Content of AAS Meetings
Introduction
At the semi-annual meetings of the AAS there are five basic types of presentation sessions (described in detail below). Four are planned one meeting in advance by the AAS Committee on Meetings and one is composed of Member contributions.
The Committee on Meetings is composed of the three Vice-Presidents, the Executive Officer (or designee) and the President (ex-officio). The chair of the Committee on Meetings is always the senior Vice-President.
Types of Session at AAS Meetings
During Winter Meetings, posters are displayed for one day and late abstracts are usually displayed on the final day of the meeting. During Summer Meetings posters are displayed for two days. Monday poster sessions continue on Tuesday and Wednesday poster sessions continue on Thursday.
Contributed Sessions
Contributions may be either oral or poster (both types are referred to individually as "papers"). All Members may contribute presentations, which are sorted and grouped by a committee of volunteers shortly after the abstract deadline for each meeting.
Further rules governing the submission of contributed papers, including proper submission guidelines and deadlines are published in the preliminary announcement for each meeting, which is sent in print form to each AAS Member and also appears on the AAS web pages approximately two months before the actual meeting date.
Invited Speaker Sessions
Invited Speakers are chosen by the Committee on Meetings.
Members may communicate ideas for possible invited speakers directly to the Committee on Meetings by sending a short proposal describing the individual(s), their potential topic for presentation and some explanation of why they should be invited to speak at the meeting.
These short proposals should be sent via email to Kelli Gilmore by 15 May (for Winter Meetings) or 15 December (for Summer Meetings).
Special Sessions
- Scheduled in response to proposals from AAS Members.
- Held at both the Winter and Summer meetings.
- Have a length of 90 minutes.
- Scheduled in parallel with other special and contributed sessions.
- They may be held on any of the four meeting days.
- No required format, i.e. they may be a series of talks, a panel discussion or other presentation formats.
Meeting-in-a-Meeting Sessions
- Scheduled in response to proposals from AAS Members by the Committee on Meetings, which is composed of the Vice-Presidents, the Past-President or the President-Elect and one senior Councilor appointed by the President.
- Held at Summer meetings.
- Have a length of one, two or three full meeting day (three hours each day).
- Scheduled in parallel with other special and contributed sessions.
- Have no required format, but an opening introductory talk for a non-specialist audience is highly recommended.
Town Hall Meetings
- Scheduled in response to proposals from AAS Members.
- Held at Winter and Summer meetings.
- One hour and are typically held from 12:45 pm - 1:45 pm.
- Scheduled during lunch on any of the four meeting days.
- Other lunch time events may be scheduled in parallel.
Splinter Meetings
- Splinter meetings are held at Winter and Summer meetings.
- Splinter meetings can be scheduled before, during or after AAS conference days (additional fees may apply to meetings scheduled after the AAS meeting closes).
- Any AAS member can request a Splinter meeting; participants must be registered for the current meeting.
- A summary of the meeting topic and content must be submitted.
- Splinter meetings should not typically conflict with AAS scheduled Invited Talks.
- The identified session organizer must be an AAS Member and should submit complete contact information including onsite contact information.
- Events can be published online or in the program update with the approval of the AAS Executive Office.
- Costs associated with catering and equipment rental are the responsibility of the splinter meeting organizer. The fees will be invoiced by the AAS once the meeting closes and is audited.
- Meeting requests are honored and assigned on a first come, first served basis depending on meeting room availability.
- Meeting organizers will be notified via email of specific room assignments by 15th December for Winter Meetings and 15 May for Summer Meetings.
- All requests submitted after the deadline will be assigned based upon availability and will not be included in the printed meeting program.
How to submit proposals for meeting content
A proposal submission form is available through the Members Only section of the AAS Website.
Special Sessions, Meeting-in-a-Meeting, Town Hall and Splinter Meeting
The following information is needed to complete the proposal form:
- Clear indication of the session type.
- A session title (50 characters or less).
- Identified session organizer (who must be an AAS Member) with full contact information.
- An introduction, which helps to describe the relevance or timeliness of the session.
- A list of potential speakers, their contribution to the session and justification for their selection as a session presenter.
- A brief justification for the session; include pertinent information for the Committee on Meetings.
Deadlines for Content Proposals
Winter Meetings — Due 15 May each year
Summer Meetings — Due 15 December each year