THE NEW
APS CONFERENCE PROGRAM
The APS Conference Committee
In 2007 the newly formed APS Conference Committee (APSCC) began its task
of improving the APS Conference Program and to encourage the submission of
more conference proposals. The APSCC will work with the conference organizer
every step of the way and will be a valuable resource during the task of
conference planning.
Organizing an APS
Conference
The APS Conferences offer the Society
membership the ultimate in programming opportunities. The organizing
committee will select the theme or topic, meeting format, abstract
categories, method of presentation, and duration of the meeting. Conference
organizers will also benefit by having an APSCC representative assigned to
their conference for additional help. The APS will be responsible for the
financial and administrative aspects of conference management. Additionally,
the Society provides a maximum of $30,000 toward reimbursement of
invited speaker direct travel costs and conference registration. In essence,
the Society is simply asking you to help organize a conference that presents
the best science, and it will provide the vast majority of the logistical
support you need to pull it off successfully. What more could you possibly
ask?
Proposal Deadlines
Listed below are more specific guidelines
to follow in organizing an APS Conference. Any questions regarding the
organization of such meetings should be directed to P. Darwin Bell, Ph.D.,
the Chair of the APS Conference Committee, or Linda Allen in the APS
Meetings Department. The APS Conference Committee reviews all the conference
proposals when they are submitted. The deadlines for submitting a conference
proposal are: April 1, August 1, and December 1 of each calendar
year. The Society expects proposals to be submitted more than 18 months
prior to the desired conference date.
Proposal Submission Form
Proposals are easy to submit! No lengthy
forms to fill out. Simply click here to go directly to the new and easy to
use APSCC Proposal Submission Form. Answer a few brief questions, upload an
executive summary and you are done. Need some help answering the questions?
Once you submit your conference proposal, it will be entered into the next
APSCC agenda for a review of your proposal.
Conference Acceptance
Procedures
The APSCC will review proposals as they
are received. After reviewing the scores of competing applications and
considering the number of proposals submitted for a particular year, the
APSCC will make one of the following determinations:
-
The proposal should
be recommended to Council for approval (no face-to-face meeting with
the organizer is needed).
-
The proposal appears
adequate but questions need to be addressed by the organizer at the
next meeting or conference call of the APSCC.
-
The proposal is not
adequate for recommendation to Council and an APSCC representative
will provide feedback and work closely with the conference organizer
to improve the nature and quality of the proposed conference.
Please note that failure to adhere to the
guidelines in submitting a conference proposal may delay your conference
proposal application and you will be asked to elaborate further on the
sections that have not been fully answered.
If the proposal is adequate and there are
already enough APS Conferences scheduled for that year, the APSCC will ask
the organizer to consider holding the conference in the following year.
The APS Conference Program General Guidelines for Submitting a Proposal
Audience
Each APS Conference should deal with a
circumscribed topic, which may be narrow or broad. Although the ideal size
is 200-600 attendees, there is great flexibility in this number; except
under unusual circumstances, the conference should not be so large as to
require the scheduling of simultaneous sessions. Organizers should consider
the suitability of a multidisciplinary approach to the topic, as well as
different levels of investigation that might range from molecular through
systems physiology and translational research.
The proposal should describe for whom the
program is designed including any special background or experience
requirements for this target audience. Educational objectives, content and
methods should be described such as: (a) what knowledge and/or skills the
participants will acquire; (b) what principal topics will be discussed, and;
(c) what methods will be used to present these topics.
Title
The conference must always be billed as an
APS Conference, followed by the full title of the conference. The following
is an example from a past APS Conference:
2007 APS Conference: Sex Steroids and
Gender in Cardiovascular-Renal Physiology and Pathophysiology
Organizer(s)
An APS Conference may be organized and
proposed by one or more persons. At the beginning of the online application
you will be requested to enter the contact information of the main
conference organizer. Upon acceptance of the conference proposal you will be
requested to provide more information about your organizing committee
members.
Invited Chairs and
Speakers
To ensure a well-rounded conference, the
Meeting Organizer(s) are required to demonstrate a percentage of the invited
chairs and speakers who are junior and female investigators in their
proposal. It is also required that there is a balance of academic rank and
minorities demonstrated in the proposal. It is expected that the Meeting
Organizer(s) will contact and confirm all invited chairs and speakers for
the conference.
Scope of the Conference
This section should provide a brief
summary of each of the proposed symposia sessions that will be held during
your conference. This allows the APSCC to understand the topics that will be
discussed at the conference and determine whether the conference is too
narrow or broad in its focus.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is designed to give
the APSCC more insight into your conference proposal. Preparing a one page
executive summary (which can be uploaded into the APSCC Online Proposal
Form) must include the following information:
Sample Executive Summary
To view a sample of what an ideal
conference executive summary should look like, please
click here.
Dates and Location
APS Conferences are generally held between
June and December of a given year to avoid overlap with Experimental Biology
Meeting. The duration should be 2 to 3 days, usually with a Saturday stay
over to allow easier flight arrangements and less interruption of the
business week. Organizers may provide input about the desired date and/or
location, including international locations.
After approval of the conference by
Council and once the venue and dates have been selected, the APS Meetings
Department in Bethesda will assume the financial and logistical management
of the conference, marketing, and technical exhibits if appropriate. All
contracts must be negotiated through the headquarters office. Contracts
entered into by the organizer without knowledge by the APS will not be
recognized.
Sections, Specialty
Groups, Other Societies
It is best, though not essential, if a
proposal for an APS Conference is submitted under the auspices of one or
more Section or Special Interest Group of the Society. A multidisciplinary
approach to the chosen topic is encouraged, so that it is not uncommon for a
given Conference to draw participants from several Sections and Interest
Groups, as well as from societies other than the APS. Responsibility for
the Conference, however, will rest with the organizers working through the
APS.
Career-Development
Workshop
It is necessary to include a
career-development workshop within each of the APS sponsored meetings and
conferences. This workshop is organized by the APS Education office and the
workshop is designed for students and postdoctoral fellows to get together
with a member of the APS Careers Committee to enhance the education of the
young investigators. There is no cost to the Meeting Organizer(s) for the
workshop and is organized entirely by the APS.
Financial Support
The Society provides each APS Conference
with a maximum of $30,000 to support travel expenses and registration
fees for the invited speakers in the Conference. It is expected that the
organizer(s) will make every effort to raise funds to defray costs of
speaker travel, trainee awards, and/or the social program away from APS as
much as possible. The APS will work with the organizer(s) to submit federal
grant request(s).
Competing Conferences and
Meetings
To avoid scheduling conflicts and
conference duplication, the Meeting Organizer(s) are expected to research
and report on any conferences or meetings that will be taking place within a
two year time period on the same subject matter.
APSCC Representatives
To ensure that your conference is a
success, the APSCC will assign one or two APSCC representatives to work with
you and offer guidance on matters concerning your conference. These
representatives will also attend the conference and provide feedback for the
committee and the APS staff.
If you have any questions
please contact the Chair of the APS Conference Committee:
P.
Darwin Bell, Ph.D., (Chair)
Department of Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina
173 Ashley Avenue – CRI 201
Charleston, South Carolina 29425
Tel.: 843-792-0965
Fax: 843-792-5521
Email: bellpd@musc.edu
Linda Allen, Manager
Meetings Department
American Physiological Society
9650 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3991
Tel.: 301-634-7172
Fax: 301-634-7264
Email: meetings@the-aps.org
Website: www.the-aps.org
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