Call for Botany 2012 Symposia, Colloquia, Workshops, and Discussion Sessions
"Botany 2013 - Celebrating Diversity" will be held in New Orleans, LA, July 26 -31, 2013. Societies participating in Botany 2013 will include: the American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS), the American Fern Society (AFS), the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT), the International Association of Plant Taxonomists (IAPT) and the Botanical Society of America (BSA). In preparation for Botany 2013, we are now soliciting proposals for symposia, colloquia, workshops, and discussion sessions.
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. 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 (16 maximum). Discussion sessions ("roundtable discussions") are organized around a particular topic of interest with the bulk of the time devoted to discussion that engages the audience. 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.).
Submission Site to Open September 10, 2012. www.botanyconference.org
Submission of Symposia Proposals - Deadline: October 15, 2012
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: 8:00-12:00, 1:30-5:30); 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, and three symposium speakers at 30 minutes each followed by a Discussion.
Introduction (optional) 15 min
Three Speakers 30 min X 3 = 1.5 hr
Coffee Break 30 min
Three Speakers 30 min 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 another society participating in Botany 2013. Second, all proposals approved by a Section or partnering Society will be evaluated by the Botany 2013 Program Committee, which is composed of all the Program Directors, to select those with the greatest potential interest to conference participants, while maximizing the diversity of disciplines, subject areas, and appropriate balance of gender and career stage of the presenters represented in the symposium selection. To minimize conflicts there will be no more than two concurrent symposia at any time, for a total of 12 symposia for the conference. It may be useful for planning purposes for symposium organizers to communicate their symposium idea with the appropriate Program Director before submitting the proposal (contact details below).
Society funding for symposia comes from BSA Sections and partner societies, and will only be provided if the symposium has been approved by one or more of these organizations. Symposium funding also can come from granting agencies or industry sources, and must be accompanied by a letter stating this support for consideration for approval. Sponsorship can be requested from more than one BSA Section and/or partnering Society, as cross disciplinary/multi-sectional symposia are strongly encouraged. Note that one Section or partnering Society should be identified as the lead sponsor. The main purpose of symposium funding is to be able to obtain high-quality speakers who would not normally be attending the conference, not as a way to reward speakers who regularly attend our meeting; hence, it is possible to organize a good symposium with little funding.All symposium proposals must be submitted using the submission site at: www.botanyconference.org. The site will open September 15, 2012 Copies of proposals will be sent by email to the organizer and the Program Directors listed below.
Colloquia do not require formal approval (and do not receive funding) but proposals are requested to facilitate listing and promoting the colloquia on the conference web site. Similar to a symposium, a colloquium contains papers that are conceptually related and address a specialized topic. Unlike a symposium, all presentations and discussions in a colloquium adhere strictly to a 15-minute timeframe but have greater flexibility in the number of scheduled presentations. Colloquia are listed on the conference web site and are available for submission of contributed abstracts. A Colloquium may include 8-16 papers, although colloquium proposals with a lesser number of talks will be considered.
The deadline for receiving proposals is October 15, 2012.
For additional information or questions, please contact the appropriate Program Director:
BSA
David Spooner, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706
(608) 890-0309, david.spooner@ars.usda.gov
ASPT
Patrick Herendeen, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL 60022
(847) 835-6956, pherendeen@chicagobotanic.org
ABLS
Dr. Jon Shaw, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
(919) 660-7344, shaw@duke.edu
AFS
Eddie Watkins, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346
(315) 228-7660, jwatkins@colgate.edu
And/or your sponsoring BSA Sectional Program Chair.
Please see: http://www.botany.org/governance/sections.php