Call for Seminars and Concurrent Sessions

The call for seminars and concurrent sessions is now closed.  Thank you for your interest.

The theme of the 13^th North American Caribou Workshop is “Sustaining Caribou and Their Landscapes – Knowledge to Action” and we are pleased to offer opportunities for attendees to organize pre-workshop seminars and concurrent sessions on specific areas of interest.

Pre-Workshop Seminars

Pre-workshop seminars will take place on Monday, October 25, 2010, the day before the NACW officially begins, and will provide a platform for presenting novel ideas and discussing current issues in a less formal and possibly more focused way than during the workshop. The content and format of each seminar will be determined by the organizer of each seminar, but it is expected that they contain ample time for general discussion.

Meeting space for a number of the pre-workshop seminars will be arranged with the Fairmont Hotel and will be available free of charge to seminar organizers. Any refreshments or specialized audio-visual equipment will be at the expense of seminar organizers. Examples of pre-workshop seminars include tutorials on new software used in caribou research or management, focus group discussions on current issues of importance for caribou conservation or presentations on new survey techniques or data analyses.

Concurrent Session Topics

The Program Committee would like to invite proposals for concurrent sessions that are compatible with the conference theme. The organizer of a given session will be responsible to determine the topic the session and identify potential contributors. The concurrent sessions will follow a traditional conference style (four – 15 minute talks and 5 minute questions in each session). A 10 minute slot (first or last) may be used by the chair to summarize/introduce the topic, or to open the floor for discussions on the main ideas presented. If individuals choose to develop/organize a session, potential speakers can also be chosen from the pool of abstracts that are submitted and that may pertain to their session. When submitting your proposal please indicate if you will be taking advantage of these options. During our general call for abstracts, participants will be able to identify a concurrent session topic that they feel is best suited to their presentation. The organizer will be responsible for chairing the session. Examples of concurrent sessions include predicting the impact of climate change on caribou ecosystems, landscape genetics, population monitoring.

Please submit proposals as a one page document that covers the following information:

1. The title of the pre-workshop seminar or concurrent session.
2. A statement of goals for the pre-workshop seminar / concurrent session.
3. Proposed format for the seminar (i.e., panel, tutorial, other) or concurrent session (i.e. traditional conference style format)
4. A tentative list of speakers, presentation titles and indication as to whether each speaker has agreed to participate.
5. The names, affiliation and complete contact information of the organizer.

For the seminars:

1. Duration of the activity
2. Expected number of participants.

All proposals must be submitted to Micheline Manseau (Micheline.Manseau@pc.gc.ca), Program Committee Chair, by January 10, 2010. Decisions will be made by January 30, 2010. Proposals will be evaluated by the Program Committee based on merit and concordance with the overall theme of the conference.