Guidelines for Conveners

Detailed Instructions

Preparation of the "Call-for-Papers"
Advertising the Session Programme
Ranking of Financial Support Applicants
Organizing the Session Programme
Finalizing the Session Programme
Daily Programme
Report
Publication

General

Conveners and co-conveners will be assisted by the staff members of the Copernicus Meetings and by the open, Internet-based Copernicus administration, service and information system (COSIS). Organization of each General Assembly 2008 session will take place primarily on-line using COSIS. Parts of this web-based system are open only to meeting organizers who must log in using a COSIS ID-Nr. and a password. The Copernicus Meetings will provide the ID-Nr. under which each convener and co-convener is registered and a provisional password which the convener may change afterwards. The convener has the sole responsibility for ensuring that his/her address and phone, fax and email numbers are correctly entered into the COSIS system, and appropriate changes can be made online at any time.

Please, remember the URL addresses of the General Assembly 2008 home site and of COSIS and your COSIS login data:

EGU General Assembly 2008 home site: http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2008
COSIS: www.cosis.net
My COSIS ID-Nr.: Password:
egu2008@copernicus.org

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COSIS Tools (overview of how to find and organize your assembly session on the web)

On this assembly home site, you will find the link "Programme" with the sublinks "Call-for-Programme" and "Call-for-Papers", which brings you to the overview of the programme areas for the assembly. Click the link of your choice to find the list of sessions for any given area.

Scroll down to your session to find its number and title as well as the names of its convener and co-conveners. The first string of links is for the public and the second one is exclusively reserved for the session organizers and Programme Committee members (COSIS login required). Below is an example of what you will see on the screen:

The link "Organizer Session Form" allows uploading online any information or modifications regarding the title of the session, the session description, the scientific organizing committee, and the list of solicited speakers; all this information will be included online in the link "Information" of the public string. Moreover, the link allows uploading online your information about any "Publication" foreseen for your session and later on your "Report" about the session.

Any additions and/or modifications regarding the organizers of your session should be reported directly to the Copernicus Meetings, egu2008@copernicus.org, since only the COSIS administrator can make appropriate changes. The information is included in the link "Organizer" of the public string. The actual addresses of the organizers, however, are uploaded directly from their own private COSIS home sites. Therefore, the organizers have the sole responsibility for ensuring that their addresses are correct.

Under the link "Support Ranking" all contributions submitted to your session by authors asking for support will be listed in the order of receipt by author(s), with title and abstract number. If you click the abstract number you will find the corresponding abstract as PDF file. The tool will then allow you to rank these contributions in view of their importance to your session. Your ranking will be forwarded automatically to the Support Selection Committee for final selection.

Under the link "Contributions" all contributions submitted to your session will be listed in the order of receipt by author(s), with title and abstract number. If you click the abstract number you will find the corresponding abstract as a PDF file. Once a paper has been accepted by you and the Programme Committee it will be uploaded in journal style and accessible for the public under "Accepted Contributions".

The tool "Session Organization" will enable you to organize your session according to the contributions received and to provide important input regarding your session for the Programme Committee. Once the Programme Committee has finalized the overall schedule of the assembly, you will need to finalize the oral and poster sessions of your session.

Finally, after you have finalized your session COSIS will automatically compile the "Oral Draft Programme" and the "Poster Draft Programme" for final inspection by you and your co-conveners as well as by the respective Programme Committee members. After approval the programme will then be uploaded for the public under "Oral Programme" and "Poster Programme", respectively.

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Preparation of the "Call-for-Papers"

(Please complete your online "Organizer Session Form" by 14 October 2007 and update it regularly until the start of the Assembly).

