Instructions for Conference Participants

Paper Presenters 

Panel Moderators 

Instructions for Conference Participants: Paper Presenters

Dear Conference Participants,

As the conference organizers explained in the call for papers, this event has been organized to bring together scholars who have been invited to contribute articles to our planned publication.   With this in mind, the conference format has been designed as a forum in which you can both present your work-in-progress and exchange ideas and constructive criticism that will ultimately shape the final versions of your articles as well as the overall cohesion of the book as a whole.
We have organized the conference as a series of panels.  Most panels will last 90 minutes, include three papers, and be moderated by two co-discussants.  The structure of these panels will be as follows:

1. Papers will be pre-circulated: Each presenter has been asked to submit a paper by March 1st.  These papers will be available to conference participants on a password-encrypted area of the conference website.  Conference participants will have access to these papers as soon as they are submitted, and are asked to read them in advance.
2. Presentations will summarize pre-circulated papers: At the conference, each presenter will be asked to provide a summary of his or her pre-circulated paper. 
3. Length of presentations: Presentations should not exceed 15 minutes in length (i.e. should be confined to a maximum of 8 double-spaced pages).  In most cases, this summary will be a shortened version of the paper you submitted to the website.  For those in the audience who have read your pre-circulated paper, this presentation will serve to remind them of your main arguments.  For those who have not, your presentation will serve as an introduction to your work.
4. Moderated Discussion: After all three papers have been presented, a 45-minute discussion will follow.  Each panel has two moderators, and they have been instructed to open the conversation by posing one synthetic (and perhaps provocative!) question designed to address the panel as a whole.  They will then moderate a discussion including questions and input from the audience as well as from panel members, who are encouraged to respond to each other’s work.
5. Break: Each panel will be followed by a short break.

If you have any questions not answered here, please contact Andy Hinnant: polish@indiana.edu

Instructions for Conference Participants: Panel Moderators

Dear Conference Participants,

As the conference organizers explained in the call for papers, this event has been organized to bring together scholars who have been invited to contribute articles to our planned publication.   With this in mind, the conference format has been designed as a forum in which they can both present their work-in-progress and exchange ideas and constructive criticism that will ultimately shape the final versions of their articles as well as the overall cohesion of the book as a whole.
We have organized the conference as a series of panels.  Most panels will last 90 minutes, include three papers, and be moderated by two co-discussants.  The structure of these panels will be as follows:

1. Papers will be pre-circulated: Each presenter has been asked to submit a paper by March 1st.  These papers will be available to conference participants (and to you) on a password-encrypted area of the conference website.  Conference participants will have access to these papers as soon as they are submitted, and are asked to read them in advance. 
2. Presentations will summarize pre-circulated papers: At the conference, each presenter will be asked to provide a summary of his or her pre-circulated paper.  The moderators will introduce the panelists before their individual papers (not together at the beginning of the panel).  Remember that you can access panelists’ biographical statements on the conference webpage.  The panelists’ presentations will last approximately 15 minutes each, and will summarize the pre-circulated version of their papers.  For those in the audience who have read the pre-circulated paper in question, this presentation will serve to remind them of its main arguments.  For those who have not, the presentation will serve as an introduction to the presenter’s work.
3. Moderated Discussion: After all three papers have been presented, a 45-minute discussion will follow (this length will be adjusted for panels with 2 or 4 presenters, but in each case, will represent 50% of the total panel time).  Each panel has two moderators, and we would like to request that you structure your comments according to the following guidelines:
1. We would like for moderators’ comments to be very short.  Audience members will just have listened to three papers, and we want to avoid the conference model whereby the moderator’s comments turn into a fourth paper.  Because there are two moderators, this need for brevity is all the more urgent.  We are hoping that your comments will not be longer than one page total (double-spaced) should you decide to read them.
2. It would be most beneficial if each moderator were to pose one synthetic, perhaps even provocative question that addresses the panel as a whole.  Our goal is to try to help the three panelists envision their papers as a book section, to find points of dialogue (of agreement or contention) and to revise their articles accordingly for publication.  Therefore, the more your question brings participants in dialogue with each other, the better (and they should be encouraged to do so during the discussion).
3. In our discussions, we would like to avoid the conventional, disjointed question-and-answer format.  Instead, we would like to introduce a structure whereby your questions set the agenda – audience members will be asked to align their input and queries according to your questions.
4. Each question posed by a moderator should be given its own time (the two moderators should not pose their questions at the same time, but individually).  Moderators will choose between themselves who will go first.  Discussion on the first moderator’s question should continue for about 20 minutes or until “finished,” and then the second question should be introduced.  If both questions end in resolution before the 45 minutes have transpired, then the floor may be opened for new questions from the audience.
4. Break: Each panel will be followed by a short break.

If you have any questions not answered here, please contact Andy Hinnant: polish@indiana.edu