Meeting Guidelines and Considerations

MEETING GUIDELINES & CONSIDERATIONS

SITE HOST

Miscellaneous
-Check with the Treasurer (Dan Estep) regarding budget for the meeting
-Provide meeting info to _______ ASAP for inclusion on website
(You can refer to this website for examples from previous symposia)
-Name, address, phone, website and contact person for hotel
-Deadline for hotel honoring our reservations and discount
-Airport info; proximity of airport to hotel
-Directions from airport to hotel
-Shuttle bus, (taxi) info, their website and phone #
-Estimate of costs (including meeting room, meals, breaks) to Treasurer
-Tables in room: U-shaped arrangement with screen at open end of ‘U’
-Save your receipts for reimbursement from Treasurer.

Hotel considerations 
-Reserve at least 18 rooms
-What is the group rate and deadline to register to keep rate?
-Get all rates in writing (contract)
-Proximity to restaurants. Should be within walking distance.
-Hotel shuttle service (airport and restaurants)?
-Fee for meeting room (Look for hotel that will provide room at no additional cost if we reserve at least 18 rooms, and/or purchase food (breaks/lunch)
-Cost of food
-Some provide free continental breakfast, but usually don’t have in hotel restaurant which can be a disadvantage if no restaurant is adjacent.
-Check to see if food is available at the hotel in the evening or is there a nearby restaurant for late arrivals
Option(s) for a sponsored meet-n-greet for Friday evening, and cost

A/V  

The program committee will provide the equipment you will need to have on site
-Usually need
-Screen, flip chart and markers,
-LCD projector (an attendee can usually bring one).
-Projector screen
-Find out cost from hotel
-Ask if we can we bring our own projector (some won’t allow)
-Check with program committee to see what everyone needs
-Just prior to meeting make sure everyone has requested a/v requirement.
-Let website manager (at this time Suzanne) know what A/V equipment will be available to post on website

FOOD
-Check with meeting manager to see if there are any vegetarians in the group
-Water available all day in room

Breakfast
-Fruit, bagels, sweet rolls
-Coffee, tea, juice
AM break – sometimes not needed
-Coffee, juice, water
Lunch (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
PM Break – May be optional for Sunday, or other meeting days if too costly
-Coffee, tea, soda, water
-Fruit, cookies or other sweets
Dinners
-Consider cocktail hour (meet-n-greet) after Friday meeting/before dinner
-Reservations for Fri and Sat?
-A meal in a private room where people can move around and mingle is a good idea for one night. Sometimes a host or local attendee will volunteer.
(The boat dinners in Austin were nice because they allowed people circulate and visit)
-Consider fixed price meals for ease of paying, if not too expensive
-Transportation to restaurants
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MODERATOR GUIDELINES

-Initiate group introductions on first day and give guidelines for presentations.
-Guide discussion/Q & A sessions as needed
-Give speakers a 5 minute signal
-Clock for speaker
-Announce end of allotted time and bring speaker to a close
-If possible, begin setting up a/v for next speaker toward end of previous discussion period (e.g. insert flash drive, switch computers, hook up VCR, etc.)

 

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PROGRAM COMMITTEE GUIDELINES

 

-Review abstracts and set program
-May need to schedule presentation time for sponsors during lunch on Friday/Saturday – or last talk before sponsored meet-n-greet on Friday
-Provide time for introductions (15  minutes at beginning of first day)
-Flex time:  Provide 30 min of open time at end of each half day to catch up.  If not used to catch up, time will be spent on open discussion during which anyone can share info or ask for input on a special interest.
-Breaks: 15-20 min in middle of morning and afternoon
-Group similar topics together
-Schedule one hour during lunch on Sunday sessions to discuss next year’s meeting
-Send schedule to ______ to post on the web site
-Notify site host of a/v requirements
-Sessions begin at 9:00 each morning, except we start at 8:30 am on the first day so attendees can introduce themselves.
-Finish at 5 to 5:50 on Fri and Sat
-Sunday: presentations stop around (to be determined) pm, followed by lunch [during which business meeting will be held for 1 to 1.5 hours]
-Panels: for most, consider 3-person limit.  Allow about 15 – 20 to minutes per person on panel.

Suggestions from previous attendees

-More discussion time, less presentation time
-Encourage more doubling-up of speakers and then have 20 mins of presentation followed by 20 minutes for discussion for each talk? That way we won’t constantly feel frustrated that we haven’t been able to thoroughly address a specific topic through discussion and we won’t take away from the speakers’ presentation. During the past 2 Forums, I felt we rarely had the time to hash out the more interesting sessions. And, I believe, that’s where we come up with the new and creative ideas.
– Another idea to consider is that the early IFAAB’s depended less on “presentations” and more on panels. One of the early elements of IFAAB was to avoid being another conference with only talks (with pressure on time and preparation) and more open ended discussion with different people taking the role of moderator. 
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