1. Note the title and the number of your session. The Programme Committee has carefully examined all proposed topics in order to set up a well-balanced programme. You should not change the topic or title of your session. Any changes may be made only with the agreement of your respective Programme Committee members.
2. Note the name of the co-convener for your session. Many co-conveners are already confirmed, but please double-check their willingness to serve in the capacity indicated. If a co-convener has not already been selected and/or confirmed please do so immediately. Note that there should be only one convener and one co-convener for each session. In cases where more than one programme area is organizing, a co-convener from each body is permissible. Complete contact information for co-conveners must be supplied to the Copernicus Meetings.
3. Finalize the composition of your scientific organizing committee. Ensure that all members are willing to serve and identify which ones represent the interests of particular areas in the case of co-sponsorship or when potential overlap between sessions has been identified. Organizing committee members should represent as wide a range of nationalities as possible.
4. Solicit targeted speakers. In the case of refusals seek substitutes, although speakers may be approached also later. Upload information on solicited speakers in the appropriate box of the "Organizer Session Form". Note from the session timetable that the number of "full" solicited talks may be limited for your session.

Note that:

• EGU does not use the word "invited" for papers presented at the individual sessions of each assembly. This is to avoid any misunderstanding since in some organizations an invitation to present a paper implies funding may be available. THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR THE EGU ASSEMBLY. Being solicited to speak implies NO registration waiver nor financial support. Solicited speakers must follow the same procedure for applying for financial assistance, should they need it, as all other assembly participants.
• Do not miss deadlines because of late responses from persons approached to be on your scientific organizing committee or to give solicited talks. Lists can be updated regularly on the web.
• If you inform authors of papers, solicited or contributed, of possible preliminary scheduling for your session, make clear that dates and times may shift over the five scientific session days of the assembly once the programme is adjusted to accommodate the number of abstracts received by each session.
• The rankings of financial assistance requests have to be done 10 – 14 December 2007. Remember to approach solicited speakers who may wish to request financial support early enough so that you can meet this deadline. Refer solicited speakers to the assembly web page or provide them with the financial support application published on the web.

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Advertising the Session Programme

(2nd half October – December 2007)

It is the responsibility of each convener to advertise his/her own session throughout the scientific community interested in the topics covered and to inform colleagues about deadlines, abstract format and submission information, and the possibility of early registration and reservation of accommodation.

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Ranking of Financial Support Applicants

(10 – 14 December 2007)

The abstracts of applications for financial support are compiled session by session, under the link "Support Ranking". The conveners are asked to study these abstracts carefully and then to rank requests for assistance. Rank solely on the scientific importance of the contribution to the session. Because limited funds are available, there is no need to rank more than 5 requests. Rank the first priority candidate 1 and the last priority candidate 5. Use no other ranking system and add some sentences of support, where appropriate. Every applicant will be notified of the results of his/her request after the decision of the Support Selection Committee.

Important

The final selection of supported participants will be organized by the EGU Support Selection Committee. Your ranking will be considered and other EGU priorities factored in, e.g., funding scientists under the age of 35 on 1 January 2009. Also considered will be applicants ranked by more than one convener and the fact that certain applicants may obtain national grants if offered a waiver and/or a small support.

The above restrictions/priorities will mean that few, perhaps even no applicants from certain sessions are supported. Furthermore, supported participants in some sessions may not be those most highly ranked on scientific grounds by any given convener, particularly if the applicant was accorded high priority by another convener.

The chances for obtaining support in cases where the above deadlines/procedures are not respected is practically nil. All participants, including solicited speakers, requesting support must follow the described procedure. Each convener should consider this requirement when organizing his/her session.

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Organizing the Session Programme – Convener Part I & II

(please finalize the tasks summarized under "Session Organization" 19 – 25 January 2008)

The abstract deadline is 14 January 2008. The Copernicus Meetings will post on the web the abstracts received for each session by order of receipt under "Contributions". Each convener is asked to organize his/her "Session Programme" based on the abstracts and information received from authors. Organizing an assembly session involves:

1. adding contributions received by the convener but not by the Copernicus Meetings; corresponding abstracts should be uploaded directly online by the convener for inclusion with other abstracts on the web.
2. dividing the contributions into the following categories:
   • accepted
   • rejected
   • recommended for transfer to another session or to the "Parking Session" (No Session); corresponding abstracts should be transferred as quickly as possible to the appropriate sessions.
   • acceptance of a transferred contribution from another session, incl. contributions of the "No Session"

   Be sure to check the "No Session" abstracts from time to time in order to determine if any should be included in your programme.

