Submitting Your Discussion Panel Proposal
Description
A discussion panel involves informal discussion on a topic yet must be structured to offer a high degree of interaction between the panelists and the audience. A panel provides a unique opportunity for the dynamic exchange of views among panelists and members of the audience on a topic of common interest. A panel is not a series of papers as in a lecture session or an invited symposium.
HFES discourages panels in which a majority of the participants come from a single organization. Exceptions may be made with the concurrence of the appropriate TG program chair and the Technical Program Committee chair.
Panel proposals may be submitted by an organizer who does not intend to serve as session chair and appoints a chair for the panel, or the organizer can also serve as the session chair. The panel organizer or chair should not also be a panelist in the session. The organizer of the panel serves as the contact between the program chair and individual panelists. The panel organizer is responsible for submitting the proposal, selecting a chair and cochair, notifying panelists of acceptance or rejection, obtaining letters of agreement to appear from each accepted panelist, and providing panelists with copies of the panel abstracts and overview summary.
Presentation Length
One 90-minute session consisting of not more than six panelists, each of whom should speak between 5 and 10 minutes (depending on the number of panelists), followed by an open discussion period of at least 30 minutes. The panel chair is expected to prepare questions to stimulate audience participation.
Materials to Submit
For a discussion panel submission, the organizer should (a) prepare a 150-word panel abstract, (b) prepare a summary of about 1000 words, and (c) invite each panelist to submit a 150-word abstract describing what he or she will discuss. The organizer's summary, together with the panelists' abstracts, make up the 2000-word discussion panel summary.
The 150-word discussion panel abstract and 2000-word summary must be formatted according to the formatting guidelines. Your proposal must not exceed five formatted pages. To ensure optimum readability, the type size for your abstract and main text must be at least 10 points and at least 8 point for references.
Where to Submit
Appropriate Technical Group or General Sessions.
Step-By-Step Instructions
- Format your submission according to the formatting guidelines. A Word document containing default formatting is provided to expedite this process. NOTE: All submissions should be formatted for U.S. letter-sized paper (8.5 x 11 inches).
The submission site accepts Microsoft Word and other document formats, which are then converted to PDF after they are uploaded. Occasionally the conversion process results in changes to your layout (most commonly, the addition of a sixth page). If you have the capability, HFES recommends that you convert the document to PDF before uploading it.
- Go to the HFES Submissions site. Create a login ID and save the information in a safe place; you'll need it to log in again to check status.
- Select Discussion Panel from the Presentation Type pull-down menu at the online submission site.
- View the descriptions of topic coverage of the Society's 22 Technical Groups. Then select only one of the following Technical Areas for your paper from the pull-down menu. This automatically directs your proposal to the program chair for that area. If the program chair who receives your proposal feels it would fit better in another technical area, he or she may redirect it to that group. You will receive an automated message via e-mail should that occur.
- Aerospace Systems
- Aging
- Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making
- Communications
- Computer Systems
- Education
- Environmental Design
- Forensics Professional
- General Sessions
- Health Care
- Human Performance Modeling
- Individual Differences in Performance
- Industrial Ergonomics
- Internet
- Macroergonomics
- Perception & Performance
- Product Design
- Safety
- Student Forum (for student submitters only)
- Surface Transportation
- System Development
- Test and Evaluation
- Training
- Virtual Environments
- Indicate a secondary technical area by selecting one item from the pull-down menu. This will help the Technical Group program chairs avoid topic overlaps. NOTE: Your proposal will be sent to the program chair of the technical group you selected in the primary technical area, not the secondary area.
- Select "Research Oriented," "Practice Oriented," or "Theoretically Oriented."
- Select either "Student Work" or "Nonstudent Work." This assists program chairs and reviewers during the proposal evaluation stage. Accepted Student Work proposals may be scheduled in the Student Forum track (see the main Call for Proposals, "Information for Student Submitters").
- The system automatically sends you a confirmation message by e-mail when your proposal has been uploaded successfully. Keep this for your files. You may log in to the system at any time to view the status of your proposal.
If any of your contact information changes during the review process, be sure to log back into the online submission system and update your record. HFES is not responsible in the event communication about your proposal fails to reach you because of incorrect contact information in the online database.
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