Comments on: From the mailbag: How to assemble a conference panel with complete strangers? http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/ History and sexual politics, 1492 to the present Wed, 17 Sep 2014 17:30:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.2 By: Dr.Naaeem http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-618943 Sat, 15 May 2010 23:48:01 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-618943 Dear sir Madam
I would like to you ,with great respection, my wish to attend this conference presenting my papers about (the reparations of world war I 1919-1932) so please tell what necessary should I do and what are the required things or the terms and conditions regarding the attending this conference.
Dr.Naaeem
Karbala university
Iraq

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By: Historiann http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-544652 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:33:18 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-544652 The fact that people aren’t being funded for conference travel for “just” a comment or chair role is troubling, and indicates that research unis aren’t willing to use their resources to permit their faculty to participate more broadly in the life of their profession and to help mentor and encourage junior scholars. And Katherine and Shaz are exactly right–this should be recognized by conference planners and program committees. (I say this as someone who helped plan a conference recently, and we tried to enforce the same rule! We ended up finding a lot of chairs and commenters on our own.)

The only thing I’ll say about having a separate chair and commenter is that if/when one of them drops out, then the other one can play both roles. (And as the conference date drew nearer, that’s what happened to a number of our sessions.) If a panel is submitted with one person as chair and commenter, there’s no backup plan.

Perhaps program committees from now on should have a list of people who plan to attend anyway and/or locals who may be coaxed onto the program, and just fill out the chairs and commenters themselves.

Oh, and Boston is a terrible AHA site, although as Katherine says, there’s a good slice of locals there who might pitch in to help fill out panels. *I* like it better than Chicago because I have family nearby and research there to do, but it’s always spread from hell to breakfast between 2 or 3 hotels, so you’re always schlepping a giant coat around and marching around in the cold. Again, I say: Southwest or Bust!

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By: Katherine http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-544610 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:33:04 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-544610 The lack of funding thing is making it harder to find chairs and comments for conference panels. Conference organizers need to recognize this, but in my experience are being slow to. Last fall I and my my co-panelists had words with the program committee over doubling up our comment and chair because of that very issue. The conference considered canceling our panel because we weren’t “following the rules.”

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By: Shaz http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-544522 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:01:30 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-544522 Agree with everyone’s comments on this being fundamnetally different from random emails (and love the Queen example).

Random Additional Advice on forming panels:

1) I always say, ‘if you are unable to do it, it would be great if you can recommend someone who might be interested.’

2) How I sometimes handle the No Response: to avoid getting stuck in a holding pattern waiting to hear back from person A, you can send a follow up email a week later saying, I am sure you are very busy, so wanted to check whether you got my previous email (forwarded below). I hope you would consider our request. If we don’t hear from you in X time, we’ll assume that you won’t be able to participate. Thanks for considering it, blah blah blah.

Personally, I do occasionally lose an email, or put it aside to think about and forget to go back to it. I never mind a follow up reminder. And some people, I’m afraid, just delete emails they aren’t interested in — this gets you out from being at their mercy.

3) You can always submit a request to an H-Net listserv and see if anyone bites that way.

4) Don’t take rejections personally — besides the Boston in winter issue, with current budget conditions, many people aren’t conferencing as much, and at my public institution, you can’t use University funding unless you are giving a paper on your own research; NOT commenting on/chairing someone elses.

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By: Comrade PhysioProf http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-544193 Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:28:59 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-544193 Fuck the Red Socks. GO YANKEES!

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By: Katherine http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-543968 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:27:54 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-543968 the other bonus about Boston (besides the fact that that it is home to the Red Sox)is that there are tons of schools in the area, so some might be willing to drive in for the day.

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By: Comrade PhysioProf http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-543944 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:37:31 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-543944 The major difference between the two scenarios–e-mail from undergrad looking for someone to do their work for them versus e-mail invitation to serve on or chair a panel with one’s professional peers–is that the recipient would receive no academic credit whatsoever for doing the former, while the latter goes right onto the fucking CV, as it fits right into one of the important categories of “evidence of status within your field” considered by hiring, promotion, and tenure committees.

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By: Ruth http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-543834 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:34:37 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-543834 Three comments:

First, it is not at all unreasonable or annoying to ask, and you don’t have to apologize for it. The key–with requests from people of any rank ranging from middle school students on up to Distinguished Named Chairs–is that they know what they’re talking about. I won’t respond positively to to “hi ruth i need to intervew about medevil queens how powerful were they?” but I will to “Dear Professor, I am a student at George Washington Middle School researching medieval queens. I have read that Margaret of Anjou led an army into battle but I am having trouble finding more information. Do you have any suggestions as to where I can look? Would you be willing to talk to me about it, as an interview is a requirement for this paper?” Similarly, if your e-mail to a senior scholar sounds like you are just looking for a big name so the panel will be accepted, ze is not likely to be interested, but if you explain to hir why the topic fits in with hir work and why ze is an appropriate commentator, ze is more likely to want to do it.

Which leads me to the second point. Unless the person is already planning to attend the conference (for example, if ze is on an AHA committee), it will be more attractive to hir if ze thinks ze is likely to get something out of it. Present it in such a way that ze’ll think “Wow, this sounds like a fascinating session, I would love to respond to those papers,” rather than “Hmm, is it worth cutting my vacation short to do these people a favor?”

Third, if you do have connections, use them. Flattering me will not make me more likely to do it, but telling me that my name was suggested by Prof. Goodcolleague, or that you noted I was in the audience when you gave a paper on [topic] at [Conference] might. That’s not to say that if you don’t have a connection, you shouldn’t ask. Many (most?) of us feel an obligation to the profession generally to help out junior people in the way we were helped , or would like to have been helped. But it’s even better if we have a person (not necessarily a face, but a body of work) to associate with the request.

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By: Historiann http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-543774 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:44:29 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-543774 My mistake–maybe I thought Chicago because it’s there every other flippin’ year?

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By: BC http://www.historiann.com/2010/01/30/from-the-mailbag-how-to-assemble-a-conference-panel-with-complete-strangers/comment-page-1/#comment-543767 Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:21:01 +0000 http://www.historiann.com/?p=9407#comment-543767 Boston, not Chicago. Still cold.

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