PG CONFERENCE HANDBOOK Last updated: November 2014 CAL Staff Advisor for PG Conference: Daniel Dauber d.dauber@warwick.ac.uk Table of Content 1 What is the PG Conference and why you should become part of fit .................. 1 2 The PG Conference Student Committee ............................................................ 2 3 Generic outline of the conference days & timetable of activities prior to the conference ............................................................................................................. 3 3.1 General outline of the Conference Days: ........................................................ 3 3.2 Timetable of activities prior to the conference ............................................... 4 4 Tasks of PG Conference Teams ......................................................................... 5 4.1 Chair ................................................................................................................ 5 4.2 Finance Officer ................................................................................................. 6 4.3 Registration/Submission Team ........................................................................ 6 4.4 Catering Team ................................................................................................. 7 4.5 Promotion Team .............................................................................................. 8 4.6 Sponsoring Team ............................................................................................. 9 4.7 On-­‐site Arrangement Team ........................................................................... 10 4.8 Final remark on tasks and activities of committee members ........................ 10 5 Submission and registration ........................................................................... 11 6 Conference Fees ............................................................................................. 14 7 Promotion of the conference .......................................................................... 15 8 Sponsoring ..................................................................................................... 16 i 1
What is the PG Conference and why you should become part of fit CAL’s Postgraduate Conference is the major social academic event for all our master and PhD students and has a long-­‐lasting history and tradition. The PG conference is a place where students from all over the world come together to share their work, get inspired by others and seek/receive advise from established scholars in their respective field. The major topics covered by the conference are in line with our three research groups: English Language Learning, Teaching and Assessment (ELLTA): www.warwick.ac.uk/ellta Professional and Academic Discourse (PAD): http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/groups/pad/ Working and Communicating across Cultures (WACC): www.warwick.ac.uk/wacc Considering the major motto of this unique event ‘a conference for students organized by students’, it is of utmost importance to have a committed and reliable group of students who wish have more than their degree programme experiences and become an integrated part of a student committee. There are plenty of different activities and new ideas are always welcome and lead the conference to a large international academic event. Besides the collegial atmosphere in the team and the ambition to achieve something great, participation in the PG Conference is also a valuable item in one’s CV to demonstrate team skills, organization skills and, what has become an essential skill in today’s working contexts, (intercultural) communication skills. Linkg to previous PG Conferences: http://warwick.ac.uk/wpgcal2014 http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/conferences/wpgc2013 1 2
The PG Conference Student Committee The PG Conference Student Committee consists of 7 different divisions with distinctive tasks (see also section 0): Figure 1: Organigram of PG Conference Student Committee
Chair Finance Of<icer Registration/
Submission Team Catering Team Promotion Team Sponsoring Team On-­‐site Arragement Team While it is possible to offer help for different teams it is recommended to choose a primary team and to serve on no more than two teams in general. Each team will have more intense periods in the organisation of this event. For example, the on-­‐site arrangement team will mostly work during the conference as well as the weeks before to help with preparation. In contrast, the sponsoring team will be busier several months before the conference starts. A more detailed outline of the minimum tasks is provided in the next section 2 3
