The governing and policy-making body of the Symposium is the steering committee. Meetings should be held as frequently as possible to cover the integrated planning of the symposium’s finances, technical program, and site location. Such meetings provide the opportunity of committee chairpersons to interface with one another and discuss common problem and objectives. The majority of the meetings may be held during the formulation of the technical program when the abstracts from the Call for Papers are discussed and the first drafts of the papers are submitted by their authors.
There is no minimum number of steering committee meetings, and it in necessary for each committee to ascertain its own needs to determine the appropriate number of meetings and their timing to make the symposium a success. In addition to the "kick-off" meeting, the following are suggested:
- Discuss the Call for Paper (Symposium Theme)
- Discussion of abstract response to Call for Papers and any appropriate action required acquiring additional papers.
- Discussion of symposium finances, publicity, registration, and meeting site
- Meeting to discuss the final technical program.
- Meeting to discuss contents of the Symposium Brochure.
- Meeting before Symposium to set an action program and check lists for members of the steering committee.
The symposium budget and its publicity are two important items that should be discussed during all these meetings; the costs, fees, and announcement of the Symposium are crucial to its success. Sound financial planning will lower overhead costs and the symposium fee. The secretary/treasurer must be active in Symposium initiation and until its proceedings are published and an audit report in filed with the Section. The treasurer must have budgets from each of the chairpersons of the committees that reflect realistic estimates of expenditures and incomes. He or she must keep all records of these expenditures and incomes in a neat and orderly manner so that a final financial statement can be provided to the Section and ultimately to the Society. A final audit of the symposium finances should be undertaken by the Section.
The publicity chairperson must be an active individual who will need to cultivate an interest in the symposium. Although it is important for the Publicity chairperson to conduct an intensive advertising campaign, it is also crucial to have the active support of the steering committee in terms of ideas and sources for advertisements. Publicity should not be a one-person show; it requires the active interest of every steering committee member at all times.
Co-sponsoring societies are important and should be active in the steering committee. Each organization should have a member present at symposium steering committee meetings to report any important item requiring action. Effective communication between organizations is very important during the early stages of symposium planning.
