Guidelines for Program Organizers

of the Annual Meetings of the
AAAS, Pacific Division
and its Affiliated Societies and Sections

ACTIVITY DEADLINES —

July 20—By e-mail, inform the Executive Director of the Division and the Chairperson of the Local Committee at the institution hosting the meeting who will be your on-site representative of the society or section.

July-October—Arrange your preliminary program for publication in the January Newsletter, which contains the preliminary announcement and Call-For-Papers for the next annual meeting:

  1. The Division sponsors several activities open to all registrants and their spouses. The following should be considered by the affiliated societies and sections when planning their own special events: Sunday Evening —Lecture, followed by a Division-sponsored social time; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday noon lectures—Public Lectures, no registration required; Monday Evening—Public Lecture followed by Presidential Reception; Tuesday Evening—Student Awards presentations, Pacific Division Presidential Address and Divisional Banquet; Thursday—Field Trips.
  2. Consider special lectures, slide shows, socials (mixers, luncheons, dinners), and plenary sessions.
  3. Select symposium topic(s) and contact potential organizer and participants. Click for pdf version of the Call for Symposia. Symposia may be half- or full-day events. Consider possible co-sponsorship with other affiliated societies and/or sections.
  4. Reserve sessions for contributed papers based upon the average number of papers presented before the society or section at previous meetings. Generally, eight papers can be presented during a half-day session (allowing 20 minutes for each paper and a 15-20 minute mid-session break).
  5. Workshops and poster sessions also should be considered. If a poster session is to be scheduled, notify the Division’s Executive Director as soon as possible; poster sessions may require special facilities.
  6. Arrange field trip(s), including site(s), duration, and transportation.Click for pdf version of Information for Field Trip Organizers. Establish cost per person. Select date and times for departure and return. Prepare a brief description of the trip and state conditions for participation, who to contact, and where to send fees for reservations. If the society handles its own trip arrangements, designate someone as the contact person, who also should receive reservation requests and fees; if the Division is asked to handle field trip reservations and collect the fees, contact the Division’s Executive Director as soon as possible to make appropriate arrangements. Note: Field trips arranged by and for the benefit of the individual affiliated societies are the responsibility of those societies. If the Division acts as a broker for the affiliate, it will not assume financial responsibility for the trip other than paying out the funds it has collected in behalf of the affiliate. If additional costs are involved, that is the responsibility of the affiliate. In a like manner, if there is a residue in the account, it will be returned to the affiliate.

October 10—Transmit to the Division’s Executive Director the preliminary program of the society or section. Be sure to provide names and addresses of the officers of the society or section, the program coordinator(s), and the name of the person who will serve as representative on the local committee (established on the host institution’s campus). Also include titles and synopses of symposia and descriptions of field trips. Place order for the number of Newsletters desired for distribution to your members and estimate meeting attendance. If you want the Division to mail the Newsletter to your members, you must provide mailing labels by December 10. An Excel file works fine. The Division will cover postage as well as the cost of the Newsletters. It will not pay for the mailing labels, for late mailings, or for mailings done by the affiliates themselves.

October 15—Deadline for receipt at the Division’s office of news items submitted by affiliated societies and sections for the Division’s Newsletter.

December 10—The Newsletter containing the announcement of the annual meeting is delivered to the printer.

January 10—Division mails Newsletter containing the preliminary meeting announcement to members of the Pacific Division and to affiliated society members whose societies have provided mailing labels. Otherwise, the Division will send the affiliate’s secretary or other designated person the number of newsletters requested for distribution by the affiliate. Affiliates who wish to include their own materials in a mailing to their members may distribute the Newsletter.  The "Call for Papers," as well as forms for pre-registration and housing in the Newsletter, may be used by the affiliate membership.  .

March 1—Closing date for program organizers to send to the Executive Office revised program materials for the Spring Newsletter.

March 15—Division finalizes Spring Newsletter and publishes it. If the Division is provided with mailing labels (in advance and at the affiliate’s expense), the Division will mail the newsletters to the affiliate’s membership at no charge.

