panels
Panels
What is a Panel?
Panel sessions provide an opportunity for expert panel members to present their views on a specific topic and then to discuss these views among themselves and with the audience. Panel sessions run for 75 minutes. Usually a panel session starts with a brief introduction of the panel topic and the participants, followed by short presentations by the panelists giving their views. The session must allow sufficient opportunity (about 30 minutes) for an interactive question and answer period involving both the panelists and the audience.
A typical panel will consist of four participants, including the moderator. Limiting a panel to four participants allows sufficient time for audience questions. Proposals with more than four panelists must convincingly show that all panelists will be able to speak, and the audience able to respond, within the session time.
Panel proposal review is not blind. Criteria used in reviewing the proposals include the likely level of interest of the topic, the presence of panel members with multiple perspectives on the topic, and the likelihood that the panel will leave sufficient time for audience participation.
What to include in a Panel Proposal
Your proposal should contain enough information for the reviewers to evaluate the submission to see how it will fit into the overall program.
Your panel proposal should contain the following:
- A descriptive title.
- E-mail address for the contact person. This will be the person with whom the committee will correspond regarding the panel.
- A description of the panel session, including the role that each panelist will take.
- panelists' names, positions, and affiliations.
- The background of each panelist to show how they can fulfill the role they will be playing on the panel.
- How Question & Answer time will be built into the panel session.
How to Format a Panel Proposal
The proposal is limited to two (2) pages that include the following:
- Title:
- The title should be in all caps, and should be centered. The title should be in Bold 14 pt.
- There should be three (3) blank lines above the title. There should be two blank lines between the title and the beginning of the text.
- If the title goes into a second line, it should be double-spaced.
- SPECIAL NOTE FOR PANEL SUBMISSIONS: Indicate which of the panelists is the moderator by placing the word "Moderator" in parentheses after her/his name.
- Summary:
- Do not include an abstract. Instead, the first section should be titled "Summary" and should provide a summary, written by the moderator, of the panel.
- Put it under the title SUMMARY written in ALL CAPS, centered, and bolded.
- Indent the summary on both margins.
- Do not tab the first line of the summary.
- Panelist Sections:
- Subsequent sections should contain the position statements of each panelist. Head each section by identifying the author.
- References where appropriate are encouraged, but not required. If they are included, they should be placed in a separate section titled References and should follow the formatting guidelines.
How to Submit a Panel Proposal
If you haven't already done so, create an account on our submission and review system. Using this sytem, you can submit your panel for review. If you are submitting more than one item to the conference, you may use this account for all submissions. Please make sure of the following with regard to your proposal:
- Write your proposal document using the format specified above.
- Convert the proposal document into Adobe PDF format
- Submit the PDF document to the submission and review system.