.

Guidelines for Roundtable Submissions

Eligible members may propose roundtables on suggested topics or on topics of general interest to both the discipline and the Society. Roundtables are designed to promote discussion and exploration of a selected topic, with an emphasis on active engagement of the audience. Successful proposals will indicate not only the role of the roundtable participants but also how they will engage the audience in active dialogue. For more information, review the rules about what individuals can submit.

Roundtables should last 75 minutes in length, including questions and answers (Q & A) with audience members. Roundtables are not a vehicle for the reading of papers. Faculty may be moderators or participants in a roundtable, though the proposed roundtable would ideally include at least one student participant.

Competition for the limited number of roundtable slots will be lively. Only those submissions that actively engage the audience in dialogue will be considered. While judges will read and consider multiple proposals from the same school, individual chapters are limited to two acceptances unless the proposal includes members from more than one school. Priority will be given to those roundtables that include members from more than one chapter and/or that cover the convention theme, Seeking Freedom, or the 2018 Common Reader.

Helpful Hint: If you have a great idea for a roundtable but do not know how to recruit participants from other chapters, contact your Regional Student Representative or Associate Student Representative, who can help you use Society resources to connect with other members.

Suggested Topics

Not sure what subjects might spark an engaging roundtable? Consider designing a roundtable built around themes in the Common Reader The Book of Unknown Americans, or the body of works by all convention speakers. Other topics might include

• Service/Literacy
• English Education/Young Adult Literature
• Popular Culture/Film/Social Media
• Diversity
• English and Technology
• Composition/Rhetoric
• Member Recruitment/Chapter Development
• Career Development for English Majors

Of course, roundtable proposals will also be considered on other subjects that might be well suited to interactive discussions involving an audience.

Required Information—Submitted in One Document

Create a Word document using your title as the file name and save the file as a doc or docx. Your document must contain the following information:

1. Moderator: Give the name, school, and email address for the roundtable moderator. (The moderator must be a faculty member or Alumni Epsilon member; if you leave this blank, we will select a moderator for the panel.)
2. Participants: List the name, school, and email address for each participant (maximum of 5 participants and minimum of 3 participants). Sometimes roundtable organizers are unable to provide a complete list of participants when submitting the proposal. Accepted roundtables will be required to submit the names of all participants (and any changes to the list of participants) through the submission account by Friday, December 1, 2017.
3. Abstracts: Include 2 abstracts
   • a longer description (up to 250 words) that explains how the roundtable is organized, how the participants will involve the audience in active  and scholarly discussion, and what makes this approach more appropriate for a roundtable discussion rather than for presentation in separate papers; and
   • a short abstract (50 words to be included in the convention program.
4. Title: Due to space constraints, any title of more than 50 characters will be abbreviated in the program. You are strongly encouraged to limit your own title accordingly.
5. Audio Visual Request: Only a limited number of rooms will be set-up with an LCD projector and screen. Therefore, only a limited number of requests for AV will be granted. If you are requesting A/V, please include an additional paragraph stating why A/V will be a necessary component of your roundtable. Include a description of what you will be projecting, such as an online demonstration, video, audio presentation, or slide deck.

Submission Deadlines and Notifications

Submitters will receive confirmation, acceptance, and registration information via the email addresses associated with their accounts. Therefore, it is vital that members use email addresses that they check regularly and that will be active through April 2018.

• Submissions will open on Monday, September 25.
• Submissions are due Monday, October 30, 5:00 p.m. Central Daylight Savings Time (CDT).
• Acceptance and denial notifications will be emailed November 16, 2017.
• Your confirmation to secure a session slot is due December 1, 2017.

Submissions Link

The submission deadline has passed.

Convention submissions are managed by EBMS event management software through NIU Outreach Services. You will be required to create a new account if you do not already have one. Be sure to set up your account with an email address you will retain through April 2018.

Questions

Questions regarding the online submission process should be addressed to the 2018 convention staff at [email protected].