ASOR - 2013 Annual Meeting

2013 Call for Papers and Program Guidelines

VII. Instructions for Session Chairs

A. Planning Sessions

Rules for Participation: Session chairs should review the Rules for Participation carefully. Please note especially the participation policy; session chairs who solicit papers for their sessions should inquire whether 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.
Session Length: Sessions are scheduled in time slots of TWO HOURS AND FIVE MINUTES in length. Please plan for no more than two hours and five minutes per session. Please allow at least 5 min. for discussion of each paper. Please note that any session with papers that exceed this time limit or that does 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 and five minute session, please contact the co-chairs of the program committee, Elise A. Friedland and Andrew M. Smith II by March 1, 2013.
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.
Acceptance/Rejection of Papers: Please submit your assessment of each abstract via ASOR’s abstract submission database. The official deadline for completion of your review of submissions is March 1, 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.
Timeline and Deadlines: Session chairs should read the Deadlines for ASOR 2013 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 1, 2013.

1. Program Copy for Session: Program copy should follow 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).
Total time for the session and times for each paper. The total session time may not exceed two hours and five minutes, including breaks and discussion.
Speakers in the order of appearance, including affiliation and paper title. 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:

This will be used to create the program book for the meeting, so it is essential that it be as accurate as possible. Please compile a 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 above (II.C). If your presenters submit abstracts longer than the 250 word limit, please edit them to conform to the limit and send the new revised abstracts to the ASOR office with your other materials.

3. Session/Media Request Form:

Use the Session/Media Form on the ASOR web site (available after March 1, 2013). 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 1 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 15, 2013.

C. Etiquette for Session Chairs/Presiders

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

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.
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 papers not be allowed to run beyond the time allotted for them.
Changes to Schedule: Announce any changes to the schedule at the beginning of the session and at the time of the change.
Troubleshooting: Ask your student assistant (either a student scholar 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, 5 min. 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:

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