Generic outline of the conference days & timetable of activities prior to the conference 3.1 General outline of the Conference Days: The PG conference takes place in the last week of June (week 39), normally on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (3 days) in the Ramphal Building. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 • Conference • Conference registration • Conference registration registration • Keynote speeches • Keynote speeches • Conference • Student presentations • Student presentations workshops • Wine reception • Award ceremonies • Joint dinner • Raffle & Farewell Rooms booked • R0.21 • R0.21 • R0.21 • R0.14 • R0.14 • R1.15 • R1.15 • R1.13 • R1.13 • R1.04 • R1.04 The detailed schedule of the conference is strongly dependent on the number of submissions. It is entirely up to the student committee to arrange sessions and ensure proper breaks in between. Apart from that, it is also possible to introduce new elements to the conference or even replace existing items. Final decisions will have to be made in light of financial possibilities, number of participants, availability of keynote and workshop speakers. 3 3.2 Timetable of activities prior to the conference The following general tasks need to be carried out in time to ensure a smooth organisation and a successful event. Month Activities November • Form the student committee • Elect a chair • Assign members to different teams • Get to know each other • Review materials/webpages of prior PG Conferences December • Create the draft for the call for papers (CfP) • Update webpage • Contact potential keynote speakers • Start searching for sponsors of the conference • Apply for RSS funding January • Arrange schedule for PG Conference workshop day (and arrange speakers) • Send out call for papers • Prepare promotional material February • Perform tasks as outlined in section 4 March • Send out promotional material • Send reminders about abstract submission April • SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS (around 28 April) • Open early-­‐bird registration (mid April) • Send out updated promotional material (info about early-­‐bird registration, keynote speakers, etc.) May • Review submissions and send decision letters (mid May) • Final reminder about early-­‐bird registration (mid May) • Close early-­‐bird registration (end of May) • Finalise programme for PG Conference • Finalise abstract booklet • Send out updated promotional material • Prepare feedback form for RSS June • Send final reminder about registration for conference (1st week of June) • Registration closes (10 June) • Prepare Welcome Packages (two days before event) • Inform caterer about final numbers of participants • Print booklets, name badges, certificates, etc. A more detailed description of all necessary tasks is provided in the following sections. 4 4
Tasks of PG Conference Teams 4.1 Chair The responsibilities of the chair are manifold and vary depending on what is needed to run the conference. Basically most of the responsibilities include: Schedule TO DO Co-­‐ordinated with Check BEFORE THE Coordinating all teams ☐ All teams CONFERENCE Ensuring teams finish tasks in ☐ time and re-­‐allocate team All teams members where necessary Provide feedback to all drafts ☐ All teams created by teams Be involved in reviews of Registration/Submission ☐ submissions Team Review team reports prior to ☐ All teams meetings Prepare and disseminate an ☐ agenda for each meeting in All teams advance Liaise with finance officer to ☐ ensure activities remain within Finance Officer the budget Prepare Certificates of Registration/Submission ☐ Attendance Team Prepare Certificates of Best Registration/Submission ☐ Abstract Award Team Prepare Certificates of Best Registration/Submission ☐ Poster Award Team Preparing abstract booklet ☐ Promotion Team Administration/Update of ☐ Promotion Team MailChimp Account Briefing of On-­‐site On-­‐Site Arrangement ☐ Arrangement Team Team RSS Funding Application ☐ RSS at Warwick (Warwick) Liaising with research groups ☐ Centre Advisor regarding keynote speakers DURING THE Co-­‐ordination of all teams ☐ All teams CONFERENCE Co-­‐ordination of feedback On-­‐Site Arrangement ☐ surveys Team AFTER THE Updating conference materials ☐ Centre Advisor CONFERENCE where necessary 5 4.2 Finance Officer The main responsibility of the Finance Officer is to ensure that all activities of all teams remain within the budget. Liaising with the Chair will be a major task. The following points should be kept in mind at all times: • Familiarise oneself with the Excel-­‐Spreadsheet to budget the conference • Provide updates at meetings about changes in budget (because of registrations or sponsorships, etc.) • Advise on financial feasibility of certain activities • Always assume worst-­‐case scenario (financially) 4.3 Registration/Submission Team The main tasks of the registration team are summarised in the table below Schedule TO DO Co-­‐ordinated with BEFORE THE Drafting Call for Papers Promotion Team CONFERENCE Setting up the submission form Promotion Team Setting up registration form Promotion Team Catering Team Sending reminder for submission/registration Promotion Team Liaising with (potential) Chair participants Reviewing submissions Chair Sending acceptance/rejection letters Creating participants lists Catering team Finance officer Preparing conference Promotion Team programme Preparing abstract booklet Promotion Team Administration/Update of Promotion Team MailChimp Account Prepare Certificates of Chair Attendance Prepare Certificates of Best Registration/Submission Abstract Award Team Prepare Certificates of Best Registration/Submission Poster Award Team DURING THE Registration/Welcome desk On-­‐site Arrangement CONFERENCE Team AFTER THE Report changes in participants CONFERENCE list and provide final list of Finance Officer participants Check ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ 6 4.4 Catering Team The catering team needs to develop a plan for each day separately, since student registration might vary slightly. It is particularly important that the catering team works closely with finance officer and the registration/submission team. This team might also have to engage with the registration form to ensure, that all information is provided by participants to facilitate organisation and coordination with the caterer. A detailed outline of tasks is provided below. Schedule TO DO Co-­‐ordinated with Check BEFORE THE Booking catering with on-­‐
