skip navigation

ASOR 2009 Annual Meeting
Call for Papers and Sessions and Program Guidelines

VI. Instructions for Session Chairs

A. Planning Sessions

  1. Rules for Participation: Session chairs should review the Rules for Participation carefully.  Please note especially the two appearance policy; session chairs who solicit papers for their sessions should inquire if the invitee has already submitted a paper to another session, and if so, should withdraw their invitation to avoid having the person give more than one presentation.
  2. Session Length: Sessions are scheduled in time slots of TWO HOURS in length. Please plan for no more than two hours per session. Please allow time for discussion of papers. Please note that any session with papers that exceed this time limit or do not allow time for discussion will be sent back to the session chair for reduction and revision. If you receive more than five high-quality submissions for a single session, please ask the program chairs if it is possible to add a second session. Please remember also that four high-quality presentations are better than five medium-quality presentations; we are interested in quality rather than quantity at these annual meetings. If you do not think you will have enough papers to fill a two hour session, please contact the co-chairs of the program committee, Elise A. Friedland and Andrew M. Smith II by March 15, 2009.
  3. Peer Review: Session chairs are responsible for assessing the quality of submissions.  Chairs may want to consult with others in the field while reviewing some submissions.
  4. Acceptance/Rejection of Papers Form: Please submit your assessment of each abstract (accept/reject, comments, suggestions for situating in other sessions) to the ASOR office via the online Acceptance/Rejection of Papers Form (to be posted in early February) as soon as you have completed your review of submissions (official deadline is March 15, 2009, but earlier notice is appreciated). The ASOR office will notify proposers of whether their papers have been accepted or rejected. Please do NOT notify proposers yourself of the acceptance or rejection of their proposals, as it is important that all acceptances and rejections be issued at the same time, in an official format, and from the ASOR office.
  5. Timeline and Deadlines: Session chairs should read the Deadlines for ASOR 2009 Annual Meeting carefully as these will affect whether your session is approved and individual papers may be accepted.

B. Final Submission

The final submission of materials for all sessions must include the following items and must be submitted to the ASOR Office in Boston via email attachment no later than April 6, 2009.

TO PREPARE SESSION MATERIALS, PLEASE WAIT UNTIL YOU RECEIVE A WORD DOCUMENT FROM THE MAIN ASOR OFFICE (this document will actually make your work much easier!).   THEN please follow these directions.

By Monday, April 6 (note change in deadline), we ask that you return the following THREE documents to us as Word attachments (not PDFs) at amsii@gwu.edu, efried@gwu.edu, and asorad@bu.edu. 

Please name your documents as follows:         YourLastName_AbbreviationofSessionTitle_Nr.ofSession_TypeofDoc.doc

-- number of session denotes 1st or 2nd of 2 sessions

-- Type of Doc = Prgm (for Program Copy), Abs (for Abstract Copy), Media (for Session Media Request Form)

e.g.: Friedland_ArtArtifacts_2_Prgm.doc
Friedland_ArtArtifacts_2_Abs.doc
Friedland_ArtArtifacts_2_Media.doc

1.  Program Copy for Session:  From the information in the attached word doc, please compile a NEW Word document that follows this format (see the Sample Program Copy below):

•Complete title of the session, indicating the session number in parentheses. E.g., Reports on Current Excavations and Surveys, ASOR-Affiliated (Session #1 of 2).

•Theme/brief description of the session (5-50 words, no more).

•Speakers in the order of appearance, as follows

-- speaker’s name
-- speaker’s affiliation (in parentheses) followed by a comma
-- speaker’s paper title (in quotations)
-- total time for paper (in parentheses)

Note on Timing of Papers: You may want to consider the fact that it can take up to 5 mins. to come and go from the podium, switch PPT presentations, introduce speakers, and deal with any IT problems that arise.  Therefore, you may want to add 5 mins. to each presentations to account for this, i.e. if your speaker has asked to talk for 20 mins., you may want to list his/her presentation for 25 mins.  Any extra time can be used for questions following the talk.  Just remind speakers that they will be speaking for 20 mins., though their talks will be listed at 25 mins., and let them know that this extra time is there for questions following their talks.

