GUIDELINES FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF A SYMPOSIUM
(Revised 7/1/2005)
PDF Version

The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics encourages the presentation of symposia on timely topics at its meetings.  Symposia can be valuable for promoting scientific interchange and developing new concepts in a way that crystallizes thinking in particular areas.  This particular format also helps investigators keep abreast of developments in fields that may not be intimately related to their own major research interests.  The Program Committee is responsible for selecting symposia to be included in meetings of the Society.  

Symposia may be submitted either through an ASPET Division or directly to the Program Committee.  All other things being equal, preference will be given to symposia sponsored by Divisions and symposia planned and sponsored by multiple divisions are preferred.  One does not need to be a member of a particular Division to submit a symposium through that Division.  Proposals should be submitted either directly to the ASPET office (non-Division sponsored) or to the chair of a Division (for Division sponsorship) by February 15, using the online forms provided.  You may also save the pdf form on your local PC/MAC (click on Save PDF button) and email it as an attachment to ccarrico@aspet.org.

The Program Committee endeavors to select a program of symposia that cover the breadth of interests of ASPET members and that coordinate with programming offered by other societies who share ASPET's meetings.  Consequently, the Program Committee initially discusses topics and ideas for symposia at its December meeting and reviews symposium proposals at its April meeting for the ASPET meeting to be held the following April.  Proposals that need extensive revision following Program Committee review will be deferred for consideration for the following year. 

When preparing a symposium proposal, organizers are encouraged to consider the following:

1. Inclusion of 1-2 short talks by junior speakers selected from the contributed papers abstracts or from labs working in the area of the symposium topic.

2. Inclusion of qualified women and minority speakers.

3. Inclusion of a "translational" presentation bringing the basic science from "bench to "bedside."

4. Topics applicable to multiple divisions, with joint sponsorship are encouraged.  Organizers are encouraged to contact multiple divisions early in the planning process.

 A.      Deadline for Submission 

Symposia proposals should be submitted either to the ASPET office or to an ASPET Division by February 15 for the meeting scheduled 14 months later (e.g. 2/15/06 for 2007 Meeting).  A sample symposium proposal may be viewed online.

B.  Content of Proposal for Symposium 

Symposia may be initiated by any member of ASPET at any time by communicating with a member of the Program Committee, by submitting a proposal to the ASPET office, or by submitting a proposal to an ASPET Division.  The proposal should present reasons as to why the symposium is desirable and give details on the proposal. The total time assigned for presentations and discussions should not exceed two and one-half hours per symposium.  The following points must be addressed in the proposal: 

1. Proposed Title

2. Justification of need for an ASPET symposium in the particular field.  The number of symposia approved will be limited and the justification will be important in both the Division’s and the Committee's evaluation.  Thus justification should include the timeliness of the topic and whether a similar symposium has been recently presented at a large scientific meeting at which ASPET members are likely to have been in attendance.

3. Format of the symposium.  Each symposium is scheduled for 2 & 1/2 hours.  The traditional format for a symposium consists of four (4) speakers giving 25-30 minute full-length talks plus 1-2 junior speaker giving shorter talks, with time for discussion between talks.  Organizers may also wish to consider alternate formats, e.g.  where the symposium starts with a one-hour keynote speaker on the topic, followed by two (2) full-length speakers and 1-2 junior speakers, still allowing ample time for discussion.  The Program Committee encourages the inclusion of a component of translational research in each symposium.

4. Names of ­proposed speakers, their professional affiliation, title of their presentations, approximate length of the talk and a one-two sentence synopsis of their topic.  A maximum of two speakers from a single institution may be proposed.  No more than four (4) speakers should be proposed for a two and one-half-hour symposium.  Alternate speakers should be proposed and clearly designated as alternates.  Organizers should NOT contact prospective speakers prior to their symposium proposal being reviewed by the Program Committee as the Committee may suggest changes. 

5.       The intended year and meeting for the symposium. 

6.       Preliminary financial requirements, if any. A total of $4800 per symposium is available from ASPET to offset the travel costs of the speakers in the symposium.  This figure should be kept in mind when planning on foreign speakers  (See Section D, below). Indicate if there are any plans to secure funding from an alternate source.  Funds secured from outside sources may be used to supplement travel reimbursements or to provide for additional foreign speakers, according to the speaker reimbursement guidelines..  Neither funds from ASPET nor those secured from outside sources should be used for speaker group lunches or dinners.

7.       Organizer and speaker contact information.  Include mailing addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses for the proposed speakers and for the organizer. 

   C.  Review Process 

Proposals submitted to a Division will be reviewed by the Division leadership for Division sponsorship.  Proposals accepted by the Division will be forwarded to the Program Committee in rank order.  Proposals submitted directly to the ASPET office will be forwarded directly to the Program Committee.  The Program Committee will review all proposals when it meets in April.  The chair of the Program Committee will contact each symposium organizer promptly with feedback from the committee.  If the symposium is approved, or approved with minor modification, the chair of the Program Committee will provide further instructions concerning modification of the proposal, follow-up correspondence with speakers, finalization of the program and date of the symposium.  Proposals requiring extensive revision will be deferred for consideration the following year. 

A timeline for the submission, review and organization of symposium is available.

   D.  Financial Assistance from ASPET 

No honoraria are provided.   Up to $4800 per symposium is available from ASPET to support travel for speakers.  A speaker is defined as someone who speaks for at least 20 minutes.  Speakers from North America will receive up to a maximum of $1000 and foreign speakers will receive up to a maximum of $1500 reimbursement towards travel with receipts.   ASPET provides complimentary registration for speakers and moderators in addition to the $4800 per symposium.  Funds are to be used for reimbursing speaker travel and lodging only.  They may not be used for speaker group dinners or lunches.  Junior speakers giving short (10-15 minute) talks will be given complimentary registration but no travel reimbursement.  Symposium organizers and chairs who are not speakers will be given complimentary registration but no travel reimbursement.  For more detailed speaker reimbursement guidelines, click HERE.

    E.  Scheduling of the Symposium

Speakers should plan to be available to present their proposed symposium during any of the four days of the meeting.  While specific requests for scheduling will be considered, if it is not possible to meet those requests, the session may not be scheduled into the upcoming meeting.

 

On-line Submission Forms

Symposium proposals should be submitted using the appropriate divisional form.  These interactive PDF forms should be filled out online and submitted via the web.  Make sure that all of your text fits within the space delineated by the boxes.

You may also save the PDF form to your local PC/MAC and email it as an attachment to ccarrico@aspet.org

Select Division to which you are submitting your symposium proposal:

Behavioral Pharmacology	Molecular Pharmacology
Cardiovascular Pharmacology	Neuropharmacology
Clinical Pharmacology/Translational Medicine	Pharmacology Education
Drug Discovery, Development &    Regulatory Affairs	Systems & Integrative Pharmacology
Drug Metabolism	Toxicology