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<< back to the 2003 archive listing << Food Protection Trends COMMENTARY from the executive director There are a number of ways to become an active component of the program
at IAFP's Annual Meeting
There are a number of ways to become an active component of the program at IAFP’s Annual Meetings. Two main breakdowns of program content are available, symposia and technical papers. Technical papers are further broken down into oral presentations or poster presentations. Now lets look deeper at the process for each successful technical submission. A call for abstracts (for technical papers) is issued during the fall each year. The due date for abstract submission is normally early in January (January 6 this year). Authors may choose between an oral and a poster presentation when they submit their abstract. Immediately after the deadline, the Program Committee reviews each submitted abstract for a number of qualifying elements. This year there were over 400 abstracts submitted, so the Program Committee really had their work cut out for them to review this increased quantity of papers! Accepted abstracts are grouped with similar topics to create sessions for either oral or poster presentations. This too, is the work of our Program Committee. We should mention the tremendous amount of work and detail that the Program Committee sifts through to prepare each Annual Meeting program. At this time, I want to thank the entire Program Committee for their dedicated work and offer special thanks to Lynn McMullen and Gary Acuff, the Committee’s chairperson and vice chairperson. That gives a short summary of the process to enter the program with a technical paper. Now let’s take a look at the symposium process. The timeline for submitting a symposium starts much earlier than with technical papers. Symposium proposals for IAFP 2003 were due at IAFP 2002. Symposia for IAFP 2004 will be due to the Program Committee by Sunday, August 10 in New Orleans. First off, it might be good to review what makes up a symposium. A symposium is an organized, half-day session that emphasizes a central theme relating to food safety. A symposium normally consists of six 30-minute presentations. Symposium topics can center on a common food safety issue of general interest or it could be a discussion of research results in a given specific area. Topics are open to many formats and issues, but whatever the topic, we again call upon the Program Committee to review each proposal submitted for relevance to the IAFP audience. The Committee also must filter through the many submissions to eliminate duplication and make suggestions for strengthening the proposed session. Shortly after symposium proposals are reviewed, the Committee chairperson notifies the organizer of the disposition of their submission. In the case of accepted symposium, the organizer may be asked to make minor revisions to their topics or speaker list. Organizers must then submit a finalized symposium proposal prior to the January Program Committee meeting. At that time, the Program Committee arranges the symposia and technical papers to construct the Annual Meeting program. I hope that this description has helped you understand the two types of program content for IAFP’s Annual Meeting. You are welcome to contact me if you have any questions about the process. Better yet, you may contact Bev Corron here at the IAFP office as she works closely with the Program Committee and the submission process. Through involvement at the IAFP Annual Meeting, you will be “Advancing Food Safety Worldwide”! |