April 25—Deadline for receipt of all paper titles and abstracts by Meetings Office (aaaspd@sou.edu).

May 2 —Closing date for the program organizers of the affiliated societies and sections to review all abstracts and titles. Program coordinators finalize the program:

  1. Confirm special lecturer(s) and title(s) of presentation(s).
  2. Confirm symposium contributors and their titles. Indicate name and address of chairperson of symposium session. Arrange symposium presentations by time and include titles, names and addresses of speakers.
  3. For each contributed paper session, indicate name and address of chairperson for the session. Arrange contributed papers by time and include title, names and addresses of speakers. If multiple authors are listed, indicate who will present the paper by use of an *. Indicate student papers by a suitable symbol. (Sample: Breeding Behavior of the Yucca Night Lizard, Xantusia vigilis. Robert G. Fowler* and Margaret W. Henshaw, Department of Biology, Johnson University, Faraway, NV 89605.). The Division will notify speakers of the time and place for delivery of the contributed paper about two weeks before the meeting. Be sure to provide for a mid-morning and mid-afternoon break (15-20 minutes) in the session. Sessions generally run 3 to 3.5 hours: 8:30 or 9am to Noon; 1:30 or 2pm to 5pm.
  4. Confirm time and arrangements for field trip(s) and provide detailed description, including time and place to meet, and name of trip leader.
  5. Provide title(s) of workshop(s), and name and address of organizer.
  6. Provide a title for the Poster Session; indicate person responsible for its organization.

May 20—Affiliated societies and sections arrange for judges who will attend all student presentations and select those papers to receive awards for excellence. The Division awards prizes for the best and second best graduate student papers presented before each society and section. Each affiliated society and section will select the outstanding papers presented by their student participants. The Pacific Division will present those selected with a certificate of the award and a cash prize of $150 for the best paper and $75 for second place plus a one year student membership to AAAS. Candidates for these awards are usually undergraduate and graduate students or students who have completed an advanced degree within the preceding 12 months. The names of students selected to receive awards are announced at the annual Division dinner by the society/selection judges. Affiliates may supplement the award from their own resources. Although the judges of the affiliated societies and sections are solely responsible for selecting the recipients for the awards, the Division will provide prizes only to those students who had registered for the meetings and paid the required fees. The Division also awards several Division-wide prizes. Affiliated societies and sections are asked to use the Division’s evaluation form to record their evaluations of students and to submit these forms to the Division’s Awards Committee by Noon on the day designated on the Evaluation Form (the forms can be left at the Registration Desk or given to the Division’s Executive Director).  The Division’s Awards Committee meets at the call of the chair on the afternoon of the day that the awards are made to select the recipients of the Division’s general awards.

June Meeting: First day of meeting, 7:30 a.m.—Program coordinator(s) and/or local representative should inspect meeting room(s) and audio-visual equipment to be used during the sessions. The following announcements should precede the session(s) as required:

  1. Remind attendees who have not yet registered to do so.
  2. Review arrangements for special field trips and announce if tickets are still available.
  3. Announce that tickets to the Division’s Banquet are available in the Registration Center until 5:00 p.m.Monday.
  4. Remind students that only those who have registered for the meetings will be eligible to receive awards from the Pacific Division.
  5. Remind all attendees that they must be registered and must wear their registration badges to attend the Reception on Monday evening.
  6. Other announcements as required.

June Meeting: Division Banquet—The President or other officer of each Society and the Section Coordinators should be present and prepared to announce the recipients of the awards for the best student papers.

June Meeting: Business meeting of the Council of the Pacific Division—The Council of the AAAS:Pacific Division usually holds its annual breakfast business meeting on Wednesday of the meeting at 7:00 a.m.at a location on-campus or close to campus. Each affiliated society and section has two representatives who are authorized to vote on matters before the Council. The Council is the governing body of the Pacific Division and elects the officers, members of the Executive Committee, selects meeting sites, and deals with other matters as provided in the Bylaws of the Division.


BACK TO AAASPD HOME PAGE



URL this page http://www.sou.edu/aaaspd/Guidelines.html
Page last modified 06 December 2004