3. selecting topics and estimating room capacities to avoid topic overlaps and room overloads.
4. forwarding any special requests to the Programme Committee, such as "preferred day of my session", "my session should be scheduled back-to-back/directly before the following session" etc. Based on input from the conveners, the Programme Committee will establish the final programme, taking into account whether certain sessions do not require or exceed the time allotted. Conveners will find the outcome of the schedule compiled by the Programme Committee online.

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Finalizing the Session Programme – Convener Part IV

(please finalize "Session Organization", "Oral Draft Programme" and "Poster Draft Programme" 11 – 15 February 2008)

Each convener is requested to finalize his/her "Session Programme" in order to permit the Copernicus Meetings to compile the overall assembly programme according to the time allotted by the Programme Committee. Finalizing the programme involves:

1. organizing oral vs. poster papers in view of the schedule defined by the Programme Committee; dividing the contributions in the following presentation types:
   • accepted for solicited oral presentation (OS30) - 30 minutes (one solicited oral presentation of 30 minutes is allowed per time block)
   • accepted for solicited oral presentation (OS15) - 15 minutes
   • accepted for contributed oral presentation (O15) - 15 minutes
   • accepted for poster presentation (P), thereby contributions intended "poster" by their authors will automatically be honoured "poster" by the COSIS system,
2. numbering of all contributions, oral and poster separately, in the order of their presentation. Note that the session duration indicated on the web is the maximum time allocated for your meeting and must not be exceeded,
3. organizing the allocation of solicited papers, taking into account coffee and lunch breaks,
4. identifying a chair for each session, oral and poster, of the session (see "Guidelines for Chairpersons"). Thereby it is advised to select a speaker from another sub-session as chairperson, it is not necessary that the convener(s) act as chairperson,
5. introducing session titles if desired, and
6. forwarding to the Copernicus Meetings any new or modified information concerning the session, if the information cannot be uploaded online via the "Organizer Session Form".
   
   All authors will receive notification of paper acceptance, official paper number, and time and date of presentation through COSIS. Session programmes will be uploaded on the WWW ("Oral Programme", "Poster Programme") and they will be included in the programme book which will then be distributed to all registered participants at the assembly.

Note that:

• The Programme Committee encourages the utilization of posters as an integral part of each session.
• An attractive and accessible poster area will be made available for the assembly.
• Conveners may want to make time available in their oral sessions for short poster summaries, e.g., one minute, one viewgraph. Each convener is free to decide whether to adopt this suggestion and then to upload contributions entitled "Discussion" or "Poster Summaries", respectively, into his/her oral session.

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Daily Programme

(please forward any changes to Copernicus Meetings by 31 March 2008)

Changes in the "Session Programme" which occur after the deadline for printing of the programme book may still be included in the "Daily Programmes" distributed at the conference site. Modifications to session programmes which occur after 31 March 2008 and during the assembly should be reported directly to the session chair so that the "Daily Programmes" posted on session doors are as accurate as possible.

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Report

Conveners are kindly asked to compile a report about their session after the meeting. This report can be uploaded via the "Organizer Session Form" and it will than appear under "Report" in the line of public links. Session reports may be published in the "EGU Newsletter" or be incorporated in the "EGU Media Portal".

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Publication

Conveners may consider the publication either of selected presentations as full articles in topical journals or of all presentations as shorter summaries as a kind of proceedings. The EGU invites the conveners to consider first the EGU online and open-access publications, i.e., its many topical journals as well as its proceedings journals Advances in Geosciences; however, the convener may also select any other publication he/she is familiar with. Details incl. the deadline and technical requirements of the submission of manuscripts can be compiled in the "Organizer Session Form" to appear under "Publication" in the line of public links.

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Important Remarks

1. All contributions included in the final "Meeting Programme" will be included in the CD-Rom version of the abstract book Geophysical Research Abstracts.
2. Once the final "Meeting Programme" is uploaded onto the web, the programme book and the abstract CD-Rom will be generated and therefore no changes in the programmes will be accepted anymore!
3. Once a session has been scheduled it must take place. Conveners have no right to cancel a session.

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