Chair CONFERENCE campus food provider Finance Officer ☐ Registration/Submission Team Preparing registration form for Registration/Submission ☐ catering purposes Team Creating a list of additional items needed for lunch and ☐ coffee breaks (beverages, Finance Officer snacks, etc.) DURING THE Liaising with caterer and co-­‐
On-­‐site Arrangement CONFERENCE ordination of catering Team ☐ Centre Advisor (CAL purchase card!) AFTER THE Ensuring that invoicing took ☐ Finance Officer CONFERENCE place 7 4.5 Promotion Team The activities of the Promotion team can be categorised into two groups: • Web & Design • Promotional messages, including online social media marketing The following table summarises the activities for the Promotion Team: Schedule TO DO Co-­‐ordinated with Check BEFORE THE Updating the conference Submission/Registration ☐ CONFERENCE webpage Team Catering team Updating registration form Registration/Submission ☐ Team Catering Team Updating submission form Registration/Submission ☐ Team Creating Conference Logo ☐ Drafting Call for Paper layout Registration/Submission ☐ Team Designing conference posters ☐ Using Warwick Screens to Registration/Submission ☐ disseminate promotional Team material Creating promo video ☐ Create list of posts for CAL CAL Social Media Admin ☐ Facebook page Create list of posts for CAL ☐ CAL Social Media Admin Twitter Sending promotional emails to CAL staff (they m
ight also send out mailing lists ☐ CfPs and other promotional material to their networks) Administration of MailChimp Registration/Submission Account Team DURING THE Putting posters and other On-­‐site Arrangement CONFERENCE promotional material up Team Tweet and post to facebook On-­‐site Arrangement about the conference (photos, Team etc.) AFTER THE Final posts (twitter, facebook) CONFERENCE about conference (e.g. photos that are now available online or that that slides of keynote speakers have been made available. ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ 8 4.6 Sponsoring Team The tasks of the Sponsoring Team are very straight forward and particularly focus on: Schedule TO DO Co-­‐ordinated with Check BEFORE THE Getting in touch with sponsors ☐ CONFERENCE of last year (using the sponsors list from last year) Revising Sponsoring packages ☐ Sending tailored sponsoring ☐ letters to potential sponsors Re-­‐contacting sponsors that ☐ have not replied after first lot of emails was sent. Draft Facebook posts and tweets that announce ☐ Promotion Team successful acquisitions of sponsorships DURING THE Liasing with sponsors who On-­‐site Arrangement ☐ CONFERENCE wished to be physically present Team at the conference AFTER THE Update list of sponsors for next ☐ CONFERENCE year 9 4.7 On-­‐site Arrangement Team The on-­‐site arrangement team often consists of all committee members who can make it to the conference as well. However, usually there are also additional helping hands becoming available at the later stages oft he conference preparation. Members of the on-­‐site arrangement team can normally be described as the ‘support and problem solving people’. Here are a short break-­‐down of the major tasks: Schedule TO DO Co-­‐ordinated with Check BEFORE THE Provide helping hands were ☐ CONFERENCE necessary in other teams Familiarise yourself with venue ☐ Prepare welcome bags ☐ Participate in on-­‐site ☐ arrangement briefing by chairs Put up conference signs ☐ DURING THE Help where necessary All teams CONFERENCE in particular ☐ Registration/Submission Team Catering Team AFTER THE Take signs down and help CONFERENCE removing stuff from the ☐ conference 4.8 Final remark on tasks and activities of committee members Despite the fairly rigid structure and the relatively clear outline of tasks in this section, it has to be kept in mind that these are simply general guidelines and not set in stone entirely. The student committee was always a rather responsive and flexible team, allowing to accommodate for specific circumstances that might arise throughout the pre-­‐conference work. Often, members of the committee also offered temporary help in other teams were necessary. It would, by no means be expected that members should only serve in their team only if they feel they can contribute to other teams too. These contributions might be ideas, a helping hand, etc.. After all, it is important that the student committee makes this conference their own and reflects the diversity of ideas, competences and skills of the student committee. 10 5
