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Browse guides by role, walk through end-to-end workflows, or jump straight into the reference. Looking for something specific? Use the search box on the left.
Getting Started
- What is AirBalloon?
A short tour of the AirBalloon conference management platform: what it does, who it's for, how the pieces fit together, and the two ways to use it.
- Creating an account
How to sign up, verify your email, and complete your profile so you can submit papers, review, or organize a conference.
- Finding your conference
How to discover, join, and switch between conferences on AirBalloon.
- Volunteering to review
Sign up to review for a conference's programs and workshops, from its Portal or its public Sign Up as a Reviewer link, and track each sign-up until a program chair approves it.
- Your profile and Reviewer History
What your profile page shows, including Reviewer History, the list of every conference and program you have reviewed for.
Webmail
- Webmail
AirBalloon's built-in inbox at /webmail. A familiar three-panel mail client where every conference message (announcements, submission correspondence, decisions, system notices) lands, stays searchable, and is also sent to your email.
- Reading & organizing
Read and manage your Webmail. Mark messages read or unread, add one of seven colored flags, star, archive, move messages between folders, delete to Trash, and search across everything you've received.
- Composing & sending
Write, reply to, and forward Webmail messages. Send as one of your offices, address the offices, committee members and authors that office reaches in the conference, add CC/BCC and attachments, set a priority, and let reply/forward pre-fill the details for you.
- Folders
Organize Webmail with your own folders. Create sub-folders, rename and delete them, and drag to reorder. Understand the built-in conference folders (Inbox, Sent, Trash per program) and the read-only Deleted Programs archive.
Channels
- Channels
The Channels workspace at /channels holds persistent, Slack-style discussion spaces scoped to a conference, program, or event. Browse them in the sidebar, switch between conferences, and join the public ones automatically.
- Joining & finding channels
Find your way around the Channels sidebar. Search by name, switch between conferences, star and mute channels, and understand how you're added to channels automatically by your role.
- Inside a channel
Take part in a channel conversation. Post formatted messages, reply in threads, attach an image or PDF, see who's a member, and read a channel's details on the About tab.
- Creating a channel
Chairs can create a channel from /channels/new. Pick a template, then set the channel's scope (conference-wide or program), type (public or private), who can post, and which roles are auto-added.
For Authors
- Submitting a paper
Step-by-step guide to preparing and submitting a paper, abstract, or proposal to a conference on AirBalloon.
- Author Console
A map of the Author Console, showing how its two tabs let you track every paper you have submitted and act on reviews, rebuttals, revisions, camera-ready, and presentation materials.
- Dashboard
Your at-a-glance view across all submissions, with stat tiles, an Action Required list of papers waiting on you, and your upcoming deadlines.
- Submissions
The full, filterable list of your papers (submitted or co-authored) grouped by conference, with per-paper actions for viewing, editing, reviews, rebuttals, revisions, camera-ready, and presentation materials.
For Invited Speakers
- Invited Speaker Console
Your home as an invited or keynote speaker. Accept your invitation, then submit your talk title, abstract, bio, and photo for the program.
For Sponsors & Exhibitors
- Sponsor / Exhibitor Console
Your home as a sponsor or exhibitor. Upload your logo, intro, and materials, and see your booth and talk details.
For Reviewers
- Writing a review
How to claim assignments, write a high-quality review, and meet your deadlines.
- Reviewer Console
A map of the Reviewer Console, showing how its tabs carry you from bidding through your assignments, discussion, and the final decisions, with tabs appearing as the program moves between phases.
- Dashboard
Your reviewing home, with headline counts, the papers that still need a review, and your upcoming review deadlines across your programs.
- My Assignments
The list of every paper assigned to you. Filter and sort it, download each PDF, and open the review form to start, continue, or view your review.
- Bidding
Rate how keen you are to review each paper, from Very High to Very Low, so the matching algorithm assigns you papers you want and avoids your conflicts.
For PC Chairs
- Program Chair Console
A map of the Program Chair Console, how its tabs let you run a single program end to end, from settings and committee to submissions, review, decisions, and camera-ready.
- Overview
The Overview tab of the Program Chair Console. Headline stats, program status, submission breakdown, quick actions, deadlines, and recent activity for your program.
- Settings
The Settings tab of the Program Chair Console. Configure your program's info, review process, tracks, submission rules, dates, committee structure, camera-ready, email templates and Quick CFP.
- Submission Configuration
Set what authors submit to your program (Paper, Abstract and Proposal types), their categories, items, choices, affirmations, each category's Important Dates and materials after acceptance.
- Quick CFP
The short call for papers AirBalloon makes for your conference and each program, listed in public CFPs and on the AirBalloon homepage while submissions are open; edit any field, choose where it is listed.
For Area Chairs
- Area Chair Console
A map of the Area Chair Console, showing how its six tabs let you oversee the papers in your area, from bidding and reviewer assignments through reviews, meta-reviews, decisions, and follow-up actions.
