Guidelines for setting up and conducting a workshop (‘Arbeitsgruppe’) at the Annual Conference of the German Society for Linguistics (DGfS)

1. Overview of the selection procedure

1.1 Immediately after the annual conference, the secretary sends a brief notification to all members announcing the venue and the theme of the next annual conference as well as the names and addresses of the members of the executive committee, the advisory board and the programme committee.

1.2 Applications to co-ordinate a workshop must be submitted to the head of the programme committee.

Deadline: 15th April

1.3 After a decision has been reached by the executive committee, the advisory board and head of the programme committee, the accepted workshops will be announced in the June edition of the society’s newsletter for members.

Deadline for publication in the newsletter: 15th May

1.4 The coordinators of each workshop arrange the programme for their workshop and present a complete schedule, containing  presenters’ names, titles of talks, and times (see 2.2 below) of talks to the programme committee.

Deadline for submission to the head of the programme committee: September 30th

 Die KoordinatorInnen reichen zusätzlich auch eine Liste ein, die gesondert nur die Namen der Vortragenden nennt.

Abgabetermin dieser Materialien beim federführenden Mitglied des Programmausschusses: 30. September

1.5 The executive committee, advisory board and the head of the programme committee check the feasibility of the conference programme

This meeting takes place sometime in October

1.6 The list of individual talks is announced in the December edition of the members’ newsletter.

Deadline for publication in the newsletter: 15th November

1.7 The coordinators submit the abstracts for the talks (in electronic form) to the local organisers for publication in the conference brochure.

Deadline for submitting abstracts to the local organisers: 15th December

 

2. General Organisational Information

2.1 The guideline for the number of workshops at an annual conference is 12. It only seems reasonable to increase the number if several short workshops (see 2.2) are to be included in the programme.

2.2 Each workshop has up to 10 hours available to it, which can be filled with slots of either 30 minutes or 60 minutes (including discussion). Short workshops which do not take place over the full three days are also welcome.

2.3 Presenters may not present in more than one workshop. However, presenters can be named as co-authors in other talks.

2.4 The schedule within each workshop must be structured so that conference attendees can move between different workshops on an hourly basis.

2.5 Every workshop should name two or three alternate speakers und name them in the workshop program. The alternate speakers are contacted by the workshop organisers together with the selected speakers. Alternate speakers must agree to substitute for speakers, even at short notice. In the interest of workshop guests, talk times must not be changed after their publication. Therefore, workshop organizers must make sure to consider speakers' time preferences early on. Talks should not be given over the web (e.g., via Skype, Facetime, etc.). 

2.6 Workings groups may not run at the same time as the plenaries nor the members’ meeting.

2.7 If any extra workshops or poster sessions are offered, they may not overlap with the sessions of the workshops nor with the rest of the conference programme. If any such workshops and poster sessions are to be considered part of the conference and be announced in the members’ newsletter, then they must have prior approval from the executive committee.

 

3. Applications to co-ordinate a workshop

3.1 Approximately half of the workshops’ topics should coincide with the overall theme of the conference. Furthermore, an effort should be made to ensure all main areas of linguistics are covered.

3.2 Applications to coordinate a workshop must be submitted by email to the head of the programme committee by 15th April. At least one of the coordinators should be a member of the DGfS. Late applications cannot be considered.

Deadline: 15th April

3.3 Members of the executive committee, the advisory board and the programme committee are not allowed to coordinate a workshop. Nobody should coordinate a workshop in two consecutive years. Nobody is permitted to be involved in the coordination of more than one workshop.

3.4 To avoid risking the cohesion of their own workshop, coordinators of a workshop are not allowed to be presenters in other workshops running in parallel.

3.5 The application may be no longer than one page (A4 format, 12 point font, 1.5 spacing). Send Word or Latex file and pdf file as an email attachment.

3.6 The template for the application is as follows (2 empty lines between each point, title in bold):

Complete addresses (with phone/fax/email) of the applicants

Title of the proposed workshop

Description of content

References (not more than three, following the style of bibliographic references in the Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft)

3.7 The description of content should include the following points:

A short presentation of the goals and existing research

Details of possible subjects/topics

Who the workshop is aimed at, but no list of invited individuals

 

3.8 At their Spring meeting the executive committee, the advisory board and the head of the programme committee decide which applications for forming a workshop are to be accepted or rejected, respectively.  The applicant(s) will be informed whether their workshop has been accepted or not. The decisions will be made public in the June edition of the members’ newsletter.  Reasons will not be given (even on request).

 

4. Responsibilities of the coordinators

4.1 As soon as their application has been accepted, the coordinators gather applications from interested parties. A workshop is to be publicized nationally or internationally. At most two speakers may be named in advance.

4.2 The coordinators work out a preliminary programme for their workshop and present a list of titles and speakers to the head of the programme committee.

Deadline for presentation to the head of the programme committee: 15th September

4.3 The coordinators compile a programme for their workshop with a concrete time schedule. They should inquire about and accommodate, as far as possible, any specific scheduling preferences of their presenters. The schedule must be constructed so that conference attendees can move between different workshops on an hourly basis.

4.4 The coordinators request their presenters to submit an abstract of at most one page in length. The abstracts and the schedule will be passed on in electronic form by the coordinators to the local organisational committee for publication in the conference brochure.

Deadline for submitting abstracts and schedule to the local organisers: 15th December

4.5 After the deadline for inclusion in the conference brochure, no further changes can be made.

4.6 On the evening before the conference the coordinators will take part in a meeting of all coordinators with the head of the programme committee.  

4.7 Coordinators are obliged to inform the editor of the members’ newsletter about any publication arising from their workshop.

 

5. The role of the programme committee

5.1 Three members are elected to the programme committee at the members’ meeting. The headship of the committee should be taken on by the member elected with the largest number of votes.  A further member is chosen by the University hosting the conference and is co-opted.

5.2 The programme committee works out proposals for the organisation of the plenary events and agrees on an initial selection of the applications for coordinating a workshop.

5.3 In a joint meeting, the executive committee, the advisory board and the head of the programme committee discuss and decide on the final conference programme.

5.4 The coordinators of the workshops are informed of this decision. Special permissions and other suggestions (e.g. the merging of two workshops) are passed on by the head of the programme committee. Rejections are communicated to the coordinators by the chair of the society (DGfS). Reasons will not be given.

5.5 The head of the programme committee passes on in electronic form the list of accepted workshops and the list of those that could not be considered to the editors of the DGfS newsletter.

5.6 At the Autumn meeting of the executive committee and the advisory board, the head of the programme committee reports on progress with the preparations and presents a preliminary programme of the individual workshops (titles, presenters). The executive committee and the advisory board check the feasibility of the programme.

 

These guidelines were decided on in an earlier version at the meeting of the executive committee on 25.2.1997 in Düsseldorf and at the joint meeting of the executive committee and advisory board on 26.4.1997 in Marburg. Changes were made at joint meetings of the executive committee and the advisory board on 4.11.2000 in Munich, on 25.10.2008 in Marburg, and on 2.10.2015 in Braunschweig.