Conference timing can have impact on time with families, quality of life, etc.
At ECRTS, Sophie Quinton brought in changes to our timing to suit our family and personal lives better.
This included having the submission deadline on a Thursday. We “anytime on earth” semantic, this meaning that even in the eastern parts of the world the deadline is before the weekend. Yes, we could start writing earlier, but almost nobody does, and this helps us to avoid eroding a weekend.
Similarly, important dates should be aligned as far as possible with vacation periods and holidays. A rebuttal period, for example over the Christmas period is not helpful to family and social life.