FAQ

Answers and experiences

Below are answers and experiences from previous symposium organizers, SICB program officers, and ICB editors

pair-share moment during a SICB workshop showing several paired-up participants

frequently asked questions - plus answers

What prospective symposium organizers asked

Below are questions asked by symposium organizers during the 'symposium organizer meeting' held at the annual SICB conference, plus answered provided by peers. The transcriptions are to the best of my ability, with some extrapolation and generalization.

how to balance dimensions of diversity (topics, career stage, demographics) with just 11 talk slots?

use complementary sessions to balance
center those aspects of diversity that are most relevant
put together a spreadsheet with lots of options and invite a mix of speakers that check different boxes

how to define the scope and narrative of the symposium without hemming in the speakers?

encourage the invited speakers to contribute their perspectives, then the role of the organizer becomes to include and balance those diverse perspectives rather than to define the perspective

when to hold round tables to boost attendance?

plan the most attractive talk immediately before the round-table discussion
provide food and drinks
hold multiple round tables (after each section of talks)

what are good external funding sources?

when applying, be mindful of restrictions imposed by the funder; some will not support purchasing food, alcohol, international travel, etc.
go to funders of many past symposia, im particular NSF IOS and Company of Biologists
look for sponsors (exhibitors, collaborating organizations, etc.)
see our page on how to apply for external funding

how to make speakers feel validated and important among the large number of speakers?

build a website with speaker info and what the symposium is about to advertise in the lead-up to the symposium

how to balance cohesion and diversity in research?

set the topic early
embrace diversity
maintain an open mind

30-minute talks are a barrier to early-career speakers and conflict with the 15-minute talks of regular sessions

allow speakers to pair up to fill a 30-minute slot with two 15-minute talks
invite speakers to share their time with a more senior colleague (relevant to early-career speakers) or an out-of-discipline colleague (relevant to cross-disciplinary talks)

Do's and Don't s

What previous symposium organizers say

Sharlene E. Santana

A Bigger Picture: Organismal Function at the Nexus of Development, Ecology, and Evolution (SICB 2016)

faculty at the time of organizing

When selecting speakers, aim to maximize diversity of career stages, types of institutions, organisms, backgrounds, etc. This makes not only for a more inclusive symposium, but creates richer synergies among participants.

I am so glad...we applied and got an NSF grant to support our symposium. Putting the proposal together helped us fine-tune our goals, and develop outreach activities aimed at increasing diversity in SICB. These additionally gave our symposium speakers the opportunity to engage in mentorship activities that were highly effective.

I am also glad all of our speakers decided to publish their papers in ICB. Altogether, the collection of papers in that issue fit together to showcase the vision we had for our symposium.

Andrea Liebl

Ecological Epigenetics (SICB 2013)

PhD student at the time of organizing

I co-organized one in 2013 (!!!) on eco-epigenetics. For this symposium in particular, I wish we had gone a little outside the field and brought some people in who studied epigenetics in model organisms but who would be interested in ecology stuff to talk about the techniques they use in the medical/model organism field so we could do some thinking on how to push the field forward.

Janneke Schwaner

An evolutionary tail: Evo-Devo, structure, and function of post-anal appendages (SICB 2021 *online due to COVID)

PhD student at the time of organizing

Definitely more work than you expect (or maybe it’s me, or the fact that we wanted to make the most of the opportunity and the money by combining symposium with workshop and outreach). Being in that first online meeting* made it probably harder, but I am looking forward to organizing an in-person one. But I am really glad I did it. One tip: get balls rolling early (especially re: funding) and be clear up front with your speakers about expectations (publication etc.) and reimbursements. We had a lot of interaction throughout the year with the speakers (gave them updates etc.) and I think that was greatly appreciated as there is much time between initial ask (proposal stage) and final paper publication.

Dan Speiser

2018 International Congress of Neuroethology

faculty at the time of organizing

The biggest lesson to me for symposia is to invite people who will actually want to be there. Like maybe you can get a big name to give a talk, but will they show up to the other talks and generally be in engaged? Are they reasonably likely to submit a paper associated with the symposium to ICB? Beyond that, I think it's good to plan some sort of social event that brings people together for conversation. My impression is that cultural norms are shifting so that it's better if these events aren't "let's go to the bar."

Paul Schaeffer

faculty at the time of organizing

I put together a couple of proposals for symposia and one was approved. I then tried to organize the details and it all fell through as people weren't able to participate as I had hoped. So, my primary experience was frustration. We did the symposium proposals without getting the speakers to agree first, which makes sense in that we proposed many more than could be funded and so making people agree to a symposium that might or might not happen is a bit off. But then the folks who I had identified dropped off once it was real and I was wishing I had gotten more buy-in earlier.

Page updated

Report abuse