC member roles and responsibilities

The ICMI Executive Committee consists of two members: the Main Chair and either the Chair Elect or the Post-chair. Members of the ICMI Executive Committee will work together on strategies and actions for future growth and impact of the ICMI community. The Chair Elect is the person who will be the next chair. The Chair Elect is invited by the current Main Chair, and is endorsed by a majority vote of the current steering committee members. The term is for one year. The main task of the Chair Elect is to support the Main Chair and advise conference chairs as well as prepare to be the next chair. The Main Chair will be the main point of contact for ACM and SigCHI, including the attendance to the annual meeting by ACM SigCHI. The term is for two years.

After the term of the Main Chair, that person shifts to the Post Chair, whose main task is to support the Main Chair based on her/his rich experience for conference organization and SIGCHI liaison. The term will be for one year. By the end of the first year of the term, the Main Chair will be in charge of deciding the next Chair Elect.

Any important ICMI-related email communications is led by both members of the Executive Committee, and the SC is regularly updated. The SC members consult and vote on the SC decisions, and support the SC Main Chair, Post Chair, and Chair Elect.

SC Executive Committee responsibilities include:

• To serve as the main point of contact for ACM and SigCHI, including the attendance to the annual meeting by ACM SigCHI;
• To circulate calls for ICMI Sustained Accomplishment Award, ICMI Community Service Award, and ICMI Ten Year Technical Impact Award; form the necessary award committees, and supervise the granting of these awards.
• To organize SC meetings, including physical meetings during the ICMI Conference, and to keep minutes;
• To prepare the call for bids for ICMI conferences, to collect the bids and lead the review, feedback and evaluation;
• To keep in contact with the GC and PC of the upcoming ICMI conferences and act as a liaison between the organization and the SC;
• To keep informed about ACM, SIGCHI and CSCC activities, and to inform the SC and ICMI organization about the relevant issues;
• To keep the ICMI handbook and SC website up to date (coordinated with ICMI organization);
• To discuss with SC new directions and improvements for the ICMI conferences;
• To discuss and lead the voting for membership renewals of the SC members;

It is up to the discretion of the Executive Committee members to share responsibilities for these main tasks. The Executive Committee is expected to follow the guidelines written in this regulation document. Any change to the procedures outlined in this document should require a vote by the SC.

SC member elections are regulated as follows:

(1) At or before each SC meeting during (or right after) the ICMI conference, elections will be held for the different roles in the SC if their term has come to an end.

(2) Expiring roles will be made known to the SC at least 3 months prior to the SC meeting associated with the annual ICMI conference. The SC Chair will call for volunteers or nominations for new members.
(3) SC Chairs and members are elected by a simple majority vote. The Chairs must have served on the SC for at least two years, before assuming the role.
(4) SC members are elected by a majority vote.
(5) A term as SC Chair lasts two years, after which that person becomes the Post Chair for a term of one additional year. The term as SC Chair Elect lasts one year.

SC meetings

There will be at least three SC meetings per (conference) year:
(1) Face-to-face meetings. There will be two face-to-face meetings per year, both organized during the ICMI Conference. The first of these meetings is a debrief with the current and next ICMI chairs, and primarily aims to enable knowledge transfer between the teams. The second meeting is an SC-only meeting.
(2) Virtual meetings. There will be quarterly virtual meetings if there are sufficiently many agenda items that warrant synchronous discussions. Any SC member can request a topic to be discussed via a virtual meeting. These will be organized with at least one month’s notice. Meeting minutes will be kept and shared with the SC for both cases.

SC members are expected to attend all SC meetings, either physically or virtually. Virtual meeting days will be chosen at each face-to-face meeting and will be scheduled in advance. Non-attendance can lead to termination from the SC. Technology will be in place to support virtual attendance at face-to-face meetings to accommodate extreme circumstances that prevent travel. Meetings will never be video or audio recorded, even if remote meeting technology easily enables recording. The validity of a SC meeting is conditioned upon the participation of the majority of SC members, or five individuals, who are physically copresent or interact using conferencing or communications technology with voting confirmed in writing by email to the SC Chair.

Major outcomes, decisions, and action items from SC meetings will be reported to the SIGCHI Council of Steering Committee Chairs (and by that to the SIGCHI Executive Committee, the Vice President for Conferences). The discussions and information from the general annual CSCC meeting will be reported by the person attending this meeting (SC Chair or substitute) to the SC. Decisions and action items of concern for the current conference will be reported to the conference GCs or PCs of the current year.