Submission and registration The selection of participants for the conference is based on an online abstract submission. These submissions need to be reviewed by at least two individuals independently from each other, ensuring that any identifying information is removed in advance (called a ‘double-­‐blind’ review). The decision of ‘acceptance’ or ‘rejection’ is normally communicated via email after all submission have been reviewed. ‘Rejections’ and cases where reviewers to not agree should also be reviewed by the chair and the academic support of CAL. Criteria for assessing the quality of submissions is outlined below: Intro-­‐
duction Objectives Methods Results or expected results Conclusions Rating: 1 -­‐ There is no clear background of the study -­‐ There is no clear rationale of the study -­‐ The topic of the abstract is not related to the conference -­‐The objectives are not related to the topic of the abstract -­‐ The objectives are not defined and reachable -­‐The objectives do not address the research problem -­‐ The research methods are not clearly explained and related to the rationale of the abstract -­‐ The results/expected results are not presented nor understandable for the audience -­‐The results/expected results are not related to the methodology and rationale of the study -­‐The conclusion is not consistent with the introduction and rationale of the abstract Rating: 2 -­‐ There is a brief background of the study -­‐ There is a brief rationale of the study -­‐ The topic of the abstract is related to the conference -­‐ The objectives are not well defined -­‐ The objectives roughly address the research problem Rating: 3 -­‐ There is a clear background of the study. -­‐ There is a clear rationale of the study -­‐ The topic of the abstract is related to the conference -­‐The objectives are related to the topic of the abstract -­‐ The objectives are well defined and reachable -­‐ The objectives address the research problem -­‐ The research methods are roughly described -­‐The research methods are clearly explained and related to the rationale of the abstract -­‐ The results/expected results are well presented and understandable for the audience -­‐The results/expected results are related to the methodology and rationale of the study -­‐The conclusion is not consistent with the introduction and rationale of the abstract -­‐ The results are roughly presented -­‐ The results are roughly related to the methodology and rationale of the study -­‐ There is a little relation of the conclusion with the introduction and rationale of the abstract 11 It will be necessary to create a table in Excel and rate each submission as well as leave a short comment about the final decision that was made. Ratings should be applied to the following categories: Introduction There is a clear background of the study. 1/2/3 There is a clear rationale of the study 1/2/3 Objectives The topic of the abstract is related to the conference The objectives are related to the topic of the abstract The objectives are well defined and reachable The objectives address the research problem 1/2/3 1/2/3 1/2/3 1/2/3 Methods The research methods are clearly explained and related to the rationale of the abstract 1/2/3 Results or The results/expected results are well presented 1/2/3 expected and understandable for the audience results The results/expected results are related to the 1/2/3 methodology and rationale of the study Conclusions The conclusion is consistent with the introduction and rationale of the abstract 1/2/3 DECISION AVERAGE RATING Despite having this rating system it should not be used as the only criterion for accepting or rejecting submissions. Other factors, such as ‘suitability for the conference and the represented research groups’, need to be taken into consideration by the reviewers. Apart from that, it is worth mentioning that participants will come to the conference to improve their research and their academic skills. Imperfection in submissions should therefore be expected. Whether or not the committee wishes to communicate their review results to participants in their acceptance and rejection letters is up respective student committee every year. 12 In the past, two types of submissions were allowed: Poster presentation, ‘paper’ presentation. The difference are outlined in the following table: Poster • Students will submit a regular abstract presentation • Participants will bring a printed poster • Presentation of posters takes place at a dedicated time for all poster presenters • There is no need to receive the poster in advance • It might be possible to reallocate very weak abstract submissions for regular presentation to a poster presentation (assuming there is time and space to do so) • Recommended size of poster: A0 (841mm wide x 1189mm long) • Recommended material: paper of thing cardboard (no heavy materials) • Student committee will provide means to put the poster up • Poster are mounted and removed by the presenters themselves based on the schedule of the conference (Details provided on the website) • Participants are supposed to be present during the poster session Paper • This is the regular type of presentation taking place in a certain presentation session • The paper needs to be clearly allocated to one of the three research groups • Presenters are expected to bring slides or any means of presentation with them • There is no need to collect presentation slides in advance • Presentation time: 20min + 10min discussion • The content might either reflect on-­‐going or completed research Clear instructions about submission guidelines need to be provided on the website. Where student committee members are submitting abstracts to the conference, it is necessary that they declare if there are any conflicts of interest when reviewing submissions. An example for a conflict of interest includes reviewing one’s own abstract. In this case another reviewer will be chosen to ensure a fair and equal treatment of all submissions. The final decision of acceptance and rejection has to be done in a PG Conference committee meeting or any extraordinary meeting that involves at least: Chair, Finance officer, Academic Staff Support and registration/submissions team. 13 6
