Call for Town Hall Meeting Proposals

The proposal submission deadline has passed. A Call for Individual Oral & Poster Abstracts will go out in late spring 2016. Click here for more information.

The ACES 2016 Organizing Committee invites those interested in hosting a Town Hall Meeting to submit a proposal for consideration by March 31^st. Town Halls will provide organizers and topic leaders with the opportunity to gain perspective from various ecosystem services stakeholders. 

Town Hall Format

Town Halls will be under the guidance and direction of the Town Hall organizer, who will moderate the discussion. Town Halls may have designated topic leaders or other appointed speakers who may lead discussions. The number of designated speakers is at the discretion of the Town Hall organizer, however, it is recommended that formal presentations be avoided in favor of organic discussion.

Town Halls should feature a recorder/reporter who will be able to share Town Hall conclusions with the Organizing Committee by a given deadline following the conference.

Town Hall Time Allowance

Town Halls will average 60-90 minutes in length and will be integrated into the ACES 2016 agenda in the lunch and/or evening hours. Final placement in the agenda will be determined by late summer 2016.

If you have questions about developing the programmatic format for your Town Hall, please contact Dianna Hogan, Conference Chair at dhogan@usgs.gov or Kristin Zupancic, Conference Coordinator at kzupancic@ufl.edu.

NOTE: The ACES 2016 conference organizers reserve the right to refuse proposed Town Halls if time or space are limited, and to cancel any Town Hall if deadlines are missed by Town Hall organizer(s).

1. Town Hall Proposal Requirements

Town Hall proposals should provide the following information:

• Town Hall title and brief description, specifying the goals and the issues that will be its focus. Remember, Town Hall titles are critical – most people make decisions about which Town Halls to attend based solely on the title. Choose carefully.
• Brief discussion of why the Town Hall is of interest and to whom. Who is the target audience? What are the benefits of bringing this topic before a town hall?
• Names, postal addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of the proposed Town Hall organizer(s), including the name of the primary contact for the proposed Town Hall. Note: All details for the Town Hall will be finalized via communications with only this individual.
• Description of the qualifications of the Town Hall organizer(s).

If accepted:

• Town Hall organizers must provide their own recorder/reporter, who will be responsible for summarizing Town Hall conclusions and sending this information to conference organizers post-conference in the form of a Town Hall Report.
• Town Hall organizers will need to be prepared to manage their own presentations. Depending on the timing of the meeting, audiovisual technicians may not be provided for Town Halls.
• All Town Hall organizers and participants are expected to register for the conference and pay the applicable fee to attend. Financial support for travel is not available for organizers or speakers.
• Town Hall organizers must produce a final Town Hall Report and email this as an MS Word document to Conference Coordinator Kristin Zupancic no later than January 6, 2017 for publication on the ACES 2016 website. CLICK HERE to view an example of a Town Hall Report.

2. Proposal Submission Format

• MS Word Document
• Maximum of five, 8 ½” x 11” pages
• Full contact information for Town Hall organizer(s)
• View an example of a Town Hall Proposal: MS Word | PDF

3. Important Dates for Town Halls

The ACES 2016 organizers will be responsible for the following:

• Determining the date and time for all Town Hall meetings (Town Hall organizer requests will be accommodated as much as possible).
• Publicizing the Town Halls on the conference website and in digital and printed conference materials. 
• Providing a meeting place and basic audiovisual equipment for Town Hall meetings.

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Post-Conference Items

Program Book
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Abstract Book
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Photo Galleries
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Speaker Presentations
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Poster Presentations
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Workshop Summaries
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Town Hall Reports
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