’ s Annual SAA f or ft ra C o t w Ho osal p o Pr a Session Meet i ng Sh Sharmila il Bh Bhatia, ti National N ti lA Archives hi and Records Administration and 2021 Program Committee Member numerous emails. The call for nume session proposals was issued sessio in the th fall with the deadline in early January. We received 110 educ education sessions and 23 poster proposals. The committee mem-prop bers reviewed and scored each ber proposal using a 6-point scale pro and making note of additional comments for use in discussion co with other members. wi I t’s a great opportunity to be a conference speaker—you get to talk about your work and share what you have learned with your professional peers. But first, you have to propose a session, find speakers to join you, and craft an intriguing description— one that will win over the Program Committee. For SAA’s conference, this planning begins the prior year. I have a fair amount of experience with conference programming—I served on program committees for two SAA conferences and five Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conferences (MARAC), serving as cochair for three of them. Although I can’t suggest specific ideas for SAA’s next Annual Meeting—that’s up to you!—I can share SAA’s process and how program committees evaluate session proposals so that you can create a compelling submission. During review, review the Program Committee tracked topics topics, format types (e.g., panel, lightning talks), and participants’ institutions so that we could present a program with variety and representation. In the end, we can select only a limited number of proposals. For the 2021 conference, we accepted 30 education sessions and 18 posters. There are always some sessions that we like but don’t make the final list. In some cases, we refer proposers to the SAA section meetings, in hopes there’s a better fit for the topic. 5 Tips for Session Proposals Sessions that scored higher had well-devel-oped descriptions, identified speakers, and featured a diverse panel. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when developing your proposal: 1. Be clear and captivating. In the session abstract and short description, describe the session’s purpose and content precisely and in detail. Think about what would appeal to your audience. Your first audience is the Program Committee. After you catch the committee’s attention, your description will need to draw attendees to your session. 2. Be diverse. The committee aims to include sessions on a variety of archival topics and trends with speakers that are demographically, institutionally, and geographically diverse. When selecting speakers for your panel, think about how you could expand or reframe your topic to include speakers from different types of institutions, such as academic, corporate, or government; from different parts of the country; and who represent more than one gender or ethnicity. The Process Like much of 2020, the cycle for developing SAA’s 2021 Annual Meeting program began with uncertainty. We had our first meeting in September 2020 via Zoom to talk about ideas for the theme. Although we tried to be optimistic, it was difficult to envision where we would be the following year. The call for program proposals stated that the sessions would be presented virtually and that the majority would be pre-recorded. In January 2021, SAA announced that the Annual Meeting would be virtual with 30 education sessions. The process for the Program Committee didn’t alter much from other years. We had five virtual meetings and exchanged 22 ARCHIVAL OUTLOOK 3. Be collaborative. Finding session panelists can be challenging! That’s why the Program Committee creates an open Google spreadsheet as an informal tool through which proposers can connect and collaborate. (This spreadsheet is not monitored by the Program Committee.) If you’re looking for archivists working on similar projects and topics, this is a great place to start. 4. Be thorough. We were surprised to see a few incomplete submissions, such as a single lightning talk with only one person listed as a speaker. Some of these were interesting topics. Although we could have suggested revising and resubmitting or combining with other sessions, the number of great submissions had committee members looking elsewhere. Incomplete proposals tend to score low and therefore quickly drop from consideration. 5. Be persistent. The call for proposals typically draws more than 100 submissions—more sessions than the conference can include! If your proposal isn’t selected, consider how to revise it—perhaps tweak the panelists represented, narrow your focus, or change up the format— and submit the following year. The Program Committee members and the program’s theme change each year. You might also consider other avenues for sharing your work, such as a poster in SAA’s Research Forum, a presentation during an SAA section meeting (sections typically call for presenters in the spring), or an article in Archival Outlook or American Archivist (send queries to Editors Abigail Christian at achristian@ archivists.org and Amy Cooper Cary at AmericanArchivist@archivists.org , respectively). Now that you know how to craft an excellent proposal, submit for the 2022 Annual Meeting! Keep an eye on the SAA website and In the Loop for the call for proposals this fall. Learn more about the Program Committee’s procedures. September/October 2021