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Meetings Committee

The ESA Meetings Committee seeks to advance the Society’s mission and goals through convening ecologists. The Committee is responsible for supporting the Governing Board and management in long-term strategy and planning for the Annual Meeting. The Meetings Committee is responsible for: 

  • Ensuring that the Annual Meeting remains relevant to scientists, meets the needs of Society members, and furthers the Society’s goals
  • Prioritizing the revenue targets established by the Governing Board when planning future Annual Meetings
  • Recommending guidelines related to the Annual Meeting
  • Annually reviewing the results of the Annual Meeting

Composition

  • Co-chairs: Immediate Past Program Chair and Future Meetings Chair
  • Members:
    1. Current and future designated Program Chairs
    2. Current, immediate past, and future designated Local Hosts
    3. Chair of the Student Section Members:
    4. Governing Board member
    5. Others as appointed

Committee Members

  • Kiona Ogle, Future Meetings Chair, Committee Co-Chair (2021 – 2024)
  • Nyeema Harris, Committee Co-Chair, 2022 Program Chair (2020 – 2023)
  • Tim Nuttle, 2023 Program Chair (2021 – 2024)
  • Olyssa Starry, 2023 Local Host (2021-2024)
  • Greg Goldsmith, 2024 Program Chair (2022 – 2025)
  • Gretchen North, 2024 Local Host (2022 – 2025)
  • Sarah Anderson (2021 – 2024)
  • Steve Sheffield (2021 – 2024)
  • Jennifer Funk, Governing Board Member (2021 – 2024)

Program Subcommittee

The Program Subcommittee is responsible for developing the current year’s Annual Meeting program over a 14-month planning timeline. The Subcommittee works closely with the Director of Conventions & Meetings. The responsibilities of the Program Subcommittee include:

  • Provide input on selection of the scientific plenary speaker and the Recent Advances speaker.
  • Approve calls for sessions and abstracts.
  • After peer review of paper sessions is completed, look over the reviews and make final acceptance decisions about all sessions based on the proposal guidelines.
  • Make the final acceptance decisions about contributed abstracts that have been peer reviewed by volunteers from the Section and Chapters
  • After acceptance decisions are made, scheduling sessions to minimize conflicts between similar topics.
  • Review the meeting evaluation.
  • Attend Meetings Committee business meetings (Spring and on-site at the meeting).
  • Participate in monthly committee calls.

Composition Requirements

  • Chairs: Current, immediate past, and future designated Program Chairs
  • Members: Current and future designated Local Hosts, and others as appointed

Subcommittee Members

  • Tim Nuttle, 2023 Program Chair (2021-2023)
  • Nyeema Harris, 2022 Program Chair (2020 – 2023)
  • Olyssa Starry, 2023 Local Host (2021 – 2024)
  • Greg Goldsmith, 2024 Program Chair (2022 – 2025)
  • Mark Brunson (2020 – 2023)
  • Kimberly Komatsu (2020 – 2023)
  • Caroline Ridley (2020 – 2023)
  • Kaitlin Stack Whitney (2020 – 2023)
  • Kathleen Shea (2020-2023)

The Annual Meeting Program Chair is responsible for leading the program committee in defining the scientific program, including selecting plenary speakers, accepting proposed sessions, and managing abstract reviews. The Chair responds to issues concerning the program development, recommends new approaches, and identifies opportunities to improve the scientific program and coordinates the efforts of many volunteers to build the scientific program. The Program Chair is not expected to manage the logistical details of the meeting or deal with vendors, including hotels, convention centers, or other service providers. ESA staff are responsible for managing logistics, dealing with service providers, and communicating with attendees. Responsibilities of the Program Chair:

  • Propose a meeting theme to the governing board.
  • In consultation with the committee select and invite the scientific plenary speaker (in even-numbered years; the MacArthur Lecture is given in odd numbered years), and the Recent Advances speaker.
  • Participate in committee to select the New Phytologist lecturer (New Phytologist is the lead.), and coordinate all plenary speakers to provide a robust and diverse program.
  • Lead all Program Committee conference calls (goal to hold these monthly).
  • Lead the decision-making process for paper session acceptance after peer review is completed, look over the reviews and make final acceptance decisions about all sessions based on the proposal guidelines.
  • Lead the final acceptance decisions about contributed abstracts that have been peer reviewed by volunteers from the Section and Chapters
  • Oversee the scheduling of sessions to minimize conflicts between similar topics reviews in consultation with the rest of the Program Committee
  • Lead the committee in proactively promoting the meeting to relevant communities
  • Co-chair the Meetings Committee the year after the chaired meeting.
  • Attend Meetings Committee business meetings (Spring and on-site at the meeting) for three years (before, during, and after the chaired year).

The Local Host Chair’s role focuses providing a local perspective to meeting planning. The Local Host Chair is not expected to manage the logistical details of the meeting or deal with vendors, including hotels, convention centers, or other service providers. ESA staff are responsible for managing logistics, dealing with service providers, and communicating with attendees.

Responsibilities of the Local Host

  • Serve as a member of the Meetings Committee for a 3 year term. The Meetings Committee meets in person at the Annual Meeting and engages in discussion over email and Zoom meetings throughout the year.
  • Serve as a member of the Program Committee for a 1 year term and participate in the decision-making process for scientific program content. This primarily involves looking over the proposals for meeting sessions and participating in two conference calls (one in November and one in January) to make acceptance decisions.
  • Work with the Traditional Ecological Knowledge(TEK) section in developing a land acknowledgement for the meeting location.
  • Encourage submission of field trip proposals, including reaching out to local contacts when the call for proposals is open.
  • Recommend a local organization to receive environmental offset funds. The recommendation should be submitted to the Governing Board in the fall of the preceding year.
  • Provide a realistic local perspective during the field trip proposal submission and review process. The program committee as a whole will review proposals, and a local perspective can be invaluable when checking to see if a trip’s planned itinerary is realistic. ESA staff will arrange for each trip’s logistical needs, and a local point of contact can be very helpful when looking for vendor recommendations.
  • Write a short narrative about the region (local history, culture, natural areas of interest, restaurants, family activities, and other resources) to help promote the meeting and provide attendees with a sense of place. This narrative will be posted on the meeting site in the fall of the preceding year.
  • Advise staff about local areas of interest that could be incorporated into the program, especially for social events.