Conference Guidelines

Norms for Organizers/Chairs
  1. You must be a member in good standing of the AAIS to propose a session. If you are not a member of the AAIS and you wish to propose a session, the first step is to join the Association and then forward your proposal.
  2. Indicate the title of your session or roundtable and provide a description in no more than 50 words. The more concise, the better; descriptions of more than 50 words will be edited. Include, in this order: Name, Address, email information.
  3. Individuals may contact you and formally propose presentations for inclusion in your session or roundtable, or you may directly invite individuals to participate in the session or roundtable.
  4. Please respond promptly to all inquiries from prospective speakers.
  5. All prospective speakers must submit to you 3 copies of a 150-300 word abstract of their paper, a biographical note, and requests for special equipment. The abstract will be a mandatory requirement for consideration of a proposal, and for acceptance of your session, all abstracts must be submitted with the proposal.
  6. Submission of a proposal does not automatically guarantee its acceptance. Conference Chairs choose papers based on the quality of the abstract and its appropriateness to the topic of a given session.
  7. In accepting papers for your session, bear in mind the intended goals of the session as well as the scholarly interests of the speakers and audience. A successful session requires planning, communication among all speakers and chair, and common interests among speakers and audience. Organizers must also ensure:
    a. that accepted papers have only been submitted to one panel
    b. speakers are members in good standing of the AAIS
    c. speakers have been informed of AAIS Conference guidelines for speakers.
  8. Organizers are welcome to check a list of those no-show speakers at previous conferences who did not notify their session chair. (Contact the President.)
  9. Sessions should contain three or four papers. If you have six good proposals, please submit two sessions. On the other hand, should you receive only one or two proposals, please forward them to the conference organizers for possible placement elsewhere.
  10. Any changes in the session should be communicated to you and also to the Administrative Coordinator by established date.
  11. No paper will be read in absentia.
  12. Any decision not to attend the conference which is made after 15 January cannot be taken into consideration in the preparation of the program and will in fact jeopardize the success of the session.
  13. Chairs should also keep in mind the resolution adopted at the 1993 General Meeting; that is that the published order of speakers in a session should not be altered.
Norms for Speakers
  1. All participants in the Convention must be members in good standing of the AAIS.
  2. Submit the title of proposed paper to the organizer of the session as soon as possible, along with a 150-200 word abstract, a biographical note, and request for special equipment. Speakers should only submit a proposal if they are sure that they will be able to attend the conference. According to AAIS norms, every participant may present one paper and also conduct another official function, such as chairing a session. Organizing a session is not considered an official function. Participation in a roundtable in addition to a session is also permissible.
  3. Every session will last 90 minutes. The organizer/chair of the session should reserve 15 minutes, either between or after the papers, for a general discussion period. If the organizer accepts four papers, your reading time is 15 minutes (= 7 pages, with no more than 250 words per page). If the organizer accepts three papers, your reading time is 20 minutes (= 9 pages with no more than 250 words per page).
  4. In both cases, the audience will have about 15 minutes to discuss with the panel the papers presented. Please bear in mind that a primary function of presenting a paper is to be able to discuss your scholarly interests with colleagues. By limiting time for discussion, you undermine an important goal of the conference.
  5. No papers may be read in absentia. By deciding not to attend the conference after 15 January, you jeopardize the success of your session and may deprive a colleague of the opportunity to deliver a paper.

NB: According to AAIS Guidelines, a member may read no more than one paper, chair a session and participate in one roundtable.

Open Call

If your paper does not fit into any of the categories for the pre-constituted sessions announced on the website, you may wish to apply for an open-call session:

  • Email a copy of your 150-200 word abstract, along with requests for special equipment, a brief biographical note and a description related to the subject of your presentation, to the Administrative Coordinator.
Deadlines

Deadlines change on a yearly basis according to conference date. Please consult conference website for most recent deadlines.

EARLY SUBMISSION OF MATERIALS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. NO LATE PROPOSALS TO BE ACCEPTED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

15 January last date for withdrawal from program before it goes to press. THE CONFERENCE PROGRAM WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE ON THE CONFERENCE SITE 6-8 WEEKS BEFORE THE CONFERENCE.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

  • The conference organizers, in keeping with the founding spirit of AAIS, wish to reconfirm the interdisciplinary character of the organization. They will, accordingly, arrange for sessions in such areas as Italian history, art history, and music, and they ask the membership to encourage colleagues in other disciplines to submit session proposals.
  • Graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals ONLY if they have already embarked on the writing of their dissertations. Papers written during the first few years of course work may not be an accurate indication of what students are likely to achieve in the more advanced stages of their graduate careers. Faculty members in attendance who might later be judging students’ job applications could be unfairly biased by hearing papers that do not represent the degree of intellectual sophistication that the students will reach once they are fully involved in dissertation research. Graduate students should view their AAIS papers as potential “job talks” and should be sure that their performance reflects their highest level of academic and professional achievement.
  • Requests for Caucus meetings must be received by the Conference Administrative Coordinator by the established deadline. Please consult conference website.
  • In proposing sessions and roundtables, you are urged to include no more than two individuals from any single institution.
  • Both sessions and roundtables involve presentations. The assumption for a roundtable, however, is that the presentations are limited to a few minutes and that much of the time of the roundtable is devoted to interaction among audience and presenters. Presentations at a roundtable should be an occasion to stimulate extended discussion.
  • All equipment requests must be indicated in the session requests. All speakers who plan to use computers must bring their own laptops and appropriate adapters.
  • The large number of participants does not permit the consideration of special requests for times or days for paper presentations.

Decisions regarding the acceptance of proposals will be available by mid-January if not sooner. You should receive notification by e mail from your session or roundtable organizer or from the Administrative Coordinator.