Communicating with Symposium Organizers
Clear, concise communication with these individuals is extremely important. Early clarification of the rules and policies, both of the ACS and of your division prevents embarrassing problems at the meeting. A simple set of guidelines for symposium organizers follows.
Checklist for Symposium Organizer Communications
The following should be communicated in writing early in the development process.
- Standard Division policy on funding of symposia.
- Division policy on publication rights.
- ACS policy on publication rights. The ACS does not hold copyright to papers presented at its meetings.
- ACS policy on presentation of papers.
- ACS/Division policy on speaker registration [All speakers are required to have PAID registrations. The Division may or may not choose to sponsor speakers. Symposium Organizers may or may not include reimbursement of registration in their budgets. In any case, it should be made clear to the speaker whether or not they have to pay their own registration.
- Division policy on the scheduling of papers. Include guidelines on the number of sessions, length of papers, starting and ending times for sessions, and use of intermissions.
- Deadline for submittal of schedule to program chair.
- Deadline for submittal of final count of sessions to program chair.
- Deadline for submittal of final program to program chair.
- Contacts within the Division, name and address of treasurer and other key officers.
- ACS standard AV Setup—for oral sessions, the ACS provides a, LCD projector, laser pointer, Lavaliere microphone, and screen. Video and other special equipment must be funded by the Division or the symposium. Each poster author will be provided with one side of a 4’x 6’ posterboard, pushpins, and a card indicating the division and paper number.
- Other amenities—coffee breaks, if desired, must be funded by the division or symposium. Standard division designation signs are provided for meeting rooms. (Specific symposium signs must be funded by the division or symposium at the cost of approximately $50 each).
Communicating with Speakers
The Division is the only formal channel of communication with speakers. However, MAPS will provide email notification of presentation scheduling to all authors who provide a deliverable email address when they submit their abstract via MAPS. Consequently, it will be the division’s responsibility to acknowledge receipt of abstracts and notify authors of their acceptance and scheduling if they (authors) do not provide email addresses.
Checklist for Speaker Communications
- Announce in Division website and/or newsletters and the Call for Papers for National Meetings the abstract deadlines for MAPS. Deadlines for preprints and extended abstracts should also be mentioned in division literature.
- Provide accurate contact information for all symposium organizers in the Call for Papers template.
- MAPS automatically generates an email to authors who submit their abstract via MAPS.
- Communicate to speakers and symposium organizers the registration policy requires all speakers must be registered for the meeting.
- Direct speakers to the standard ACS set-up for oral and poster sessions via the ACS Meetings page for the current meeting.
- Communicate with invited international speakers about potential visa issues. Provide them with the ACS Tips for International Registrants (www.acs.org/meetings) and accept the abstracts early, if necessary, to allow them to download their personalized visa letter.
