Section on Statistical Education Responsibilities of the JSM Program Chair

General Timeframe (for JSM 2006)

• Just before JSM 2004 – roped into serving as Program Chair for 2006
• Late August 2004 – email to get Stat Ed members (stat_ed-l@mail.amstat.org) thinking about and submitting ideas for roundtable topics for JSM 2005. Note that the permission list for this email alias is not automatically updated by ASA, but Jackie Dietz was able to add me and other new executive committee members to the list.
• Early December 2004 – decide on 9 roundtable topics from ideas solicited, contact hosts to make sure still interested, and then inform them about the submission process (Dec 1 – Feb 1)
• March-April 2005 – solicit proposals for Invited Sessions for JSM 2006. I contacted some individuals myself (mostly to discuss ideas about potential topics and participants) and was contacted by others, but putting out a general call for ideas might be a good idea.
• June-July 2005 – submit Invited Sessions (or make sure organizers submit). Need commitments from participants and a single abstract for the session. Chair designates 3 as "allocated" (as of JSM 2006); any others enter the general competition.
• July 2005 – email to Stat Ed members reminding them about the roundtable luncheons at JSM 2005
• August 2005 – speak at Stat Ed business meeting at JSM 2005, describing Invited Sessions for 2006 and getting people to start thinking about Topic Contributed sessions and papers for 2006.
• October 2005 – abstracts for Invited Sessions are submitted
• November 2005 (or earlier) – email to Stat Ed members about contributed sessions – getting folks thinking about topic contributed and regular contributed sessions.
• December 2005-January 2006 – general abstract submission for JSM 2006. Be aware that abstracts for Topic Contributed sessions come in separately, so you must know to look for them.
• February 2006 – entire Program Committee meets in DC to plan details of technical sessions. You have a chance to organize Regular Contributed sessions electronically beforehand, which minimizes the work you must do at the meeting. Also, you should come with a list of chairs for Regular Contributed sessions – I solicited volunteers over email in January, and selected chairs on a first-come, first-served basis among those without other duties at the meetings.
• July 2006 – email to Stat Ed members describing Stat Ed sessions at JSM. An AmStat News article would also be a good idea.
• August 2006 – JSM 2006 is finally here! Visit the sessions to see that everything is going smoothly, then kick back and enjoy the talks. Right before the meetings, give chairs your contact information in case of last minute emergencies. In addition, although the ASA will inform session chairs about their responsibilities, it doesn’t hurt to remind them about important details such as: keeping speakers on schedule, having speakers sit up front if space looks tight, coordinating Powerpoint talks on a single PC, filling out the Chair’s Report and collecting evaluation forms for Regular Contributed sessions, etc.

Note that the ASA Meetings crew really does an excellent job of leading you through the maze of deadlines throughout the two years! Also, the generic Section Officers Handbook from ASA can also be helpful; see http://www.amstat.org/sections/cos/handbook/index.cfm?fuseaction=handbook.

A Word file containing examples of correspondence regarding the responsibilities and timeline of the Program Chair is available here. This file was written by Paul Roback on September 11, 2006.

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