Before you begin planning a committee event, please read this TRB-Convened events guide, and discuss the following with your TRB staff representative:
Is the topic timely, relevant, unique, and/or innovative? Why does it need attention?
Is this a new conference topic, or a recurring conference topic? If a new topic, what are the anticipated outcomes of the proposed conference?
If recurring, why does the subject need further attention? What were the outcomes from the previous conference?
Who is your intended audience? Is the subject duplicative of another event, or a better fit with another organization?
Note: This information can be applied to TRB cosponsored events approved prior to January 5, 2025. TRB committees may no longer initiate cosponsored events.
TRB cosponsored events (e.g., conferences, symposia, or workshops) are convened, managed, and owned by other organizations, and a TRB standing committee(s) plays a meaningful role in the program development, such as reviewing papers; serving on the program committee; or helping to organize one or more sessions. TRB's role as a cosponsor cannot be limited to simply promoting the event or holding a committee meeting at the event. Please read this guide on cosponsored event planning.
Before planning a TRB committee meeting, please consult with your TRB staff representative. Committee meetings can take place online (by Zoom, Teams, or GoToMeeting) or in person at a location with no registration fee or hotel room block. A committee can hold their meeting at one of The National Academies' buildings (Keck or NAS), or if a committee is able to find a non-profit institution (university, state DOT, etc.) that is willing to supply a meeting room for free, they can organize a "bare-bones" meeting under the direction of their TRB staff representative.
If the committee has an idea for a webinar, please consult with your TRB staff representative. If your TRB staff representative approves, then please complete the online form to Suggest a Webinar to the official TRB Webinar Series team. If your webinar idea is not approved within the TRB Webinar Series, please talk with your TRB staff representative about including it within a midyear meeting or a conference.
Before submitting your webinar suggestion, you will need to have the following information at your ready:
Your contact information as well as the contact information and affiliations of your webinar presenters and moderator. You must have a minimum of 2 presenters, but no more than 3;
The name and number of any TRB reports that your webinar might address;
A suggested title of no more than 74 characters including spaces for your webinar as well as a short 3-4 sentence description of your webinar;
The 2-3 high level topics that your webinar will touch upon;
The learning objects for your webinar. In essence, tell us up to 3 different ways to complete this sentence, “At the end of this webinar, attendees will have learned how to…”;
The name and code for the committee/s you are suggesting the webinar on behalf of and the names and email addresses of the chairs of those committees that have approved your webinar idea; and
The month(s) within the submission period that you would like TRB to attempt to slot the webinar. We will do our best to meet this request, but it will be dependent on webinar volume, and staff and presenter schedules.
TRB staff does not share the email addresses of conference attendees or sell mailing lists of its volunteers. Any solicitations who claim to have such a list can be considered inaccurate. Please FWD any phishing mail you receive to the TRB Meetings Department.