General Information
Thank you for your willingness to contribute to the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry (ANYL). Programming at National Meetings is critical to the division and its members. We appreciate your contribution and hope that you find this activity rewarding. We have assembled the information below to help you arrange a successful symposium. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Paul Bohn or Matt Bush. What do symposium organizers do?
- Propose a topic and suggest speakers. The division will use this information to assess whether the symposium is a good fit for the program. Suggested speakers also help us gauge the community that will be served by the symposium and the length of the symposium. Each symposium consists of an integer numbers of half days. Each half day includes roughly 7 to 9 speakers, including invited and contributed abstracts. We may also use this information to suggest possible ways to improve the symposium, e.g., potential co-organizers, speakers, or tweaks to the topic.
- Fundraise. Funding from the division and ACS is very limited. We encourage organizers to raise funds for their symposium, which can be used to help defray registration and travel costs for invited speakers or other symposium expenses (e.g., refreshments). However, fundraising is optional. For additional information, we have a guide on Fundraising in the ANYL Division
- Invite speakers to submit abstracts. When ACS announces the call for papers, invite speakers to submit abstracts to your symposium. The division will also advertise your symposium via email, our website, and social media.
- Organize the symposium. After the abstract submission deadline, you will organize the invited and contributed abstracts that you receive into half-day sessions. Abstracts that you don’t include in your symposium may be moved to other sessions, including the general poster session.
- Arrange for presiders. Organizers arrange for individuals to preside over each half-day session. Presiders are usually the organizer or other speakers in the symposium.
The following resources will help you organize your symposium. Please note – some of these resources – and in particular the dates/times, are specific to the 255th and 256th meetings and might not apply to your specific meeting. Specific resources for each meeting are provided in an email send from the National ACS to organizers.
- (1) Information for Fundraising in the ANYL Division
- (2) ACS Resources for Organizers – a collection of resources for program organizers and session chairs
- (3) MAPS Program Viewer User Guide – a guide for read-only access to view abstracts submitted to your symposium
- (4) Box and Workbook User Guide – a guide for downloading your workbook and organizing your symposium
- (5) Webinar Slide Presentation (PDF) – a quick reference for URLs and checklist (6) A webinar from the New Orleans meeting can be watched here: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/programming-resources/maps-symposium-organizer-webinars.html
- (7) Additional information can be found in the user guide
at: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/meetings/programming-resources/symposium-organizer-user-guide.html - (8) Symposium workbooks will be available to download from Box within three days after the Division’s abstract submission deadline. If you do not receive a Box invitation email within this time, please contact abstracts@acs.org.
Example Timeline from a Spring National Meeting (Orlando 2019)
| DEADLINES | Due Date |
|---|---|
| Call for Papers Due to ACS | July 9, 2018 |
| MAPS Opens for Abstract Submitters (Online Call for Papers Link Available) | August 20, 2018 |
| Incomplete Abstract Notice Sent to Submitters | October 24, 2018 |
| MAPS Closes for Abstract Submitters | October 29, 2018 |
| Symposium Organizer Workbooks Available in Box | 3 business days after submission deadline |
| Symposium Organizer Workbooks Due in Box | November 12, 2018 |
| MAPS Opens for Program Chairs OR Scheduling Workbook Sent to Program Chairs (Offline Process Only) | 3 business days after organizer deadline |
| Scheduling Workbook Due to ACS (Offline Process Only) | November 26, 2018 |
| Preliminary Program Completed in MAPS for M&E Review | November 26, 2018 |
| Location Preference Report Due to ACS | November 26, 2018 |
| Draft Final Program Sent to Program Chairs for Review | November 30 2018 |
| Non-Technical Room Requests due in VEMS | December 7, 2018 |
| MAPS Closes for Program Chairs (Final Program Complete in MAPS) 3 | December 10, 2018 |
| Grey Box Due to ACS (Optional) | December 21, 2018 |
| PUBLICATIONS | Date |
|---|---|
| ** C&EN Publishes Call for Papers | October 20, 2018 |
| ** C&EN Publishes Preliminary Program | January 28, 2019 |
| Online Program Publishes | January 28, 2019 |
| **C&EN Publishes Final Program | March 11, 2019 |
Preliminary Program The preliminary program, which shows session titles and their scheduled days, is due on Monday, November 13. New sessions cannot be added after this date. The finalized preliminary program will require the following session information to be completed in MAPS:
- Session Date
- Session Time
- Session Half-Day (AM/PM/EVE)
- Estimated Attendance (Oral Sessions Only)
- Session Track (Room Assignments)
Even Programming The Even Programming call will be held on Wednesday, November 15. Programming chairs are required to follow the Even Programming Rules. An overview can be found at: http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/membership-and-networks/td/manuals.html –Section 6: Rules for Even Programming.
