Guidelines for Organizing a CMS Pre-meeting Workshop®

 

Prepared by Paul A. Schroeder, Special Publications Editor (revised May, 2002)

                  This document is intended for those involved with running a CMS Pre-meeting Workshop. Individuals included are:

 

1.       The Workshop Coordinator(s) for the Annual meeting

2.       The General Chair(s) for the Annual meeting

3.       The Conference Coordinator(s) for the Annual meeting

4.       The Special Publications Editor

5.       The Members of the Continuing Education Committee

6.       The Journal Editor-in-Chief

 

Workshop Coordinator Responsibilities

 

The basic responsibilities of the Workshop Coordinator are to:

 

1.       Select the subtopics to cover.

2.       Contact the appropriate people to present the workshop subtopics (an example letter is available from the Chair of the Continuing Education Committee).

3.       Ensure that each chapter contributed by the Workshop Lecturers receives peer review.

4.       Work with the CMS Special Publications Editor to meet the deadlines for publishing the workshop volume in time for the annual meetings.

5.       Be involved in fundraising to help support the meeting (e.g., get help from instrument manufacturers by giving a talk or demonstration for the workshop).

6.       Communicate with the meeting's Conference Coordinator(s) (i.e., Local Organizing Committee) to get assistance with setting fees, reserving the workshop facilities, and organizing meals and the post-workshop "social gathering".

 

                  A Style Manual for the CMS Workshop Lectures® is available from the Special Publications Editor. This manual contains details regarding both style and deadlines for the CMS Workshop Lecture®. A summary of the important deadlines is given below.  The dates below assume that the Annual Meeting is to be held sometime in spring, usually within a window between the months of May and June of that particular calendar year.

 

1.       May or June of the previous calendar year: Workshop Coordinator agrees to run the workshop.

2.       July of the previous calendar year: Workshop Coordinator obtains commitment from each Workshop Lecturer. This means that each Workshop Lecturer understands the pedagogical philosophy of the workshop and that they also will meet each deadline as outlined in the document Style Manual for the CMS Workshop Lectures”.

3.       October of the previous calendar year: Have peer reviewers contacted and willing to provide a two-week turn around for editorial comments of submitted chapters.

4.       January 15th: Ready for review copy of each Lecturer's chapter is submitted to the Workshop Coordinator.

5.       February 15th: The Workshop Coordinator returns reviewed and edited chapters.

6.       March 15th: Ready for publication copies of each Lecturer's chapter are re-submitted to the Workshop Coordinator.

7.       April 1st: Ready for publication copies of each Lecturer's chapter and the Workshop Coordinator's forward material are electronically sent to the Special Publications Editor.

8.       May or June of the calendar year: Run workshop and enjoy fruits of labor.

 

The actual dates above are not necessarily cast in stone. They may vary from year to year, depending upon the actual dates of the meeting.  The Special Publications Editor will set the exact dates based in the annual meeting dates.

 

IF A DEADLINE IS NOT MET BY A WORKSHOP LECTURER, THEN THAT CHAPTER WILL NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE PUBLISHED VERSION OF THE VOLUME. THE DATES THAT ARE SET BY THE SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS EDITOR ARE ABSOLUTE DROP-DEAD DEADLINES!

 

Role of the of the General Chair and Workshop Fees

 

                  The role of the General Chair is to delegate to the Conference Coordinators and to the Workshop Coordinator the responsibility of finding a suitable venue for the workshop.

 

The General Chair will set the fee schedule for the workshop. It is recommended that a two-tier fee schedule be implemented for underwriting the cost of running a workshop. The two categories include (1) Professionals and (2) Students.  It is recommended that the General Chair and Workshop Coordinator add a non-member” surcharge to the basic fee that includes a one-year membership to The Clay Minerals Society.

 

The fees should be established by the time of the second announcement (approximately in January or earlier). The Workshop Coordinator should work together with the Conference Coordinator (i.e., the person responsible for arranging the local meeting facilities) to establish cost of meeting space, meals, coffee breaks and special equipment if needed. Special equipment for example, might include access to computers to perform a hands on” demonstration. The cost of the workshop notes is to be dictated by the Special Publications Editor. Once the approximate cost of running the workshop has been determined, the Workshop Coordinator and Conference Coordinator will forward this information to the General Chair and the Professional fee schedule will be set. The student fee schedule is recommended to be approximately 50% of the Professional fee.

 

                  One recommendation is that the Workshop Coordinator be afforded the opportunity to offer up to two financial needs-based scholarships”. In effect, this benevolent scholarship would allow a Professional to participate in the workshop at the Student rate. Solely the Workshop Coordinator would grant these scholarships to individuals that demonstrate financial hardship (e.g., Individuals travelling from foreign countries with limited travel support). A standard application form should be made available on the CMS web site.

 

                  Contributing authors will be afforded one copy of the workshop volume. This cost should be factored into the fee schedule.

 

Role of the Continuing Education Committee Chair

 

                  One of the goals of the Continuing Education Committee is to select topics for the workshop (By-laws of The Clay Minerals Society: Article V, Section 10(c)). There are several complicating issues that surround the selection of a topic. Explicitly stated in the By-laws, is that the pedagogical philosophy behind the workshops is to disseminate information that is not in the area of new research. This dissemination is the collective responsibility of the Continuing Education Committee. The inclusion of topics that might be considered cutting edge should not necessarily be discouraged. The object of the workshops is to make them not only topical, but also timely and exciting. The focus of the workshop is to teach. Depending on the focus of the workshop (see items below), new research may constitute a legitimate topic.  For example, the workshop on Molecular Modeling of Clays” (volume 10) is a case of a workshop that might have been considered new research at the time it's conception, yet it was very well received. Some questions that may guide the committee in its evaluation are posed below.

 

1.       What is the focus of the current workshop content in light of the continuing education needs of The Clay Minerals Society's triad components (Academics, Industry and Government)?

2.       What is the balance of previous workshop content in light of the continuing education needs of the society's triad components?

3.       Has a proposed topic been previously covered in a workshop?

4.       Have there been significant advancements in a previously taught workshop to justify covering the topic again?

5.       Does the individual who is going to be asked to serve as the Workshop Coordinator have the time and resources to get the job done? For example, it may not be a good idea to ask an Assistant Professor to run a work shop in the same year that person is being put up for promotion and tenure.

 

The Continuing Education Committee Chair must make it clear to potential Workshop Coordinators that they must be willing to meet the deadlines put forth in this document. One of the most important legacies and outreach mechanisms of the Continuing Education Committee is the publication of the CMS Workshop Lectures®. The goal is to have the notes published in time for the workshop. Most other scientific societies accomplish this goal and there is no reason why The Clay Minerals Society can not do the same. Because of the logistics of writing a chapter for the workshop and the time involved to edit/review the chapters and prepare the final document for publication, a significant lead-time is required for each phase of the process. The responsibility of the Continuing Education Committee Chair is to notify the Workshop Coordinator of their tasks, which includes meeting the deadlines.

 

                  The Continuing Education Committee Chair needs to be reminded that the By-law Article V, section 3(c), requires a Workshop proposal for the following year to be submitted to the Program Committee Chair at least 60 days before the current Annual Meeting. In practice, this is often difficult because many times the negotiations between the Continuing Education Chair and potential Workshop Coordinators takes place at the Annual Meeting. The Continuing Education Committee should have a topic and Workshop Coordinator selected no later than the end of the Annual Meeting of the previous year. Clearly it would be more beneficial to have the topic and Workshop Coordinator selected 60 days before the start of the Annual Meeting of the previous year. This would allow the next Workshop to be advertised at the Annual Meeting.

 

Editor and Special Publications Editor Responsibilities

 

                  The details of the Editor and Special Publications Editor responsibilities' for production of the CMS Workshop Lecture Notes are discussed in the Style Manual for CMS Workshop Lectures. This document is available on request from the Special Publications Editor and should be available on the CMS web site.