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?
Click here for a printable step-by-step instruction guide. 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.
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.
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:
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.
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).
If you have any questions
please contact the Chair of the APS Conference Committee:
- P. Darwin Bell, Ph.D.,
(Chair)
- Dept. 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
- Internet:
www.the-aps.org
SEQ
CHAPTER \h \r 1R: 02/08
|
