Call for Papers

Scientific societies encourage their members and the professional community to contribute to their annual conference. This distinguishes them from congress organisers who want to attract as large an audience as possible to (passive) participation with a spectacular programme and prominent advertisers.

An annual conference offers the members of a specialist society the opportunity to exchange ideas. They would like to present their work to their colleagues and discuss it with them. The society addresses all members with its call for papers and relies on their participation.

The call for papers may narrow down the topics to a focal point or name a few sections with topics that reflect the facets of the professional discussion. Perhaps there is a general topic on which submissions are favoured because they are currently topical.

The plan for an annual conference is sufficient for a call for papers. You don't even need to know exactly when the conference will take place. Nor do you need to know where it will be held. Just that everyone has a fair chance to make a contribution.

You must not relegate members' contributions to a poster exhibition or hold a "Kessel Buntes" session on the side. Members must appear in the main programme - otherwise you are nothing more than a congress organiser who should then consistently show VAT.

With its call for papers, a specialist society makes it clear that the presentations are not negotiated in a small circle. That it is interested in the participation of all members. That it wants to offer younger colleagues in particular the opportunity to introduce themselves to the specialist and professional world. That it will select entries for the competition fairly and pay attention to formal and content-related criteria. And thus also promote the professional quality of the entries.

If you don't receive an overwhelming number of registrations at first, that's not an argument against it: it will be found. You can always fill in the gaps at the end. It is not very inviting to advertise interesting lectures that have already been selected for the programme.

Then it also makes sense that the speakers have to pay the participation fee for the conference - after all, the conference is organised for them as a forum. Recruited speakers rightly demand a fee or free participation and coverage of travel expenses.

The call for papers has another important function: it is part of the marketing strategy. Without being intrusive, the organiser repeatedly advertises the meeting. It invites the addressees to register a presentation themselves. Or at least to register themselves if they are unable to make their own contribution.

This provides an opportunity for several mailings:

1. Announcement of the annual conference with announcement of a call for papers,
2. Opening of the registration
3. Specification of the main topic and other topics on which contributions are desired.
4. Repetitions, depending on the length of the lead time.
5. Announcement of a deadline for submissions (reminder), last call.
6. Preliminary programme, location and period of the conference
7. Final programme with deadlines for early bookers and last registration date
8. Reminder that the early bird deadline has passed.

Fahrdorf, 2024-10-30