Program/Site

Program/Site Chair Duties:

The Program/Site Chair is the person responsible for the conference to be held during their term as President. Their Committee should be active a minimum of two years before their meeting. The Program Chair may work closely with the Meeting Planner to plan the Annual Meeting. A separate Site Chair is not recommended unless a Program Chair cannot be found in the region where the conference will be held. A Site Chair is appointed by IAA Board upon the recommendation of the President of the year in which the meeting will take place.

  • The Program Chair is to ensure the timely accomplishment of tasks, help conceptualize the theme, be an official IAA presence in the recruitment of keynote speakers, assist in budget and venue decisions for the meeting, assist in the acceptance or rejection of abstracts.
  • A Site Chair should be appointed by the Program Chair in advance. It is usually someone that lives in the area, knows local contacts and vendors, and can serve as a facilitator for site-related issues.
  • Contact the Program Chair and/or Sites Chair (the Immediate Past President) to get information on the process of planning an IAA Meeting.
  • Contact the Sites Chair, Education Chair, Sponsorship Chair, and other Committee Members to discuss upfront how they want to communicate with each other (e-mail is preferable). Keep in frequent contact throughout the planning process.
  • Contact the Sponsorship Chair and review last year’s Exhibitor Prospectus, a list of fees for conference sponsorship and vendor space. Adjust fees, sponsorship categories, and terms of the contracts if needed before soliciting sponsors.
  • Establish an Honorariums Budget with the President and Treasurer. They will work with you with this figure. Refer to end of this checklist for specifics.
  • Recruit other members to the Program Committee. They should be from the region and have close ties to area contacts, vendors, and possible speakers. You should delegate to them the task of soliciting people for the meeting program as well as any other tasks you need help with.
  • Begin discussing with the Education Committee and your Committee what the theme of the conference will be. Brainstorm ideas for oral presentations, panel discussions, and workshops that will support the theme. Try to include local talent/vendors for presentations.
  • Discuss ideas for including vendors as part of workshops with the Sponsor/Vendor committee. The chair of the Sponsor/Vendor committee should be involved in creating the fee structure, which should be analyzed from vendor participation from previous years. (Vendor sponsored workshops are free for members, but the IAA receives revenue from the vendor as a fee to present. It should be made very clear to members that this is a vendor sponsored workshop. All sponsors solicited should be afforded the opportunity to present a workshop so as not to appear bias towards one vendor.)
  • IAA sponsored workshops are not to be sponsored by vendors. Revenue comes from workshop participants. These workshops are typically training courses of some sort and may involve a learning comprehension test at the end. Such workshops have their own budget, which is determined by the program chair and person organizing the workshop.
  • Contact Meeting Planner and discuss preliminary site (if already chosen), dates, and banquet arrangements. Provide any needed assistance to Meeting Planner in researching of location, hotel and local attractions. Provide them with Conference Theme. Ask when preliminary budget will be established for site will be distributed to the President, the Treasurer and yourself. Also discuss mailing deadlines (refer to next checklist item).

Meeting Planning Details For 1st Mailing/Call for Papers:

  • Write a short paragraph or two about the theme of the conference to be used in the Meeting flyers, Newsletter, and on website.
  • Check in with Sponsorship Chair for a preliminary list of Vendors to be listed as sponsors in the mailing. Submit 1st Mailing Copy to Meeting Planner. Refer to end of this checklist for specifics.
  • Review final draft provided by Meeting Planner prior to printing. Submit any necessary changes.
  • Review Conference website for any needed changes to content.

For Registration Brochure Mailing:

  • Along with the Education committee and Program Committee members, solicit keynote and oral presentation speakers from within the IAA and from people outside the IAA that will contribute to the program theme. Review submitted abstracts and poster presentations for the meeting.
  • Contact Meeting Planner to forward via e-mail a template for the Meeting Agenda. Try to fit speakers/presenters into the program into a logical time slot. Oral presenters usually receive 15min. slots, Vendor Presenters 10mins., Poster Presenters 5min introductions.
  • Decide who will be moderators for panel discussions/making introductions (should be Committee Members).
  • Finalize any last minute changes to speakers. Make sure all submitted abstracts have been accounted for.
  • Contact people rejected for oral presentations and encourage them to present their topic in the Poster Presentations venue.
  • Contact the Sponsorship chair should any vendor needs to be listed as a sponsor for the conference.
  • Finalize Conference Agenda using template provided by Meeting Planner. Distribute this often to other committee members for their input and to work out final agenda.
  • Submit Registration Brochure copy to Meeting Planner. Refer to end of this checklist for specifics
  • Review final draft provided by Meeting Planner prior to printing. Submit any necessary changes.
  • Make Panel Discussion moderators aware that they should get in direct contact with panelists and provide a list of questions they should prepare for.

For Meeting Program:

  • Update any changes to Agenda due to cancelled workshops, last minute speaker changes. Prepare a file called “Announcements” that lists these so that a special Announcement can be made at the meeting.
  • Assist Conference coordinator in obtaining abstracts for presentations that will be needed as part of the Meeting Program.
  • Prepare final Agenda for Meeting Program. Contact President to have them write a Welcome Address that will hopefully incorporate the Registration Brochure theme copy that you can provide via e-mail.
  • Contact the Sponsorship Chair to verify the list of vendors to be listed in the meeting program, vendors’ contact information, advertisement, and the amount of space in the program the vendor has sponsored.
  • Submit Meeting Program copy to Meeting Planner. Refer to end of this checklist for specifics
  • Review final draft provided by Meeting Planner prior to printing. Submit any necessary changes.
  • Finalize list of Honorariums Contact the Treasurer should any check needs to be prepared.

At the IAA Meeting:

  • Make needed Announcements of changes at the beginning of meeting.
  • Introduce speakers using submitted abstract information.
  • Serve or appoint someone to serve as session moderator.
  • Distribute conference survey forms for members to give feedback regarding the conference.
  • Have a good time at the conference!

1st Mailing/Announcement of the Annual Conference/Call for Papers.   This should be a rough guide to the program. Provides location, dates, theme, list of topics to be covered in general session, panel discussion titles, and workshop titles. While speaker names do not need to be included, it is advisable to have some rough commitments from potential speakers for the various topics/titles.

Call for Papers. This is an announcement for members and non-members to submit abstracts for review and to be selected for oral presentations and poster sessions. Request that a biography, no more than 200 words, should be submitted along with the abstract. Should that paper be selected and the presenter confirmed to attend the conference, the biography will then be used for the Meeting Program. Also the 1st mailing includes any preliminary sponsors for the conference. 

IAA Newsletter Announcement. Provides general information about location, travel information, hotel site, and theme of meeting. You can list a general set of topics to be addressed via presentations, panel discussions, and workshops. 

Registration Brochure.  Provides agenda listing all oral and poster presentations, panel discussions, and workshops. Speaker names and titles are provided for all of listed events. Includes breaks, lunch, and banquet times (ask Meeting Planner for these or refer to previous years Brochure). At this point, agenda should be final. Any changes occurring after this point need to be announced at the beginning of the meeting and should be listed in your “Announcements” document. Also includes conference sponsors. 

Announcements Document.  Tracks all changes made since the distribution of the Registration Brochure. Used for making announcements at the beginning of the meeting. Hopefully any changes can be included in the Meeting Program. If they are, they should be marked as such so appropriate announcements can be made. Document should be divided into 2 parts (Changes in Program and Changes Not in Program). 

Meeting Program.  Provides final conference agenda along with breaks, lunch, and banquet times. Includes welcome address by President along with all submitted abstract information. See other internal board documents for meeting logistics.