Committees

Call for Symposium Proposals for the 2025 and 2026 Herpetologists’ League Meeting

Symposia are important components of the annual meeting, allowing researchers in a subfield to come together and present the latest research in that area. They disseminate new and useful scientific information and contribute to making the meeting a compelling and interesting experience. The most successful symposia highlight the cutting-edge techniques and ideas of the society’s membership; each symposium as a whole should strive to be comprehensive but efficient, aiming to synthesize research topics, fill gaps in our knowledge and move the science forward.

The Herpetologists’ League sponsors symposia for our annual meetings. In 2025, the HL, as part of the Joint Meetings of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists will convene in St. Paul, Minnesota, July 9–13. It is not too late to submit a proposal; any HL member may submit a symposium proposal for this meeting. Official sponsorship by the HL allows for the scheduling and announcement of the symposium in the meeting program and registration materials. In addition, financial support (generally a maximum of $2000 US per symposium) is available to sponsored symposia. Sponsorship by the HL does not guarantee financial support and symposia may be sponsored in name only or funded at a level lower than that requested.

Persons interested in organizing a symposium for the 2025 JMIH should submit proposals no later than 15 February 2025 to receive full consideration. Proposals submitted after 15 February may be considered for the following year (JMIH 2026 – this call for proposals is also open for application until 15 March 2025). Submit proposals to: Chris Howey, Chair HL Symposium Committee, christopher.howey@scranton.edu. Please email Chris with any questions regarding the submission and for guidelines.

Guidelines

The Herpetologists’ League has adopted the following set of planning guidelines for approval of symposia proposed for annual meetings:

1. Proposals must be submitted for consideration to HL by the February 15 deadline.
2. Proposals should not exceed three pages in length.
3. Proposals submitted in electronic format are preferred.

Provide a clear and concise description of the symposium including:

1. Symposium title (or topic).
2. Name(s) of symposium organizer(s) and co-organizer(s), and their contact information (e-mail address and phone number).
3. Information on topic and background. This statement should outline the scope of the planned presentations, the relevance of the topic to herpetology, to the HL, and if appropriate, to the particular meeting (e.g., timeliness or geographic appropriateness), and the goal of the symposium.
4. A list of speakers you have already invited or intend to invite to participate in the symposium. Inclusion of graduate students and early career scientists is encouraged. Please indicate whether or not each person has already agreed to speak (e.g., not contacted, tentatively agreed, or agreed). Provide contact information for each speaker, as well as position (graduate student, post- doctoral researcher, assistant, associate or full professor, or other),
5. Length of symposium: half-day or full-day (half-day symposia are typical; a one-day symposium is usually the maximum). Talks are generally 15 minutes, but provide justification for 20 to 30 minute talks as needed,
6. HL funding requested and budget. Appropriate expenses include full or partial support of travel, housing and/or registration expenses for symposium participants. Funds will not be provided for stipends, drinks, or snacks.

Responsibilities of the Symposium Chair(s) if the proposal is accepted

1. Recruit speakers for the symposium and obtain their guarantee that they will participate.
2. Work with symposium participants to obtain titles and abstracts. Abstracts MUST be submitted by the annual meeting abstract deadlines.
3. Ensure that all participants are registered for the meetings.
4. Develop and submit a schedule for the symposium to the meeting. This includes the order and length of talks (15 or 30 minutes). Symposium organizers must provide the names of the moderators for the symposium at the same time.
5. Ensure that all speakers are present at the meeting.