- Dashboard
Your at-a-glance view of the program, with assignment stats, a pending-approvals alert, quick actions, and an assignment progress bar.
- Paper Bidding
Rate how keen you are to handle each paper so the matching algorithm can place papers in your area accordingly.
- Reviewer Assignments
Approve the reviewers proposed for your papers and, when your PC enables it, assign reviewers to your papers yourself from two phase-gated sub-views.
- Reviews & Meta
Track review progress for every paper you touch and open each one to read the reviews and write your meta-review.
For Senior Area Chairs
- Senior Area Chair Console
A map of the Senior Area Chair Console, showing how its five tabs let you supervise your Area Chairs, track review progress, see decisions, handle escalations, and weigh in on award candidates.
- My ACs
Monitor the Area Chairs you supervise (their paper load, review and meta-review progress, and on-track / behind / critical status) from the My ACs tab.
- Review Progress
Track review completion paper-by-paper across your Area Chairs' papers and spot which papers still need reviews from the Review Progress tab.
- Decisions
See the accept/reject decisions approved or released for papers in your program, with average scores and your own recommendation, from the read-only Decisions tab.
- Escalations
Triage issues raised by your Area Chairs, raise your own, and pass the serious ones up to the Program Chair from the Escalations tab.
For Conference Leadership
- Overview
What Conference Leadership can do on AirBalloon and where to start, from creating the conference through running registration, the program, and proceedings.
- Setting up your conference
First-time setup for General Chairs and System Admins, covering programs, committee, registration, and Stripe.
- Setting up Stripe payments for your conference
How to connect Stripe so your conference can accept registration payments. Sign the platform agreement, choose between a new Stripe account or connecting an existing one, and verify your setup.
- Conference Leadership Console
A map of the Conference Leadership Console, covering what each of its ten tabs does and when you use it to run your conference end to end.
- Dashboard
The at-a-glance home tab of the Conference Leadership Console, with key counts, conference status, quick actions, and recent activity.
For Multi-Program Chairs
- Multi-Program Chair Console
A map of the Multi-Program Chair Console, showing how its five tabs let you manage a container program, its sub-programs, their submissions, and proposal decisions.
- Dashboard
Get an at-a-glance view of your container program (key counts, a clickable sub-programs overview, and recent submissions) from the Dashboard tab of the Multi-Program Chair Console.
- Settings
Edit your container program's information, the number of authors its sub-programs' submissions need and what proposers upload with a proposal, from the Settings tab of the Multi-Program Chair Console.
- Important Dates
Set the dates and time zone your sub-programs start from, in the Important Dates tab of the Multi-Program Chair Console; sub-programs inherit them and may change any date.
- Review Config
Set the review configuration every sub-program starts from, in Settings, Review Config of the Multi-Program Chair Console.
For Web Chairs
- Web Chair Console
A map of the Web Chair Console: the five tabs you use to run your conference's public web presence, from announcements to the CFP directory listing.
- CFP listing
Post and manage your conference's Call for Papers on the public AirBalloon CFP directory: a free, themed listing page you can share anywhere.
- Website Builder
Build your conference's public website with a drag-and-drop builder: pick a template, compose pages from sections, edit text inline, restyle with color themes, then publish to a live conference URL.
- Choosing a template
Start your conference site from one of five templates, or begin from a blank canvas. There are three multi-page academic styles (ACL, ACM, IEEE) and two single-page workshop layouts. Templates only set a starting point you can change later.
- Editing content
Build each page from sections: drag a section onto the canvas, reorder or hide it, and edit its content. Click hero text directly to change it, or use the property panel for richer sections.
For Tutorial Chairs
- Tutorial General Console
A map of the Tutorial General Console, the oversight surface for the tutorials container, where you coordinate across every tutorial without running each one's day-to-day operations.
For Workshop Chairs
- Workshop General Console
A map of the Workshop General Console, the oversight surface for the workshops container, where you coordinate across every workshop without running each one's day-to-day operations.
For Attendees
- Attendee experience
How attendees explore a conference on AirBalloon, covering the public conference pages, the portal, and where each task lives.
- Conference schedule
Browse the conference program as a timetable of time slots and parallel sessions, or as a week grid or list, filter by program kind; times are in the conference's time zone.
- My Agenda
Your personal, favorited subset of the conference schedule. It holds the talks you saved, in Day, Week, or List view.
- Registering for the conference
Register to attend. Pick your attendance mode and rate, add optional extras, and pay by card or bank transfer.
- Submitting your work
Start a submission from the conference. Pick a program, then file a paper, proposal, or poster as an author.
Legal
- Privacy Policy
How AirBalloon collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information across the platform and the conferences run on it.
- Terms of Service
A plain-language guide to AirBalloon's Terms of Service, including the current organizer fee schedule.


