Conference Overview

BOTANY 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 Mycological Society of America (MSA), the American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS), the American Fern Society (AFS), the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT), and the Botanical Society of America (BSA).

Botany 2009 Symposia, Colloquia, Workshops, Discussion Sessions, and Field Trips

In preparation for Botany 2009 we seek to standardize the understanding of how we jointly collaborate in running our meetings. Shortly we will go out our respective memberships soliciting proposals for symposia, colloquia, workshops, discussion sessions, and field trips. These are the main member-driven, scientific components of our conferences. Below is our common understanding of the terms and their suggested time frames.

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. Submissions open now and close October 15, 2008.

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. Submissions open now and close October 15, 2008.

Discussion sessions (“roundtable discussion”) are organized around a particular topic of interest with the bulk of the time devoted to discussion that engages the audience. These take place Monday morning through Wednesday afternoon. Submissions open now and close April 1, 2009.

Workshops are distinguished from symposia and colloquia by the inclusion of time devoted to hands-on activities (e.g., software demonstrations, data analysis tutorials, etc.). Sunday is the main day reserved for workshops. Submissions open now and close November 15, 2008.

Field Trips are trips organized to visit areas of botanical interest in the areas around our meeting. Saturday is the main day reserved for field trips. Submissions open now and close November 15, 2008.

Please note: The general Call for Abstracts will open January 1, 2009 and close April 1, 2009.

Submission of Symposia and Colloquia

To avoid duplication, please consider the terms colloquia/colloquium in the same manner as symposia/symposium apart from the time guideline noted above.

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.

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” on the BOTANY 2009 web site: http://www.2009.botanyconference.org/2009Calls/2009ls_Symposia.php. 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.

Ready to Submit?

Submission of symposia, colloquia, workshops, discussion sessions, and field trips proposals must be conducted on-line using the “Electronic Proposal Submission Forms” on the BOTANY 2009 web site. Copies of the proposals will be sent electronically to the sender and the Program Directors listed below. Please review the proposal forms online.

Call for Symposia and Colloquia - Closed
Call for Workshops - http://www.2009.botanyconference.org/2009Calls/2009ls_Workshops.php
Call for Field Trips - Closed
Call for Discussion Sessions - http://www.2009.botanyconference.org/2009Calls/2009ls_Discussions.php

For additional information or questions, or questions, please contact the appropriate program director:

MSA
Marc Cubeta, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 - (919) 513-1227, marc_cubeta@ncsu.edu

ABLS
Karen Renzaglia, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901 - (618) 453-3229, renzaglia@plant.siu.edu

AFS
Michael Windham, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708 - (919) 660-7293, mdw26@duke.edu

ASPT
Patrick Herendeen, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL 60022 - (847) 835-6956, pherendeen@chicagobotanic.org

BSA
David Spooner, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 - (608) 890-0309, david.spooner@ars.usda.gov

And/Or your sponsoring BSA Sectional Program Chair (www.botany.org/governance/sections.php).