Division activities focus on members’ program and service needs. Activities may include CANVAS activities such as symposia, oral sessions, meetings, workshops, tours, and social functions. Divisions may conduct or sponsor activities that go beyond CANVAS, such as virtual meetings, workshops, smaller conferences, publications, awards, leadership development, white papers, books, grants, and many others. All division activity should be guided by feedback from members.
CANVAS Programming
Divisions, with their topical interests and close connection to members, are key to creating a compelling CANVAS program. Division leaders should consider:
- Soliciting program ideas from division members.
- Communicating ideas for the above programming, as well as other activities, to the CSSA Program Planning Chair, and keep them informed of the scheduling of sessions, symposia, events.
- Adding events (like oral or poster sessions and your annual community planning session) to the program through our web-based scheduling software, Confex.
- Providing student activities and competitions. Divisions are encouraged to integrate student competitions into their programs to mentor and attract graduate and undergraduate students in the society. This could include poster/oral competitions and awards. Contact Nate Ehresman (nehresman@sciencesocieties.org) to initiate a competition.
- Publishing proceedings or meeting-based publications. Take advantage of the Societies’ journal publications by developing proceedings or a publication out of your symposium. The Societies request first right of refusal to publish these documents.
Program Planning Resources
The meetings department from ASA, CSSA, and SSSA provides program planning information for Society leadership. You can find the latest deadlines, updates, tips, and tools by visiting the meetings planning page.