Call for AAAS Career Workshops

Instructions for informational use

Submission site opens Sunday, February 17, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. ET
Deadline for submission Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

After proposal selection, if your proposal is conditionally accepted to be included in the Annual Meeting program, the Program Committee may suggest ways to modify the composition of the session to ensure that the content will be of benefit to the participants, and that there is greater diversity among session participants.

Communication
To receive notifications and updates, please ensure that the following email addresses will not be blocked: meetings@aaas.org; agreene@aaas.org; cjones@aaas.org; nmaylett@aaas.org, and aaas@confex.com.

NOTE ON LANGUAGE:
For language choice, use American English spelling and translations.
Spell out all abbreviations and acronyms.

*AAAS reserves the right to edit all submissions for publication, as they will be published in the online meeting program, pocket guide, and app. Modifications are sometimes made to improve clarity and encourage attendance.

Please read these instructions carefully first, then click the “submit” button in the sidebar.

1. WORKSHOP INFORMATION

Proposed Title (Maximum of 80 characters with spaces)
When creating a title, keep in mind that meeting attendees may be more likely to attend a workshop with an interesting title.

Workshop Description (Maximum of 750 characters with spaces)
Provide a clear, succinct description of your proposed workshop, including the value it will have for career development. Describe the subject, highlighting the questions, career development issues, or needs to be addressed. How is the workshop relevant to career development? What are the core ideas that will be shared with the audience? In what ways will the audience be involved? This synopsis will appear in the program book.

Newsworthiness
Highlight how the material would be newsworthy. Is it relevant to current events? Is the discovery new or unexpected? How could it impact the public’s lives?

Audience
Based on previous registration data, the overall profile for Annual Meeting attendees

• The top work sector categories 60% from the academic sector, 11% Government. and 9% Research. AAAS is very interested in hearing proposals that draw from the industry sector.
• 85% have advanced degrees, with 50% holding PhDs.
• 50% identified as male, 45% as female and 5% non-binary/prefer not to answer
• The age groups are equally spread between the following groups: 25 to 34 years, 35 to 44 years, 45 to 54 years, 55 to 64 years, and 65 years or over.

Please identify the intended audience(s) for your workshop. Select all that apply.

• High School
• Graduate Student
• High-School Teacher
• Program Administrator
• Mid-Career Scientist
• Undergraduate
• Postdoctoral Scholars
• College and University Faculty
• Early-Career Scientist
• Late-Career Scientist

Audience Take-aways (Maximum of 2,000 characters with spaces)
What will participants take away from this session? What can they immediately put in use as a result of attending this session?

Printed Materials
If you intend to provide printed materials or other handouts, describe what these materials will be. Please note that AAAS does not print or distribute workshop materials, and strongly encourages presenters to provide materials to participants through electronic means.

Registration and Travel Support
Workshop presenters (and organizers) attend the AAAS Annual Meeting at their own expense or use funding secured by workshop organizers. By submitting a workshop proposal, organizers agree to register and pay meeting registration fees if the proposal is accepted. 

Although AAAS cannot support the costs of travel, a discounted registration rate, which is comparable to the AAAS speaker rate ($120 per person), is available for workshop presenters and organizers.

Audiovisual Provided
All workshop rooms will be equipped with

• an LCD projector and screen
• 2 corded clip-on mics for the speakers
• 1 corded mic on a stand for audience questions and answers.

Arrangements and costs for upgraded or additional equipment (for example, TV, CD/DVD player, Internet connection, laser pointer, additional microphones) are the responsibility of the organizer and will not be billed to AAAS.

Room Setup
Town Hall style set, which includes: (2) Wireless handhelds, (2) Stools, (1) LCD projector and screen, theater audience seating, and (1) 6’ table in the back of the room for printed information.

2. KEYWORDS

To significantly assist in finding the appropriate peer reviewers for your proposal, please select between three (3) and five (5) keywords that best describe your proposal. To improve matching, there is now only one write-in option. The list of keywords can be found here

3. PARTICIPANT INFORMATION

Proposal Reviewer Considerations

The following are considerations provided to reviewers. Organizers should carefully follow the instructions for submitting their proposals, which will be evaluated for completeness and clarity. Incomplete proposals (including missing descriptions for the presentations) will not be reviewed.

1. Evaluate the proposal in general:

• Is information adequate for evaluation?
• Does the proposal clearly describe the session?
• Is it well organized and coherent?

2. Evaluate the content:

• Is the topic too narrow or technical for a multidisciplinary audience?
• Does it offer a unique opportunity to AAAS attendees that would not be available in another venue?
• Will the session accomplish one of the following goals?
• Highlight opportunities or resources available to enhance or augment their careers;
• Explore a variety of career choices and routes for people who are pursuing or already have scientific or engineering degrees;
• Assist students, scientists, or engineers with communicating about science;
• Help students, scientists, or engineers with life and work skills and issues such as assessing their own skills, abilities, and interests; managing dual-career relationships; sustaining a healthy work-life balance; and planning for retirement.

Consider overall merit and the importance of including the proposed workshop in the program.

Speakers should refrain from simply “teaching” the audience basic science or about a particular project. Proposals focused on promoting specific projects or programs are discouraged, unless they significantly emphasize broader applicability.

3. CONFIRMATION

Once you have entered all the required information for the participants in your session, proceed to the Confirmation step. If you need to make corrections to any information, just click on the appropriate step link in the left frame. Otherwise, click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page. To log out, simply close your browser window.

AAAS reserves the right to reconsider the inclusion of a workshop if a substantial change is made to it after being accepted.