SC communication and decision procedures

Any SC member can raise an issue by sending an email to the list of all SC members. SC members should reply to the mail on the list describing their position within a week unless otherwise specified by the sender. Issues can also be raised by adding items to future meeting agendas, or by communicating with the SC Chair directly.

If no consensus on a raised issue is apparent, the SC Chair will call for a formal vote, either online or in person. Every SC member has one vote. Every SC member should vote within a week for virtual votes, and immediately in person, unless otherwise specified by the SC Chair. A normal majority of votes will decide the result of the voting procedure unless otherwise specified by the SC Chair. If no vote is received from an SC member within the time specified, this will be counted as an abstention. A quorum of 50% (rounded up to the next whole number) of valid votes from SC members must be reached in order to accept the voting result. Extraordinary issues, such as modification of the ICMI regulation, require a majority of 2/3. Issues raised during an SC meeting will be voted upon by the present SC members (either physically or virtually). Any vote (physical or virtual) can be made by secret ballot (at the discretion of the SC Chair), if requested by a member of the voting SC.

A document repository will be maintained and shared with future GCs and TPCs, recording the rules and procedures to ensure a consistent organization of the ICMI Conference. The repository contains the ICMI Handbook, the historical records of ICMI (past keynotes, organization committees, awards, SC members), and related ACM documents. Every year, the current ICMI organization committee members are invited to suggest updates to the ICMI Handbook after the ICMI conference. These updates are reviewed and accepted by the SC.

Within the current form of ICMI, there are a number of aspects that may require the SC to coordinate with ACM SIGCHI, including larger changes to the papers program (e.g., format), which may require ACM or SIGCHI VP Publications approval. Major review process and presentation format changes should be advised to the ACM SIGCHI VP Publications.

Volunteers for future ICMI organizations can contact the SC Chair for their names to be passed to the organization committees.

History of ICMI Governance

There was an advisory board/steering committee for the early years of ICMI. At the end-of-the-conference town hall meeting at ICMI-PUI 2003, an action item emerged to establish an ICMI advisory board. Sharon Oviatt led the formation of this initial advisory board and its guidelines. It was in place by the end of 2003. This board was renamed as the Steering Committee after 2012. In 2025, an Advisory Committee was established for indefinite appointment, as an additional body to the Steering Committee.

Feedback

Is this document unclear or incomplete? Is there anything else related to ACM ICMI you need to contact the SC for? Please send us your questions (and comments).

Appendix A: Current Members of the SC

Elisabeth André (Germany)
Carlos Busso (USA), Chair
Zakia Hammal (USA)
Dirk Heylen (the Netherlands)
Hayley Hung (the Netherlands)
Yukiko Nakano (Japan)
Albert Ali Salah (the Netherlands), Post Chair
Björn Schuller (Germany)
Raj Tumuluri (USA)

Appendix B: Current Members of the Advisory Committee

Daniel Gatica-Perez (Switzerland)
Louis-Philippe Morency (USA)
Matthew Turk (USA)