Draft Final Program Review If a preliminary program that meets even programming guidelines is submitted by November 13, a draft copy is provided for review. Changes can be made to program up until the final program deadline of November 27.
Final Program The Final Program Deadline is Monday, November 27. The New Orleans program will close to all program chairs on this date.
Example Timeline from a Fall National Meeting (Boston 2018)
| DEADLINES | Due Date |
|---|---|
| Call for Papers Due to ACS | December 4, 2017 |
| MAPS Opens for Abstract Submitters (Online Call for Papers Link Available) | January 15, 2018 |
| Incomplete Abstract Notice Sent to Submitters | March 7, 2018 |
| MAPS Closes for Abstract Submitters | March 12, 2018 |
| Symposium Organizer Workbooks Available in Box | 3 business days after submission deadline |
| Symposium Organizer Workbooks Due in Box | March 26, 2018 |
| MAPS Opens for Program Chairs OR Scheduling Workbook Sent to Program Chairs (Offline Process Only) | 3 business days after organizer deadline |
| Scheduling Workbook Due to ACS (Offline Process Only) | April 13, 2018 |
| Preliminary Program Completed in MAPS for M&E Review | April 16, 2018 |
| Location Preference Report Due to ACS | April 16, 2018 |
| Draft Final Program Sent to Program Chairs for Review | April 19, 2018 |
| Non-Technical Room Requests due | April 23, 2018 |
| MAPS Closes for Program Chairs (Final Program Complete in MAPS) 3 | April 30, 2018 |
| Grey Box Due to ACS (Optional) | April 30, 2018 |
| PUBLICATIONS | Date |
|---|---|
| * C&EN Publishes Call for Papers | January 15, 2018 |
| * C&EN Publishes Preliminary Program | June 25, 2018 |
| Online Program Publishes | June 25, 2018 |
| * C&EN Publishes Final Program | July 30, 2018 |
Preliminary Program The preliminary program, which shows session titles and their scheduled days, is due from Program Chairs on Tuesday, April 25. Program Chairs will NOT be able to add new sessions after this date. A finalized preliminary program will require the following session information to be completed in MAPS:
- Session Date
- Session Time
- Session Half-Day (AM/PM/EVE)
- Estimated Attendance (Oral Sessions Only)
- Session Track (Room Assignments)
Even Programming The Even Programming call will be held on Monday, May 1. Program Chairs must follow the Even Programming Rules. An overview can be found at: http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/membership-and-networks/td/manuals.html –Section 6: Rules for Even Programming.
Draft Final Program Review If a completed your preliminary program that meets even programming guidelines is submitted by May 1, Program Chairs will receive a draft copy of the program to review. Program Chairs can make changes to the program up until the final program deadline.
Final Program The deadline for the Final Program is Sunday, May 7. The Washington DC program will close to all program chairs on this date.
Program Chairs must finalize the program by Sunday, May 7. Once the final program deadline has passed, no edits will be allowed by program chairs, organizers, or authors with the exception of withdrawals. ACS Staff may continue to make edits to ensure compliance with ACS programming guidelines and to resolve conflicts.
Additional resources including instructions and webinars can be found on our MAPS Resources Page at www.acs.org/maps_resources.