Symposium Organizers’ Respsonsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities Symposium Organizers at the 27th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Purdue University

Oral presentations offered at each Biennial Conference on Chemical Education are a great way to share findings of effective practices for teaching and learning. We appreciate all of the work that the symposium organizers do to prepare and coral individuals to give talks. The 27th BCCE program committee is dedicated to serving the needs of the participants of the BCCE and the objectives of the ACS Division of Chemical Education. Certainly, the numerous symposia at the BCCE serve as the foundation of the conference. We are counting on our colleagues to volunteer to organize a symposium for the BCCE.

For all of the good work our organizers do, the recent BCCEs have experienced several difficulties. Some individuals are doing too much with respect to presenting, presiding, being a workshop leader and organizing symposia sessions. One might think this is a good thing, but with respect to building a program where there are no conflicts, it makes the task much more difficult and time consuming. Currently, the ACS MAPS system is not capable for checking for all types of conflicts. Therefore, the 27th BCCE is placing a limit on the number of presentations, presiding sessions, workshops and organizing sessions an individual can do during the BCCE.

You can organize a symposium where the presenters are “by invitation only”, or you can organize an open symposium and consider abstracts submitted by any participant. If you have an idea for a symposium, but you do not want to organize it, then you may submit the idea and discuss the situation with one of the 27th BCCE program co-chairs.

Here is the basic information required for a symposium proposal that is submitted to the ACS MAPS system:

  • Title of the proposed symposium or workshop
  • Brief description (~250 words) of the scope and purpose
  • Intended theme (Classroom Practice and Learning Environments, Curriculum and Cognition, Assessment and Research Methods, or Professional Development)
  • Crosscutting threads (these are topics of interest that are woven throughout the themes listed above, including EDIR, technology, sustainability/green chemistry, lecture, and laboratory)
  • Intended audience (faculty, high school teachers, etc.)
  • Organizer and presider name(s) and contact information
  • Potential restrictions, if any (day, duration, type of room, multimedia needs, etc.)
  • For workshops only: number of participants, materials needed and estimated cost (if any)

A symposium that has 4 presenters will be scheduled as a half-session; 8 presenters will be scheduled as a half-day session. If you have 16 presenters, the symposium will be scheduled as a whole day symposium.

If your proposal is accepted, then you are expected to attend the 27th BCCE and contribute to the presiding and organization of the symposium. As the organizer of a symposium, you can assume the duties of the presider, you can convince someone else to be the presider, or you can split the duties of the presider with someone else if you have both a morning and an afternoon session. If you cannot convince someone to be the presider, then the 27th BCCE program co-chairs will step-in and designate one of your speakers as a presiders or designate one the of the Al D. Hyde and the Key Tones’ musicians or vocalists as a presider.

Duties and Responsibilities of an Organizer of a Symposium

As the organizer of a symposium, you are responsible for contacting at least 4-8 individuals who are planning to attend the BCCE and who are willing to be a presenter at your symposium. If you are running a “by invitation only” symposium, you need to contact as many individuals as needed in order to have enough speakers for your symposium. After the “Call for Papers” is published and mailed to members of the Division of Chemical Education and the participants begin to register and submit abstracts on-line, you will have access (electronically) to the abstracts submitted to your symposium via the ACS MAPS system February, 2022. There will be a MAPS WebX training session available to BCCE symposia organizers prior to February, 2022.

Symposia organizers will need to send reminders to all of the speakers who agreed to present to be certain their abstracts are submitted by the deadline. You can identify individuals who have expertise in the area of your symposium topic through a number of venues:

  1. Review who has published papers on your topic in the Journal of Chemical Education, Journal of College Science Teaching, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, etc.
  2. Review the abstracts of individuals who have presented papers on your topic at regional or national meetings of the American Chemical Society.
  3. Attend a regional or national ACS meeting and see who is presenting papers on your topic.
  4. Ask someone in the ACS Division of Chemical Education for recommendations as to who is doing high quality work in the area of your symposium.
  5. One does not need to be a member of the ACS and or Division of Chemical Education to serve as a symposium organizer, symposium presider, or presenter.

As the organizer of a symposium, you need to inform your speakers that the 27th BCCE committee will NOT pay their registration fee, travel, lodging, etc.

Symposium organizers, presiders and speakers do not receive any discounts or free rides at any BCCE. What you do get is a venue for presenting your work in front of your colleagues. Every faculty member or instructor needs to show contributions to professional development and the BCCE is a great place to do this. Symposium organizers, presiders and speakers receive our thanks and the satisfaction of knowing you have contributed to advancing the state-of-the art of chemical education.

You must also inform the potential presenters of the restrictions on the number of papers they can personally present at a BCCE. The rules are posted on the 27th BCCE website. Essentially, an individual may personally present any combination of two papers, workshops and/or posters (The Rule of Two).

As a symposium organizer you may personally be involved in organizing or leading four things at a 27th BCCE: two symposia and two workshops, three workshops and one symposium, or three symposia and one workshop, etc., (The Rule of Four).

After the abstract deadline, you will use MAPS to identify who has submitted abstracts to your symposium. MAPS will be available to symposium organizers on March 2022. You need to decide on the order of the presentations and use MAPS to order the speakers in your symposium. You should review each presenter’s request for equipment and materials and check with the program committee to see if we are capable of meeting these requests. You serve as a middle person and negotiator.

Next, you need to check your line-up with the 27th BCCE program co-chairs and receive permission to officially inform the presenters that their abstracts have been accepted. You will be informed of the day and time of the presentation late April 2022. We know and appreciate the fact that you have volunteered your time and effort to organize a symposia at the 27th BCCE. For being the organizer of a symposia, you have your name published in the 27th BCCE program, and the right to list organizing the symposium on your CV.

As the 27th BCCE approaches, you should encourage your presenters to register for the meeting and for housing before the deadlines. Last, about a week before the BCCE, e-mail your presenters and say you look forward to meeting them at the 27th BCCE in West Lafayette, Indiana on the campus of Purdue University.

If you do not get on-line and into MAPS and organize your symposium by the deadline, this means someone else will have to organize your symposium. Unfortunately, this means you cannot claim credit for organizing the symposium since you did not do so. Failure to organize your symposium in MAPS on time, will result in the 27th BCCE program chairs removing your name as the organizer of the symposium and appointing someone else.

DivCHED Rule on Recordings at BCCE 2022

1) The use of any device to capture, stream, upload or rebroadcast speakers or presentations to any public media site or network is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of the Division of Chemical Education.

2) Unless expressly prohibited by the symposium organizer or presenter, cameras, camera phones and tablet cameras may only be used to:

  • capture images of presenters and other participants at the end of presentations with appropriate permissions of those photographed
  • capture images used in note taking apps as long as the notes are for personal use and are not shared with any other individual or posted on any electronic or hard copy sites

3) Any other use is strictly prohibited at all official ACS meetings and events without the express written consent from the ACS.

Please respect the author’s copyrights and intellectual property.