Call for papers for the 39th SSP Annual Meeting opens this week; be prepared

October 17, 2016 – The 2016 SSP Annual Meeting was a great event, and it’s time to start thinking about how to make 2017’s event even better! The 39th SSP Annual Meeting 2017 call for papers will begin on October 20 and run through November 11.  The meeting itself will be held from May 31 through June 2, 2017 in Boston, MA. There is always a great deal to learn from each other at these meetings, and that learning starts with the call for papers!

The theme for the 2017 meeting is: Striking a Balance: Embracing Change While Preserving Tradition in Scholarly Communications.

Last year’s Annual Meeting had over 100 submissions, which made for a very competitive field.   SSP receives numerous submissions covering a range of topics from all corners of scholarly communications industry. Do you have an idea for a session? Do you have new developments to share, best practices to encourage, or thought-provoking ideas you would like to discuss with your peers?  Be sure to make the most of your submission by following the guidelines below to ensure submission is a compelling one.

• Your session should invite dialogue and provoke thought about a topic that will appeal to a broad base of attendees in an entertaining way.
  Attendees at the SSP Annual Meeting are there to meet colleagues, learn about new trends, and gain practical skills that help them in their careers. They are executives, editors, salespersons, marketing and product managers, librarians, and technologists. While panels are a great way to share information, consider whether an interactive session would keep your audience more engaged! We STRONGLY discourage concurrent sessions that are focused on one product or are commercial in nature.

• Your submission must be in by the November 11 deadline!
  All session proposals must be submitted before the Call for Papers deadline on November 11. Our committee will begin reviewing papers immediately upon this deadline, so we regret that we cannot accept late submissions. