Guidelines for submitting a Focused Meeting proposal

Proposal timetable

Proposal form

This paper lists the information that should be contained within a proposal for Focused Meetings. In addition, information and questions frequently asked by Meeting Organizers are included.

Agreement by the Meetings Board to accept a proposal as a Focused Meeting means that the organizer retains responsibility for the scientific content of the meeting. Organizers are expected to liaise very closely with the Meetings Office staff to ensure the meeting runs to schedule, and is on budget.

Please use the following form to submit your proposal by email to meetings@biochemistry.org

If you would like to discuss submitting a proposal, please telephone

Kay Miller on 020 7280 4155 or email Kay.Miller@biochemistry.org

On the proposal form, please complete each heading and fulfil the specified criteria.  Please note the proposal form is generic, so please specify information relevant to the Focused Meeting format:

1. What type of conference are you planning? i.e. a Focused Meeting

2. Full Meeting Title

Provide the working title for the Focused Meeting.

3. Theme Panel

Please indicate which Theme Panel your proposal is relevant to.  Proposal do not have to be affiliated to a particular Theme Panel, although organizers are encouraged to discuss the proposal with the Theme Panel Chair:

I Genes

II Molecular Structure and Function

III Bioenergetics and Metabolism

IV Cell Biology

V Signal Transduction

VI Biotechnology and Bioinformatics

VII Development and Disease

4. Suggested date

Organizers are asked to suggest a date for the meeting which should not clash with other Life Science events on a similar topic. Please contact the Meetings Office for more information. See the Meetings Office home page to view agreed future Biochemical Society conferences.

5. Venue

If you have a suggestion for a venue, please ensure that it spacious enough to accommodate a poster session. If you do not have a venue in mind, the Meetings Office will help to find possible sites.

6. Organizers

Please supply full contact details of all Organizers. If joint with another Society, please list details here.

7. Length/duration of meeting

State the proposed length of programme, e.g. one/two/three days etc.

8. Commitment to publish manuscripts

Organizers of Focused Meetings are required to state a commitment to publish manuscripts in Biochemical Society Transactions. 

9. Is full/partial secretariat support requested?

Meetings receive full secretariat services if requested. To discuss the services available in full, please contact Dr Kay Miller on: 020 7280 4155 (Kay.Miller@biochemistry.org).

10. Anticipated audience description and numbers:

Include an approximate number of delegates and also if they are likely to include full/student or non-members of the Society. 

11. Case for the scientific programme

State the case for the science programme (half page A4) in terms of:

importance

timeliness

attractiveness of publication

topicality

target audience

12. Include details of the additional meeting programme, such as networking slots, oral presentations selected from abstracts and poster sessions :

Meeting Organizers are asked to include time for networking opportunities and poster sessions at Focused Meetings. Networking opportunities can include structured events such as the scheduling of meetings between delegates. The Meetings Office will organize these events, if time is allowed within the programme. Poster sessions should be attended by Speakers, who should be asked to judge poster prizes where applicable. In addition to the invited Speakers detailed below, slots should be included for oral presentations selected from abstracts.

13. Competing/recent meetings

Give information, if known, about any competing meetings and the last known meeting on the topic in UK/rest of the world.

14. Speaker details

There is no prescribed invited speaker format, but a maximum of 7 speakers per day is advised.  Organizers are encouraged to invite as many talks from submitted abstracts as the programme allows - these 'elevated' speakers are not offered financial assistance.

Please note,  the reimbursement of Focused Meeting speaker travel allowances is dependent upon the submission of a manuscript for publication in Biochemical Society Transactions.

The Biochemical Society will award travel allowances to invited speakers based on its recommended allowances: 

Note the total speaker travel allowances per day should not exceed £1,800 per day of science.

DIVERSITY GUIDELINES

Appropriate representation of women as invited speakers in relation to their participation in the specific field of the meeting. Where there is a high proportion of women in a specific field at least 25% of the invited speakers should be women.

A good balance between established and new investigators on the speaker list.

There is an attempt for broad geographical representation where possible.

15. Organizer details

Please give full contact details of all organizers

16. Sponsorship and support

Focused Meeting budgets are designed to break-even financially. To cover costs and keep delegate fees down, Organizers are asked to seek financial support for the meeting. Please include in the proposal a realistic level of predicted sponsorship – with details of the sources of sponsorship already confirmed.

Extra notes for Focused Meeting organizers:

The Society provides full secretariat support if proposal is accepted

Registration fees will be based on the following costs PER DAY where the fees stated will contribute towards the science programme (speaker costs) only. Organizers should therefore be aware that venue costs will be included in the registration fees in addition to the those fees listed below. As a consequence, venues which charge high delegate rates will result in high registration fees to attend the meeting. The Biochemical Society advises Organizers to consider educational venues rather than dedicated conference venues, which can be expensive.

Biochemical Society Members: £50

Biochemical Society Student Members: £25

Biochemical Society Non-Members: £100

Note: The final level of registration fees will be decided at the discretion of The Biochemical Society, in order to ensure that the meeting breaks-even financially. 

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