Created: 3rd January 1999, last updated: 4th January 1999, © 1999 ABRF
Until it initiated its own meeting in 1995, the ABRF had participated only in meetings of other professional societies. ABRF members organized, often jointly with members of those societies, Satellite Meetings, Workshops, and Symposia. Joining meetings with other professional societies has been an opportunity for outreach to their members who often collaborate with ABRF laboratories. It has also offered ABRF members an opportunity to interact with other scientists who are not likely to attend ABRF meetings.
The Executive Board recognizes the interdependence of ABRF laboratories and researchers who develop and use the technologies of interest to ABRF members. Because the base of technologies represented in ABRF laboratories is expanding, the Executive Board also recognizes that participation is not possible at all related professional society meetings. Consequently, a committee was established to work with ABRF members and meeting organizers. This Meeting Committee is charged with the following roles: 1) solicit and evaluate proposals for participation in outside meetings and make recommendations to the Executive Board; 2) work with the Membership and Education Committees to encourage poster and research group presentations of ABRF research and coordinate distribution of ABRF literature at selected meetings; and 3) with the organizers, evaluate the effectiveness of ABRF participation and make recommendations about future participation.
The kinds of information that the Meeting Committee will need to receive in order to adequately consider the proposal and make a recommendation to the Executive Board are listed below. Of course, if the request is simply for literature and other materials to take to a meeting, the information in this list need only be very brief.
How to submit a proposal:
Send to one of the members of the Meeting Committee the following information:
1. Meeting name, site, dates.
2. Proposed session and organizer(s). Try to include as many ABRF members as possible as this is an opportunity for them to gain some visibility with quality presentations.
3. Description of potential benefits (outreach to targeted group, education, audience size, etc.).
4. Proposed budget (speaker expenses, room, AV, handouts, other), including all sources of funding such as other societies' contributions.
5. The types and number of fliers, newsletters, business cards, etc., that are needed for distribution. ABRF poster and committee posters that would be useful should be noted so their distribution can be coordinated.
6. Proposed time table for organizing the session such as identifying speakers, submitting abstracts.
7. Whether there will be summaries for the JBT or WWW and how they will be prepared.
8. Because the Executive Board sets the budget a year ahead, the planning process should begin as soon as possible so the proposed meeting can be considered for inclusion in the ABRF budget. The larger the proposed cost, the earlier the proposal should be presented to the Meeting Committee.
9. In addition to any JBT summaries and Web write-ups, a followup report on the success of the session should be prepared for the News & Events section of the JBT.
10. An evaluation of effectiveness of the session noting numbers of attendees and critically addressing the effectiveness of the presentations with respect to the goals described in the plan should be prepared for the Meeting Committee. Suggestions for continual improvement in meeting needs of ABRF members through outreach and education are an important part of these evaluations.
ABRF has frequently been asked to participate in the organization of other meetings or symposia because it has a history of assembling and presenting important and interesting talks and workshops. Now that ABRF is growing, we want to keep the quality high and the workload as low as is practical. Ron Niece is organizing the Meeting Committee and others representing the ABRF membership as broadly as possible will be appointed by the Executive Board.