Conference Fees The PG Conference has several different sources of income. However, the largest amount of money available to the committee will be through conference fees. Since participants can register for each day independently, a daily rate is normally advisable. However, traditionally, the conference fees were structured as follows: • Daily rate (registration for individual days) • Complete Conference package (without dinner and a slight discount) • Dinner option (to be charged separately) In addition we normally distinguish between: • Early-­‐bird registration (discount for those who register way in advance) • Regular registration (regular fees apply without a discount) • CAL students (receive a special discount) • Non-­‐CAL students Whether or not Warwick students who are not CAL students should receive a discount is up to the student committee and also depends on the financial situation of the conference each year. Generally the following fees apply for the conference: Early-­‐bird Regular Regular CAL Regular CAL Option student student student student 1-­‐day £25 £5 £30 £5 2-­‐days £45 £8 £50 £8 3-­‐days £60 £12 £70 £12 Dinner £10 £10 £10 £10 Student committee members need not pay any conference fee and can take part in the conference for free, including paper/poster presentations. 14 7
Promotion of the conference The PG Conference is promoted through different communication channels, including: • On-­‐campus digital screens (www2.warwick.ac.uk/insite/digitalsignage/) • Posters (hardcopy) • Email to other universities (Call for paper) • Email to different academic networks (Call for Paper through academic staff members) • Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube – Contact: d.dauber@warwick.ac.uk) All three communication channels will be important to attract students to the conference. However, it will be necessary to adjust content according to the communication channel. Social media has certainly been a major driver in the past years and resulted in the remarkable ranking of the conference on Google. While the promotion team is responsible for the dissemination promotional material, this does not apply to social media. Since CAL already hosts different social media platforms these should ideally be used to ensure maximum exposure. Please send all posts or tweets you want to see published to Daniel Dauber (d.dauber@warwick.ac.uk), who is primarily responsible for social media activities of CAL. Academic staff member are also members of different academic networks. Here is a list of staff members that might be able to disseminate the call for papers through different mailing lists: Name Contact Lists Claudia Harsch C.Harsch@warwick.ac.uk EALTA Academy of Management IACCM Inderscience Publishing EuroMED Daniel Dauber d.dauber@warwick.ac.uk SIETAR (Austria) All CAL staff and students CAL Facebook CAL Twitter Johannes J.Angermuller@warwick.ac.uk DISCONEX Angermueller Sue Wharton Sue.Wharton@warwick.ac.uk DTC (doctoral training) Tilly Harrison Tilly.Harrison@warwick.ac.uk BAAL It is important to remember that these contacts will not create content, but only disseminate what you can provide. 15 8
Sponsoring In previous years, students decided to offer different sponsoring packages. It will be up to the Sponsoring team to revisit this package, make changes and update it accordingly. The sponsoring team will also have to create the content for the sponsoring webpage on the conference webpage. Pervious sponsoring packages included: Sponsoring Benefits Packages Get your company on the front page of the conference. With over REGULAR 4000 page visits and over 2000 hits on our front page this is an ideal SPONSOR place to position your company's name. Along with your name/logo (£50) we can offer to have a link to your webpage as well. Same as regular sponsorship, plus: SILVER -­‐ Get your company's name/logo on all our promotional material SPONSOR included in our welcome packages and right on the front of the (£80) conference programme. Same as silver sponsorship, plus: -­‐ get your name/logo on all our posters & screen advertising on PLATINUM campus (23,000 students on campus), this includes all digital screens SPONSOR on campus as well as the big screen on the main piazza. (£120) -­‐ in addition your name/logo will be included in all our our professional/social media communications (reaching over 20,000 academics worldwide). Sponsors that were contacted in previous years: Name of sponsor Contact SIETAR office@sietar-­‐europa.org
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