SESSION/PANEL PROPOSAL

HOW TO ORGANIZE A SESSION/PANEL

Steps to be followed:

1. Identify a special topic in the scope of GM Conference , the title (in English) of the suggested session/panel and the language of communication of your choice.
   
   
2. Fill in the session/panel  proposal Form A and send it to the Conference Chair at: tassogbavi@laurentian.ca
   
   
3. If the identified topic is suitable, the Conference Program Committee will accept the proposal in principle and you will receive an approval in principle notification of the proposed session/panel by e-mail.
   
   
4. Contact researchers and/or practitioners in your field to invite papers for your proposed session/panel. When you have confirmed at least six (papers) and participants, complete and submit session/panel proposal Form B and send it to the Conference Chair at: tassogbavi@laurentian.ca. The Conference Program Committee will review this submission and following final approval, the proposed session/panel will be included in the conference timetable along with the names of the organizer as chair.  The organizer of the accepted session/panel has the responsibility for the session content.
   
   
5. Direct the paper authors to the GM Conference web page at www.gmconference.ca to register for the conference and submit their papers/abstracts for evaluation. The session/panel organizer will be responsible for the evaluation of the papers submitted especially if the proposed language of communication is other than the English language.

Proposed Session Organizer’s Role

A session/panel organizer has a similar role to the invited editor in a journal, i.e. he or she is expected to identify high quality papers, to review the papers with the help of selected reviewers and finally to decide which papers will be presented at the session. Moreover, the proposed session organizer will decide the language of communication at the session.

A session/panel organizer will have to dedicate time and effort to improve the quality of the papers being presented.

A session/panel organizer will chair the session, must register for the GM Conference and must become a member of the GM Conference Program Committee.
 
A session/panel organizer will chair the session, will determine the language of communication and the use of available session time given the number of participants present.  Usually 2-2:30 hours are allocated for each session containing an average of 6 papers.

Benefits for the Organizers of Proposed Sessions

1. In recognition of the work completed by the session/panel organizer, the registration fee may be waived under certain conditions*. In the case of a session with two (or more) co-organizers, only one registration fee will be waived.
2. The effective organizers will be included on the list of Program Committee members to be published in the proceedings.
3. They will chair their respective sessions and, hence, will be noted as Session Chairperson in the Program and as Associate Editor in the conference proceedings.
4. They will participate in the Program Committee of the current and the next conference.

* The session has at least six (6) authors with papers submitted and registration fees paid in full no later than February 28th, 2010.