GUIDELINES FOR THE EXPERT TEAMS FOR THE ORGANISATION OF THE EWGLAM MEETING
Based on the discussions during the EWGLAM/SRNWP meeting in Athens (2009) and updated after the discussions in Exeter (2010)
Compiled by Andras Horanyi
Introduction
The Expert Teams (ET) of SRNWP are kindly asked to provide input proposals for the programme of the annual EWGLAM/SRNWP meeting. In practise it means that the ETs are proposing "review talks" and also the corresponding session (together with a chairperson) for their area of interest. The proposals are to be submitted to the C-SRNWP Programme Manager (PM) until the end of June each year.
Review talks
The review talks basically might be of two types:
Synthesis review of the main activities realised in the five LAM Consortia (it is recommended to collect at least 3-4 slides from each Consortia, which summarises their work in the preceding year). The talk might cover not only past achievements (on contentious issues, possible problems), but also LINKS WITH OTHER Expert Team subjects and consider important developments outside the Consortia (which would span even beyond the European "borders"). Moreover the talk might already anticipate some issues for the discussion part of the session.
A topic of main interest for the Expert Team with special emphasis on areas, which are cross-cutting issues with other Expert Teams.
Certainly, the sessions organised afterwards should take into consideration of the "nature" of the review talk.
Sessions
The following recommendations can be considered, while planning the sessions:
The sessions are to be organised in a way that it can give an overview of the most important issues of the given area of interest also for those, who are not experts (working) on that field.
Usually the available time slot of the session is 2 hours with at least 20 minutes of discussion. The Expert Teams should indicate if they need less time, since we cannot afford to have all sessions with two hours duration.
One possible solution for the sessions is to ask each Consortia to present their work one after the other (then someone has to be careful to avoid duplications with the review talks).
The preferred way of organising the session is to judge, what are the most important advances in the given area and present only those issues (it might not mean that each Consortia have a presentation).
It would be also highly welcome to have "invited talks", i.e. people outside the Expert Team, but with relevant expectations towards them (cross cutting issues for instance).
Since the time is limited and the discussions are important, the chairpersons are asked to keep the time limits of the talks seriously (for instance 20 minutes talk would mean 15 minutes of presentation and 5 extra minute for discussions).
The Expert Teams are proposed to be active prior to the EWGLAM meeting with the possible listing of key issues (especially cross-cutting ones), which would be discussed in the session. This would be a valuable help for the chairperson.
It is proposed for the chairpersons to prepare and stimulate the discussions in advance: for instance the contentious issues might be already indicated at the review talk or at the beginning of the session and some introductory stimulating slides might be put prior the start of the discussions.
Some additional issues
The "poster introduction" session is replaced by the compilation of the not more than 3 bullets long summaries of each poster (to be assembled together and presented in one powerpoint presentation). Sufficient time is needed for the poster viewing session, which should be combined either with a longer coffee break or the ice-breaker (if it can be organised near to the posters).
At the very beginning of the meeting the C-SRNWP PM would briefly summarise the membership changes in SRNWP and introduce "newcomers" of the meeting.
It is recommended that the Expert Teams are having informal meetings during EWGLAM/SRNWP (at lunch break or in the evening) possibly also discussing issues foreseen at the discussion part of the sessions.
The order of the sessions might be changed year-by-year.