Appendix C: Past Members of ICMI/MLMI Committees

Elisabeth André (Germany), 2017-…
Carlos Busso (USA), 2020-…, Chair Elect: 2024, Chair: 2025-…
Samy Bengio (USA), 2009-2014
Dan Bohus (USA), 2016-2018
Herve Bourlard (Switzerland), 2009-2013
Tom Calvert (Canada), 1999
Jean Carletta (UK), 2009-2012
Y.K. Chan (Hong Kong), 1999
James L. Crowley (France), 2006-2015
Ruwei Dai (China), 1999
Trevor Darrell (USA), 2003-2013
Sidney D’Mello (USA), 2019-2021
Julien Epps (Australia), 2015-2017
Sadaoki Furui (Japan), 2003-2007, 2009-2012
Wen Gao (China), 1999-2002, Chair: 1999-2002
Daniel Gatica-Perez (Switzerland), 2013-2024; Chair: 2013-2015; Advisory Committee: 2025–…
Zakia Hammal (USA), 2022-…
Dirk Heylen (the Netherlands), 2025-…
Hayley Hung (the Netherlands), 2025-…
Yuri Ivanov (USA), 2009-2012
Seong-Whan Lee (Korea), 2000-2002
Kenji Mase (Japan), 2007-2017
Helen Meng (Hong Kong), 2016-2018
Louis-Philippe Morency (USA) 2015-2024; Chair: 2016-2019; Advisory Committee: 2025-…
Emily Mower Provost (USA), 2019-2024
Yukiko Nakano (Japan), 2017-…; Chair: 2020-2022; Post Chair: 2023
Sharon Oviatt (USA), 2003-2016, Chair: 2003-2007
Catherine Pelachaud (France), 2009-2013
Fabio Pianesi (Italy), 2006-2015; Chair 2010-2013
Andrei Popescu-Belis (Switzerland), 2009-2012
Alex Potamianos (Greece), 2009-2013
Steve Renals (UK), 2009-2015
Albert Ali Salah (Turkey; the Netherlands), 2016-…, Chair Elect: 2022, Chair: 2023-2024, Post Chair: 2025
Rajeev Sharma (USA), 2003-2006
Björn Schuller (Germany), 2019-…
Qingyun Shi (China), 1999-2002
Rainer Stiefelhagen (Germany), 2009-2014
Ching Y. Suen (Canada), 1999, Chair: 1999-2002
Yuan Y. Tang (Hong Kong), 1999-2002
Raj Tumuluri (USA), 2022-…
Matthew Turk (USA), 2002-2015, Chair: 2007-2009; Advisory Committee: 2025-…
Wolfgang Wahlster (Germany), 2003-2014
Alex Waibel (USA), 1999-2002
Julie Willamson (USA), 2019
Jie Yang (USA), 2003-2015
Zhengyou Zhang (USA), 2016-2019
Victor Zue (USA), 1999-2002

Appendix D: ICMI Sustained Accomplishment Awards

2024: Catherine Pelachaud

2023: Louis-Philippe Morency

2022: Daniel Gatica-Perez

2021: Elizabeth André 

2020: Shri Narayanan

2019: Alex Waibel

2018: James L.Crowley

2017: Phil Cohen

2016: Wolfgang Wahlster

2015: Eric Horvitz

2014: Sharon Oviatt

Appendix E: ICMI Community Service Awards

2024: Wolfgang Wahlster

2023: Carlos Busso

2022: Yukiko Nakano

2021: Louis-Philippe Morency

2020: Fabio Pianesi

2019: Dan Bohus

2018: Jie Yang

2017: Daniel Gatica-Perez

2016: not awarded

2015: Kenji Mase

2014: Matthew Turk

Appendix F: 10-Year Technical Impact Awards

2024: Bogomolov, A., Lepri, B., Staiano, J., Oliver, N., Pianesi, F., & Pentland, A. (2014). Once upon a crime: towards crime prediction from demographics and mobile data. In Proceedings of the 16th international conference on multimodal interaction (pp. 427-434).

2023: Escalera, S., Gonzàlez, J., Baró, X., Reyes, M., Lopes, O., Guyon, I., Athitsos, V. and Escalante, H., (2013). Multi-modal gesture recognition challenge 2013: Dataset and results. In Proceedings of the 15th ACM on International conference on multimodal interaction (pp. 445-452).

2022: Vatavu, R. D., Anthony, L., & Wobbrock, J. O. (2012). Gestures as point clouds: a $ P recognizer for user interface prototypes. In Proceedings of the 14th ACM international conference on Multimodal interaction (pp. 273-280).

2021: Morency, L. P., Mihalcea, R., & Doshi, P. (2011). Towards multimodal sentiment analysis: Harvesting opinions from the web. In Proceedings of the 13th international conference on multimodal interaction (pp. 169-176).

2019: Castellano, G., Pereira, A., Leite, I., Paiva, A., & McOwan, P. W. (2009). Detecting user engagement with a robot companion using task and social interaction-based features. In Proceedings of the 2009 international conference on Multimodal interfaces (pp. 119-126).

2015: Carletta, J., Ashby, S., Bourban, S., Flynn, M., Guillemot, M., Hain, T., … & Wellner, P. (2005). The AMI meeting corpus: A pre-announcement. In International workshop on machine learning for multimodal interaction (pp. 28-39). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

2014: Busso, C., Deng, Z., Yildirim, S., Bulut, M., Lee, C. M., Kazemzadeh, A., … & Narayanan, S. (2004). Analysis of emotion recognition using facial expressions, speech and multimodal information. In Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Multimodal interfaces (pp. 205-211).

2014: Oliver, N., Horvitz, E., & Garg, A. (2002). Layered representations for human activity recognition. In Proceedings. Fourth IEEE International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces (pp. 3-8). IEEE.