IV. Preparation for Section Meetings

Each section is required to meet at least once each year, and many sections choose to hold both fall and spring meetings. A program of interesting section meetings is a major contributor to the success of a section. The section meetings should be widely publicized, that is, not only among the membership of the section, but also to every mathematical sciences department in the section.

Since sections have their own characteristics and traditions, the suggestions in this chapter are not intended to be prescriptive but rather to report on a wide range of successful experiences. The Committee on Sections urges all sections to seek new ways to improve their meetings and to discuss their experiences, innovations, and successes at the Section Officers Meetings and in annual section reports.

A. The Program Committee

These guidelines provide a resource and a guide for program committees. Program committees are encouraged to consult programs from recent meetings, past program chairs, section officers, and long-time section members. Program committees typically have a certain amount of freedom in determining the program, but any major departure from section traditions should be discussed with the section officers.

Program committees usually should consist of three to five members and be coordinated by a program chair. Some sections have an elected officer who serves as program chair for a sequence of meetings; other sections appoint a different program chair for each meeting. In some sections, the executive committee serves as the program committee. Some sections have separate committees to choose the speakers for certain named lectures. In any case, a wide variety of members and possible meeting participants should be included, such as women and men, junior and senior faculty, as well as two-year college, university, and four-year college faculty and possibly high school teachers. One person on the committee should be designated as the local arrangements chair, whose duties are discussed in Chapter V.

The program committee is responsible for the following:

B. Meeting Formats

A section meeting may be held all on one day, or on two days, such as a Friday and Saturday. A typical format of a two-day section meeting is two time slots on Friday afternoon, an after-dinner speaker on Friday, two or three slots on Saturday morning and one or two slots on Saturday afternoon. During some of those times there may be concurrent talks or workshops; at other times, such as during a major speaker's presentation, there should be only one activity. Some sections plan additional time slots for undergraduate or graduate student papers, new or future colleague activities, and contributed paper sessions.

C. Costs of Meeting Programs

In designing the program, the program committee should be mindful of costs. Speakers from within the section should generally cover their own travel and any lodging expenses, but expenses of all other invited speakers usually are reimbursed. All speakers usually are not charged for registration or for social events during the section meeting. An honorarium usually is not offered to any speaker. When contacting a speaker from within or outside the section, the issue of travel expenses should be directly addressed, and there should be an explicit agreement in writing before the meeting on what the section is covering.

D. NationalOfficers as Section Speakers

The National Officers as Section Speakers program provides a strong link between the national MAA officers and the sections. Refer ahead to section IV-F for details. Most sections now take advantage of this plan on a regular basis. The effectiveness of these visits can be greatly increased by the section's planning for maximum participation of the national officer in section affairs during a visit. In addition to a one-hour lecture on a topic of his or her choice, the visiting officer should be invited to meet with the executive committee of the section, perhaps at lunch or dinner, and invited to contribute to the discussions at the business meeting of the section. The officer also might be asked to participate in a panel discussion that would be a scheduled part of the section program. The officer should be invited to all social events as a guest.

E. The Section Business Meeting

Each section meeting should include an informative business meeting. The section governor should report on actions taken by the Board of Governors and other national MAA activities. (See section I-C.) The chairs of the section committees should report on their major current activities. An invited national officer should be given the opportunity to make some remarks at the business meeting. Part of the business meeting can be devoted to giving recognition or making appropriate awards to invited guests, such as the top scorers in the Putnam Prize Competition and the High School Contests.

F. Programs of Section Meetings

The following provide some additional suggestions, ideas and parameters for section meeting programs. In addition to invited addresses, there are a number of elements that could be part of section meetings:
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