Guidelines for programme coordinators

General rules for all presenters

• A person (including sole author, co-authors, discussant, plenary speakers, session (co)chair, critic, roundtable presenter, poster presenter) can only be incorporated in the conference programme twice, no matter their function (except Programme Coordinators and session organisers).
  
  
• One cannot present a paper in the same session that one is chairing.
  
  
• In order to be included in the programme, the participants (presenters, chairs, discussants, etc.) need to pay the registration fee by the early registration deadline April 10, 2012. If not registered, their names will not appear in the Programme Book nor in the Abstracts Book.
  

Schedule of the sessions

Regular and joint sessions of RC/WG/TG will last 90 minutes and will be held at the following times:
See Timetable

Session allocation

The number of sessions will be allocated based on the number of the ISA members in good standing in the group as of December of the congress year (2010), according to the scheme provided below. Members in good standing are individual members who have paid both ISA and the RC/WG/TG membership due for the current year.

Number of ISA members as of December 31,2010	No of sessions
Over 200 members	18
150-199 members	16
100-149 members	14
75-99 members	12
50-74 members	10
25-49 members	8

                         

The number of allocated sessions includes:
1. A time slot for a Business Meeting.
2. Joint sessions. Joint sessions should not constitute more than 50% of all sessions organised by a RC.

Additional sessions
At the Abstract submissions deadline, if a RC/WG/TG has more papers accepted than the allocated slots can accommodate, it can request additional session(s). We anticipate providing each participating RC/WG/TG with their own assigned room. A second room will be provided to enable the splitting of the program for those RC who have been allocated 18 sessions.

Diversification of the form of sessions

RC/WG/TGs are encouraged to diversify the form of their sessions to enhance the format of their program. A combination of the following types of session is suggested:

• Regular sessions
  It is recommended that each regular session uses its 90 minutes to accommodate 4-5 papers including at least 20 minutes for collective discussion. All other papers should be listed as distributed papers in the relevant session. These papers will be listed in the programme and their abstracts will be included in the abstracts book, providing the authors register before April 10, 2012. If a participant does not show up, the first participant listed under distributed papers will be asked to present his/her paper.
  
  
• Special session on the specific theme of the Forum
  We encourage RC/WG/TG to consider organising a special session focussing on either the overall Forum theme or some aspect associated with theme.
  
  
• Featured or keynote speaker
  A session featuring a leading researcher in one of the RC/WG/TG fields, with a presentation of between 35 and 60 minutes duration, followed by a discussion period. This kind of session can attract more people from outside your group.
  
  
• Round tables or author meets their critics sessions
  A debate about a current issue of particular importance to the area of research, or around an important recent publication that could be presented by the author(s), with commentators and opening the floor to the audience
  
  
• Panel sessions
  Panel sessions can accommodate a larger number of persons around a specific theme.
  
  
• Joint sessions
  A session organised jointly by two or more RCs, or an RC combined with a WG, TG on a theme of overlapping interest. Joint session must be included in the regular session allocation of one of the participating units. Joint sessions should not constitute more than 50% of all sessions organised by a RC/WG/TG.
  
  
• Other formats
  Having a variety of types of sessions can enhance the quality of a meeting, especially if the organisers find the right people to participate in them. The above are simply suggestions. Other formats, such as a hands-on workshop, a session on pedagogy, two or more concurrent round-tables on more specialised themes, or a poster session, may also be appropriate for some groups.
  

Linguistic diversity

Although English is the administrative language of ISA, the Association does have three official languages: English, French and Spanish. All RC/WG/TGs are encouraged to include papers and/or sessions in more than one official ISA language in their programmes.

In order to promote such exchanges, though, it is not enough to have a session in which presentations are in another language: the audience then tends to be made up simply of others who are fluent in the language used in the presentations, and they are probably already familiar with their colleagues’ work. Given the high cost of simultaneous interpretation, we must find creative ways to promote understanding across language barriers.

• One possibility is to have a translation of the abstract or of an outline of the presentation available (as overheads, Power Point or distributed hard copy).
• Another possibility is for the presenter to use a combination of English and their preferred language.
• A third is for another member of the RC to provide an oral sequential informal interpretation/summary.
• A fourth (which could also be useful if some members of the audience need help during an English presentation) is to have a whispered interpretation/ summary provided by another RC member.
• A fifth is to have a volunteer typing on a computer a summary of the remarks as they are made, with the content being displayed on a screen, as is done during a Power Point presentation.

Most likely, there are other creative strategies as well. Implementing the strategies requires advanced planning, including the recruiting of qualified volunteers. It is equally important that the possibility of using such strategies also be widely known in advance, for the information of both potential paper presenters and also members of the audience.

Programme development

• Submission final session lists

By July 15, 2011, Research Committees, Working and Thematic Groups must submit their final list of Forum sessions to the ISA at isa@isa-sociology.org for posting on the ISA Forum website. Each RC/WG/TG has been allotted a maximum number of sessions, which includes a compulsory business meeting.

• On-line abstract submission

From August 25 through December 15, 2011, on-line abstract submission will take place. The system is designed in order to make this process as user-friendly as possible. With this in mind, it will allow Programme Coordinators and Session Chairs to view abstracts and, more importantly, enter scoring, decisions, and comments. They will also be able to download the abstracts for offline review.  Programme Coordinators will have the ability to monitor the work being done by the Session Chairs and are responsible for the final session planning. They will decide whether papers are accepted for oral or poster presentations, or distributed papers. Programme Coordinators can transfer papers between sessions.

Authors will be able to view their abstracts at any time and revise them, if requested, up until the submission deadline. Each abstract submission will be labeled with the RC/WG/TG session identification. It is important to note that only abstracts submitted on-line will be considered.

• Final programme

No later than January 31, 2012, Programme Coordinators are responsible for announcing:

• the final selection of approved session papers
• the form the sessions will take (regular, roundtable, poster, etc.)
• the schedule of the sessions according to the ISA Forum timetable

Deadlines

• Call for sessions deadline
  1 March 2011
  By March 1, 2011, Research Committees, Working and Thematic Groups must send the Call for Sessions and contact details of the Programme Coordinators to isa@isa-sociology.org for posting on the ISA website.
  
  
• Announcing list of sessions deadline
  15 July 2011
  By July 15, 2011 Research Committees, Working and Thematic Groups must submit a list of sessions/chairs to isa@isa-sociology.org for posting on the ISA website.
  
  
• Abstract submission
  25 August 2011 - 15 December 2011
  
  
• Session programme planning
  15 December 2011 – 31 January 2012
  
  
• Session programme completion deadline
  1 March 2012
  
  
• Submission of proposed ISA grant recipients
  1 March 2012

Further instructions for Programme Coordinators on on-line programme submissions will be announced in due time.