The Program Committee develops, arranges, implements, and reports on the program sessions for the annual meeting for which it is established. It maintains liaison with the president, relevant SAA office staff, and the Host Committee.
A. The chair makes certain that each member of the committee has a copy of the program guidelines and timetable of deadlines.
B. The Program Committee decides early in its term some basic issues, such as:
- Is there to be a program theme?
- Should program committee members participate in program sessions?
- Should an individual be permitted to participate in more than one program session?
- Will there be targets in terms of sex or ethnic balance?
C. The Program Committee solicits suggestions from the membership for sessions by the following methods:
- Circulate copies of session proposal forms as widely as possible, including distribution at the preceding annual meeting and in the SAA Newsletter.
- Contact sections, committees, and roundtables to encourage them to submit suggestions.
- Prepare notices or articles, possibly to accompany a proposal form in the SAA Newsletter.
D. The Program Committee reviews and evaluates session proposals submitted for consideration and determines what program sessions will be offered. The committee meets in the fall after the previous annual meeting to conduct this review. Travel expenses for the meeting may be paid by the SAA. Review may be conducted as follows:
- Before the fall committee meeting, members receive copies of proposed sessions and evaluate these proposals based on an agreed upon methodology established by the chair. Evaluations are submitted to the chair before the meeting so they can be summarized and analyzed. An assessment of session coverage based on program themes and functional or subject areas is compiled by a committee member for use at the committee meeting. A list of individuals and associated proposal numbers also is compiled in advance to avoid duplication of individuals on different sessions.
- At the committee meeting, sessions are discussed and further evaluated for final inclusion on the program. Committee members may refine the content of proposed sessions or combine proposals in sessions.
- The Program Committee may develop additional sessions to supplement those submitted for its consideration.
E. Program Committee members should be mindful of providing even coverage of subject and functional areas, as well as providing appropriate representation based on such factors as gender, race, and geographic area. The committee should make an effort to enable newer members of the Society to participate fully on the program, thus avoiding an undue reliance upon past speakers.
F. By tradition, the Program Committee invites SAA committees, sections, and roundtables to provide endorsements of annual meeting program proposals. Endorsements by these groups are one factor among many that the Program Committee considers during the process of developing a balanced, diverse program. An endorsement by a group is not a guarantee that a proposal will be accepted. The following procedures (adopted by the Council in August 2005) apply when committees, sections, or roundtables provide endorsements.
- If a session proposer wishes to seek endorsement of her/his proposal from one or more SAA groups (section, roundtable, committee), the proposer should send a copy of the proposal to the group before the Program Committee’s proposal submission deadline, and preferably earlier to ensure that the group has adequate time to review the proposal carefully. The “official copy” of the proposal should be sent directly to the Program Committee.
- Groups may not endorse more than two program proposals. Endorsements should be sent directly to the Program Committee separately and should be received within one week following the published deadline for proposals.
- Group leaders must send their endorsements (received from others or generated within the group) to the Program Committee co-chairs within one week following the published proposal deadline. This communication may be as simple as a list of endorsed session proposals or may be a more detailed statement of why the group thinks that the session is of particular value to the broader Annual Meeting audience (because of the topics, the speakers, or some other factor).
- The Program Committee will give appropriate weight to single and multiple groups’ endorsements when selecting proposals that support the meeting’s theme or the broader goal of providing a diverse program that meets the needs of members. Endorsement(s) of a session do(es) not, however, guarantee that the Committee will accept a session presentation.
G. The Program Committee designates a chair for each session to introduce participants and prepare a brief evaluation of the session for use of future program committees.
H. The chair ensures that proposals are acknowledged and notifies persons submitting proposals regarding the disposition of their proposals. The notification letter also should ask the proposer to notify all other individuals proposed for that program session of the decision of the Program Committee.
I. Program Committee members act as liaison to the session and program participants to ensure subject coverage and adherence to the established session topic. Flexibility within the broad subject topic also may be encouraged to allow developments of emphasis as appropriate.
J. The committee provides participants with guidelines for panels, workshops, seminars, and other forms of sessions as appropriate.
K. The program chair or designated representative acts as liaison with SAA in preparation of the printed program.
L. The chair maintains close contact with the chair of the Host Committee, and the two chairs share committee memoranda with each other.
M. The chair appoints a member of the Program Committee to server as chair of the Student Program Subcommittee.
