Conference Overview & Sectional Sponsorship (Deadline:
October 15, 2008)
BOTANY & MYCOLOGY 2009 will be a joint meeting
with the Mycological Society of America. It will be held at Snowbird,
Utah, July 25 – 29, 2009. Societies participating in BOTANY
2009 will include: the American Bryological and Lichenological
Society (ABLS), the American Fern Society (AFS), the American
Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT), the Botanical Society of
America (BSA) and the Mycological Society of America (MSA).
Submission of Symposia and Colloquia
Proposals - Deadline: October 15, 2008
For ease of use and administration: the rules,
terms and foms applying to symposia and colloquia are the same.
Throughout this form, please consider the terms symposia, colloquia
interchangable. You will have the coice of symposium or colloquium
in step 2) NATURE OF SUBMISSION,
at the top of the form below.
Symposia are organized around
a topic of potential broad interest, are timely because of recent
advances or synthesis in the field, or are particularly relevant
to the conference venue. These take place Monday morning through
Wednesday afternoon.
Colloquia are organized around more specialized
topics with all presentations adhering to the standard 15 minute
timeframe. The number of presentations in a colloquium is variable.
These take place Monday morning through Wednesday afternoon.
Members are encouraged to organize symposia for
the annual meeting. We strongly encourage cross Society/Sectional
symposia. Each proposed symposium must have a coherent, timely,
and preferably cross disciplinary theme. The sequence of speakers
and progression of topics in the symposium should be considered
carefully. Symposia will be half-day programs (four hours); full
day symposia will not be considered. Individual talks in symposia
are generally 30 minutes in length (inclusive of questions), although
15 minute talks may be accepted at the discretion of the symposium
organizer. Time devoted to synthesis and discussion is strongly
encouraged. The symposium program may include an introduction
as well as concluding discussion. An example symposium program
is outlined in the timetable below: 15 min introduction (optional),
three symposium speakers at 30 minutes each, coffee break, three
symposium speakers at 30 minutes each followed by a Discussion.
| Introduction (optional) |
15 min |
| Three Speakers |
30 X 3 = 1.5 hr |
| Coffee Break |
30 min |
| Three Speakers |
30 X 3 = 1.5 hr |
| Discussion/ Summary (optional) |
15 min |
Approval of symposium proposals is a two step process.
First, a symposium proposal must be approved for sponsorship,
either in name only or with financial support, by at least one
disciplinary section of the BSA and/or a Botany 2009 Partnering
Society. Second, all proposals approved by a Section
or Partnering Society will be evaluated by the Botany 2009 Program
Committee, which is composed of all the Program Directors, to
select those with the greatest potential interest to conference
participants, while at the same time maximizing the diversity
of disciplines and subject areas represented in the symposium
selection. To minimize conflicts there will normally be no more
than two concurrent symposia at any time.
A proposal should first be submitted for
review and action by the BSA Section(s) and/or Botany 2009 Partnering
Society prior to completing this form. This includes
requests for any and all funding - securing funding agreements
is the responsibility of the symposium organizers. Proposals should
indicate whether sponsorship requested is in name only or with
financial support. Botany 2009 will only provide funding for a
symposium if it has been approved by a Section or Partnering Society.
Sponsorship can be requested from more than one BSA Section and/or
Partnering Society, as cross disciplinary/multi-sectional symposia
are strongly encouraged. Note one Section or Partnering Society
must be identified as the lead sponsor.
After approval by a BSA Section and/or Partnering
Society, the symposium proposal must be submitted using the “Electronic
Symposium Proposal Submission Form” below. Copies
of the proposals will be sent electronically to the sender and
the BSA Program Director. The deadline for receiving symposium
proposals is October 15, 2008.
Criteria for Evaluation of Symposia
Acceptance of a symposium will depend on the nature
of the topic, a perceived interest among meeting participants,
a high degree of organization and development of the topic through
the proposed papers, the focus and approach of the individual
presentations, and other factors such as diversity of presenting
authors, including gender, racial, and career stage diversity.
Symposium organizers should obtain firm commitments from as many
of their invited speakers as possible before submitting their
proposal. The Program Committee will make the final selection
of symposia.
The Program Committee may recommend an alternate
format for a proposed symposium, such as a colloquium, workshop,
special topic, discussion, or contributed paper session.
Scheduling of Symposia
The Botany conference is a three day program, and
all three days must be used to minimize concurrent session conflicts.
Symposia will be scheduled such that potential conflicts are minimized.
After symposia are scheduled the many contributed paper sessions
are scheduled such that conflicts are minimized. Thus we will
not be able to change the assigned date or time of a scheduled
symposium because of the adverse consequences in the program.
Any timing constraints must be specified when the symposium proposal
is submitted.
Once a symposium has been accepted and listed on
the conference website, cancellation causes serious disruption
of conference planning. Do not submit a proposal if you are uncertain
that you will be able to fulfill your obligation to organize and
conduct the symposium. It is the responsibility of the symposium
organizers to see that each speaker submits an individual abstract
through the conference web site.
Botany & Mycology 2009 Symposium/Colloquium
Proposal Submission Form
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