• Total time for the session. The total session time may not exceed two hours (120 mins.), including breaks and discussion. 

Please refer to the Abstract/Participation Forms to verify each participant's name, institutional affiliation, and paper title. Your summary will be used to create the Program Book for the Meeting, so it is essential that it be as accurate as possible.

2. Abstract Copy:

From the information in the attached word doc, please compile a NEW Word document that lists the presenters, their affiliations, paper titles, and abstracts in the order they will appear in your session.  A single abstract from the session chair representing an entire session is not acceptable. Please edit your presenters’ abstracts to reflect the format of abstracts listed in the Call for Papers (II. Submissions by Individuals, Section C, available at http://www.asor.org/am/2009/call-2.html). If your presenters submit abstracts longer than the 250 word limit, please edit them to conform to the limit.

3. Session/Media Request Form:

Please use the attached Session/Media Form. The form summarizes the number of sessions, their length, and the audiovisual equipment needed by presenters. Please make sure that all audiovisual equipment requested by your presenters is included on your summary form (two slide projectors, etc.), since your form will be used to order audiovisual equipment from the hotel.  Be sure you and those submitting proposals to your session pay close attention to audio-visual needs. Late requests cannot always be met and can be expensive. This is especially the case with older technologies like slide projectors.

The program committee reserves the right to reject any session whose final form as submitted on April 6 is substantially different from the proposal originally approved.

Note: If a session chair needs to cancel a session due to a dearth of submissions or other reasons, he/she must notify the program committee co-chairs,  Andrew M. Smith II and Elise A. Friedland by March 27, 2009.

C. Etiquette for Session Chairs/Presiders

All session chairs should be aware of the following rules of etiquette:

  1. Discussants: It is essential for the success of a session involving a discussant, that the discussant receive a draft of the papers at least a week before the Annual Meeting.  It is the responsibility of session chairs to facilitate this exchange.
  2. Session Schedule: The printed schedule will be followed strictly. Let presenters, respondents, and panelists know of this practice. If a participant of the session does not attend and does not submit a paper to be read or finishes early, do not begin the next portion until the printed time. Fill "gaps" with discussion or a break; the session should not be rearranged or otherwise modified. It is essential for the success of the papers and the ensuing discussion that the papers not be allowed to run beyond the time allotted for them.
  3. Changes to Schedule: Announce any changes to the schedule at the beginning of the session and at the time of the change.
  4. Troubleshooting: Ask your student assistant (either a Lindstrom fellow or volunteer) or contact the ASOR registration desk while at the meeting if you have problems, such as:
  • The room is not set up according to the chair's request in the session media request form.
  • You cannot find the light switches, require an additional carousel, etc. *Note, any additional audio-visual equipment beyond that listed on the session/media form must be approved by the Committee on Annual Meeting and Programs (CAMP) and may incur excess charges to the session.
  • Another group is in your room at the time you are scheduled.

D. Program Copy (sample)

Reports on Current Excavations and Surveys, ASOR-Affiliated (Session 1 of 2)

2 hours total time

Theme (optional): none

Reports on Current Excavations - ASOR-Affiliated I

Eric H. Cline (George Washington University), Presiding

Sharon Herbert (University of Michigan) and Andrea Berlin (University of Minnesota), "New Excavations at Tel Kedesh" (20 min.)

Douglas R. Edwards (University of Puget Sound), "Life in a Small Town: Three Seasons of Excavations at Khirbet Cana, Israel" (20 min.)

Kenneth G. Holum (University of Maryland) and Clayton Lehmann (University of South Dakota), "The 2000 Season of the Combined Caesarea Expeditions" (20 min.)

Martha Sharp Joukowsky (Brown University), "Petra 2000: Brown University Excavations of the Great Temple" (20 min.)

Steven Falconer, Jennifer Jones, and Patricia Fall (Arizona State University), "Early Bronze IV Village Life at Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, Jordan" (20 min.) Discussion (20 min.)

General Discussion (20 min.)

E. ASOR Program Committee

co-chairs:

committee members: