Session Proposal Guidelines

OVERVIEW

• There are four types of sessions: Symposium, Workshop, Forum, and ER-Symposium.
• Co-organizers and speakers are required to register on the ESJ71 registration site. If you are a co-organizer or a speaker, please log into the ESJ71 registration site using your membership number (or use your login ID if you are a non-member speaker), and register your information (i.e., e-mail address, affiliation, etc.) as soon as possible.
• Organizers must apply for a session proposal using the member number registered on the ESJ71 registration site. The member number can also be found by using the member search function on My Page.
• The information entered at the time of your proposal will be posted directly on the meeting platform. Please note that we will not change any of the information in the session proposal.
• ER symposium is a special session that features a distinguished researcher from a foreign institute or university with free admission to the ESJ meeting. Application for the ER symposium at the ESJ71 was closed on 31 August 2023.

	Symposium	Workshop
Concept	Main meetings	Free discussion about various topics
Time	3 hours	1.5 hours
Priority	Top priority	Lottery if too many applicants
Scheduling	Time at which audiences easily gather	Held mainly in the evening
Presentations by non-ESJ members	Encouraged Invited speakers are exempt from the registration fee	Not allowed Comments and opinions with no abstract registration are allowed
Presentations of oral or poster sessions by organizers and speakers	Not allowed	Allowed
Organization or presentation in other sessions by organizers and speakers	Not allowed	Not allowed

CALL FOR SYMPOSIA

We invite ESJ members to propose symposia for ESJ71. The symposia are the central sessions of the meeting. Please understand the concept of the symposia (described below) and submit your proposal. Each symposium will be held for three hours. We plan to have the symposia in a hybrid style (i.e., onsite & online). Therefore, as a general rule, speakers will be asked to present onsite. We look forward to receiving enthusiastic proposals from researchers from various positions, genders, and nationalities. Please note that the presentations will be recorded and distributed on-demand during ESJ71 and for about a week afterward. The recording permissions will be confirmed when the proposal is submitted.

About proposals

• The participants of the meetings usually prefer to join symposia on various subjects. Thus, they expect new topics not yet covered in recent ESJ symposia. To promote interdisciplinary exchange, it is possible to invite non-ESJ members to be symposium speakers (they will not have to pay the registration fee). Please note that the same non-ESJ member cannot be an invited speaker for two years in a row.
• Due to the unpredictable situation of the new coronavirus, unlike previous meetings, for ESJ71 we will not call for guest speakers sponsored by the journal Ecological Research (ER Invited Speakers). However, to promote international information dissemination and discussion at the symposia, we welcome the online participation of overseas researchers and the active participation of non-ESJ members via the invited speaker system.

Procedures for symposia organizers

• The deadline for the submission of symposia proposals is 23:59 (JST), Tuesday, 31 October 2023.
• From the viewpoint of respecting diversity, organizers should consider the balance of speaker’s positions, gender, etc. when composing the group of speakers.
• The Annual Meeting Planning Committee will not be involved in the content of the symposia. However, symposium proposals that are judged to contain contents that slander or libel any individual or organization will be declined.
• When submitting the proposal, organizers are requested to answer whether the entire meeting (including an explanation of the purpose and comments by the commentator) can be distributed on-demand and whether each presentation can be distributed on-demand.
• Organizers are requested to answer whether the entire meeting (including an explanation of the purpose and comments by the commentator) can be distributed on-demand when submitting the proposal, and whether each presentation can be distributed on-demand when submitting abstract.
• Please access the registration site and enter the symposium title, abstract (maximum 800 characters in Japanese, 400 words in English), and information for each presentation. Please note that the information of co-presenters will also be confirmed by this entry and cannot be changed at the time of the abstract submission.

Procedures for symposia speakers

• Except for non-ESJ member invited speakers, only members who have applied for membership in ESJ by Tuesday, 31 October 2023 and have paid the annual membership fee by 31 January 2024 (regular and honorary members, hereinafter the same) are eligible to speak at the symposium.
• All speakers (except invited speakers) are required to pay the meeting registration fee by the day of the meeting. We recommend that you pay the fee as early as possible to log in to the meeting platform smoothly.
• Each speaker is requested to provide the following information, in both Japanese and English, to the symposium organizer by the symposium proposal deadline (31 October 2023): title (maximum 40 characters in Japanese and 150 characters in English), name and affiliation of the speaker and co-presenters, and the speaker’s membership number (login ID for invited speakers).
• Each speaker is required to register an abstract (maximum 800 words in Japanese, 400 words in English) on the meeting registration site by Wednesday, 31 January 2024. Please also let the organizer know whether you would like your presentation to be distributed on-demand.

Limitations on submitting proposals

• Organizers (including co-organizers, hereinafter the same) must be ESJ members (regular and honorary members, hereafter the same). Non-ESJ members are not eligible to be organizers.
• It is not permitted to be an organizer or a speaker (main explainer of the talk, hereafter the same) of more than one symposium.
• Symposia organizers/speakers cannot be organizers/speakers of workshops or presenters of general sessions (both oral and poster presentations).
• Explanation of the purpose, comments, and expressions of opinions without abstract registration are not counted as presentations in the symposia. Therefore, these are not subject to the limitation of overlapping presentations mentioned above.
• At least two speakers are required to apply for the organization of a symposium. If you have only one speaker, please apply for the organization of a workshop.

Use of English is encouraged

• ESJ has seen an increase in the number of international students and participants from overseas attending its meetings. To further promote research exchange among participants, we encourage the use of English (including in combination with Japanese) in symposia.
• For symposia held in Japanese, please try to include English on the slides and prepare a simple English handout, if possible (handouts and bilingual slides are also effective in encouraging non-English speakers to participate in English-language symposia).

CALL FOR WORKSHOPS

ESJ71 is calling for workshops. The ESJ has traditionally considered workshops as important opportunities to discuss unconventional topics and launch new fields in Ecology. Please feel free to apply for the organization of workshops, referring to the following information. The workshops are planned to be around 90 minutes long. We will ask your preference for online or hybrid presentation at the time of application. If the proposal is adopted as a hybrid session, the presenter will be required to present onsite as a general rule. We look forward to receiving enthusiastic proposals from researchers of diverse positions, genders, and nationalities. The presentations will be recorded and distributed on-demand during the meeting and about one week after the meeting. We will confirm the recording permissions when the proposal is submitted.

Procedures for organizers of workshops

• The deadline for applications for workshops is 23:59 (JST), Tuesday, 31 October 2023.
• In terms of respecting diversity, organizers are requested to consider the speakers’ positions, gender, etc. when choosing the speakers that will participate in a workshop.
• The Annual Meeting Planning Committee will not be involved in the contents of the workshop, but workshops that are judged to include content that defames specific persons or organizations will not be accepted.
• When submitting the proposal, organizers are requested to answer whether the entire workshop (including an explanation of the purpose and comments by the commentator) can be distributed on-demand and whether each presentation can be distributed on-demand.
• Organizers will register all the presentations at once. Before submitting the proposal, organizers should collect information on each presentation (title, names and affiliations of speakers and co-presenters) in both Japanese and English, as well as the membership numbers of organizers, co-organizers, and speakers (no need to enter the membership numbers for those who make comments and/or express opinions without abstract registration). Please access the registration site and enter the workshop title, abstract (maximum 800 characters in Japanese, 400 words in English), and information for each presentation. Please note that the information of co-presenters will also be confirmed by this entry and cannot be changed at the time of abstract submission.

Acceptance or rejection of a workshop

• We are planning to secure enough Zoom accounts. However, if the number of proposals exceeds that of previous years, we will hold a lottery to decide whether to accept or reject the proposed workshop.
• You will be notified by e-mail about three weeks after the deadline.

Procedures for workshop speakers

• Only members who have applied for membership in ESJ by Tuesday, 31 October 2023 and have paid the annual membership fee by 31 January 2024 are eligible to speak at the workshop. However, non-ESJ members can make comments and/or express opinions without registering an abstract.
• All speakers are required to pay the meeting registration fee by the day of the meeting. We recommend that you pay the fee as early as possible to log in to the meeting platform smoothly.
• Each speaker is requested to provide the following information, in both Japanese and English, to the workshop organizer by the workshop proposal deadline (31 October 2023): title (maximum 40 characters in Japanese and 150 characters in English), name and affiliation of the speaker and co-presenters, and the speaker’s membership number (login ID for invited speakers). Please also let the organizer know whether you would like your presentation to be distributed on-demand. Each speaker is required to register an abstract (maximum 800 characters in Japanese, 400 words in English) on the meeting registration site by Wednesday, 31 January 2024. When registering your abstract, you will be asked to select about 5 keywords related to your presentation.

Concept and application limits for workshops

• The ESJ has traditionally considered workshops as important opportunities to discuss unconventional topics and launch new fields in Ecology.
• For the workshop, the explanation of the purpose, registered overview, and the abstracts of individual presentations will be posted on the meeting webpage and meeting platform.
• Organizers (including co-organizers, hereafter the same) need to be ESJ members (regular and honorary members, hereafter the same). Non-ESJ members cannot become organizers.
• Speakers (main explainer of the talk, hereafter the same) need to be ESJ members. Non-ESJ members cannot become invited speakers. However, non-ESJ members can make comments and/or express opinions without registering an abstract.
• Workshop speakers and organizers can be speakers at either oral or poster sessions.
• Workshop speakers and organizers cannot be organizers or speakers of symposia and/or other workshops.

Notes

• It is also possible to hold a workshop without abstract registration, such as an opinion session or lightning talk. In this case, you do not need to register for your presentation.
• Explanation of the purpose of the workshop, comments, and expressions of opinions without abstract registration are not counted as presentations. Therefore, the information of the person who makes comments and opinions without abstract registration should not be registered as a speaker but should be included in the meeting abstract.
• Those who will make comments and/or express opinions without registering for abstracts must also register for the meeting or purchase a ticket for workshops. Please remind the organizers.

APPLICATION FOR FORUMS

Forums are organized by the committees of ESJ and are aimed at inviting broad opinions of ESJ members on ecology-related issues in which ESJ is engaged. The ESJ addresses, promotes, and shares information among ESJ members and develops agreement within ESJ via widespread discussion. Ecological Society of Japan members (regular and honorary members, hereafter the same) can attend forums for free regardless of registration for attendance. Organizing and providing topics for forums are exempted from the “one presentation rule.” Representatives of each committee can register for forums. Tentative proposals for forums are due 15 September 2023. The proposals will be considered by the Board of Directors and the final decision will be made for each proposal after an adjustment between the Annual Meeting Planning Committee and the Organizing Committee of ESJ71. Organizers may be asked to revise the proposal or style of the forums. For forums that have been accepted, organizers will be invited to apply for a full proposal via the online registration system. Each forum will be held for 90 minutes.

Notes

• ESJ members will receive an email prior to ESJ71 with the Zoom URL for attending the forums.
• Non-member meeting participants (those who pay the registration fee) can attend the forums.
• Non-members who have workshop tickets cannot attend the forums.
• Non-member speakers invited to the forums can attend forums for free. To attend other sessions (e.g., symposia, oral, and poster sessions), they are required to pay the registration fee.