Mid-America College Art Association Conference 2012

SESSION CHAIRS GUIDELINES AND POLICY

• The annual MACAA conference is for the professional benefit of its membership. Conference costs are met through registration fees and MACAA membership.
• Conference coordinators, program chairs, and session chairs have the responsibility of informing all participants of MACAA conference policies when persons are accepted and/or invited to participate in sessions.
• Participants may give only ONE paper or be on ONE panel. Each participant may chair a session in addition to giving a paper or being on a panel.
• Please Note: every conference participant must be a MACAA member and registered for the conference. This includes all presenters.

ORGANIZING YOUR SESSION

The Call for Papers includes an May 1, 2012 deadline for the receipt of proposals for session consideration. You will receive proposals, emailed to you on a Paper Submission Form and a curriculum vita. Wayne State University and MACAA encourages session chairs to focus upon the pool of professional talent available within the geographic region of the conference. Session chairs are urged to question persons living a long distance from the conference site about the seriousness of their intent to attend and their means to do so before accepting their proposals.

Don’t panic if you don’t receive enough proposals. Many people wait until the very last moment to send anything. After the deadline for receipt of proposals on May 1, decide what papers you want to include (and not include) and notify all submitters of your decision by May 7, 2012. You can give initial notice by email, but a letter signed by you must follow. Many institutions want to see a signed letter before considering funding requests, etc., so a real letter, on letterhead, and with signature is important. You must also notify promptly those individuals whose papers you’ve not accepted.

You may receive some that are not appropriate for you session but may be appropriate for other sessions. Use your discretion and email possible proposal(s) to MACAA2012@wayne.edu for consideration for general sessions. Also, it is advisable to keep alternates in mind in case you have cancellations. Should one of your presenters be selected for another session in addition to yours, you must decided in which session she or he will participate and notify the presenter. On the Paper Submission Form there is a section to include additional submission session chair names. Please confer with your colleague on selections prior to presenter notification.

REPORTING YOUR SESSION PARTICIPANTS AND ABSTRACTS

Once the May 1, 2012 paper proposal deadline has passed, and you have made your decisions about your session, you need to report two lists to the conference director. This non-negotiable deadline is May 7, 2012, if you can get this information to us sooner, great. Email the requested information for both lists to MACAA2012@wayne.edu. If you miss the May 7, 2012 deadline, you risk being cut from the program.

List 1: Email the makeup of your session; you also need to upload the information by modifying your original session submission at http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/macaa2012/ Uploading this information will allow conference organizers to digitally archive the information in a searchable database. It will also allow for the online publication of papers.

List 2: Email the abstracts for your session. Abstracts are to be 200 words or less. You are responsible for cutting all abstracts in your session over the maximum.

For reporting your session: Please follow the format below.

• Name of Session
• Chair(s) of session, Institutional affiliation(s), Independent Scholar or Independent Artist.
• Your name, Institutional affiliation(s), Independent Scholar or Independent Artist.
• Title list of papers
• Include participant email addresses

An example from the 2011 St. Louis conference:

For reporting paper abstracts: Please follow the format below.

• Last name, First name
• Institutional affiliation(s), Independent Scholar or Independent Artist.
• Paper title
• Abstract (200 word limit)

MEDIA POLICY

One digital projector will be in each session room. Any other equipment must be requested by September 1, as mentioned in the Proposal Submission Form. Participants will report their needs to you, and you report to the conference director. Requests for slide projectors will not be met.

Participants must provide:

• Their own laptops
• USB cables
• Macintosh users, the appropriate VGA adaptor

REGISTRATION:

Early online registration links will be available on the WAYNE STATE/MACAA website June 1, 2012.
Three levels of registration will be:

• Early Registration: $125.00 individual, $85.00 part-time faculty, $30 student/retired
• Open Registration: $145.00 individual, $105.00 part-time faculty, $50 student/retired
• On-site Registration: $175.00 individual, $135.00 part-time faculty, $50 student/retired

Payments can be made by MasterCard or Visa online, and by check onsite.

MACAA membership is required to participate. Membership is $65.00 and can be obtained at macaart.org.

KEEPING IN TOUCH

You are our contact with participants! Please share promptly all pertinent emails from the MACAA office or conference director with the members of your session. To keep costs down, all conference business will be electronic. Once you have notified your participants of your decision and have sent the acceptance letter, you will want to maintain regular communication with them. It is a good idea to set up a session group email list for convenience. Communication is the key to a well-organized session. Communication date reminders are:

• June 1, 2012 Early Online Registration
• July 1, 2012 Conference Schedule Posted
• July 1, 2012 Open registration

This notice should include a reminder that all conference participants must be MACAA members and must pay meeting registration fees.

SESSION PAPER HARD COPY

Ask for delivery of written paper/presentation two weeks before the conference--September 19th is the deadline. Make clear exactly how long the paper and its presentation are expected to be. If the paper does not come in on time, follow up.

Write your participants again before the meeting reminding them of the order, length, place, time, etc. Remind presenters of the length for papers and you that intend to enforce that limit.

AT THE CONFERENCE

Run your session with an eye to the clock. Start on time; introduce each speaker with a brief summary of his or her credentials and hold all questions until the end of the session. Alert a speaker a minute or two before his or her time limit expires, and stop a speaker if he or she exceeds the time limit. You do this in fairness to all speakers in you r session. Make sure you allow time for discussion at the end.

SESSION TIME GUIDELINES

For an art history session:

A session will range anywhere from 90 to 120 minutes in length. Allow time for introduction, movement of speakers to and from the podium, and a Q & A period after. For example, a 120-minute (2 hour) session might be arranged as follows:

• 5 speakers @ 20 min. each – leaves 20 min. for intro, movement of speakers, questions and answers
• 4 speakers @ 20 min. each – leaves 40 min. for intro, movement of speakers, questions and answers.

A 90-minute (1.5 hour) session might be arranged as follows:

• 3 speakers @ 20 min. each – leaves 30 min. for intro, movement of speakers, questions and answers
• 4 speakers @ 20 min. each – leaves 10 min. for intro, movement of speakers, questions and answers
• 4 speakers @ 15 min. each – leaves 30 min. for intro, movement of speakers, questions and answers

Guidelines for a studio session (or any sessions involving panel discussion):

Try to select panel members who are both knowledgeable about the subject and effective as speakers.

Session Length: Allow time for introductions, and your remarks about the session. Within the 90 min. limit for the session, set time limits for each participant to make opening remarks, but reserve the bulk of your session for discussion and interchanges with the audience. For example:

General introductions: (moderator 5 min.) – 5 speakers @ 10 minutes each leaves 35 min. for full discussion and questions.

Conclude on Time.

YOUR SESSION MUST END ON TIME. PLEASE BE REMINDED THAT YOUR SESSION IS NOT THE ONLY SESSION ON THE PROGRAM. IF YOUR SESSION GOES BEYOND ITS ALLOTED TIME, IT CAUSES THE NEXT SESSION CHAIR AND PARTICIPANTS TO CUT SHORT THEIR PRESENTATIONS.

AFTER SESSION CONCLUSION:

Please make certain your session room is cleared promptly and in enough time for the next session to set up and being on time. If you have a discussion that extends beyond the end of your time of your session, take it out of the room and make way for the next session.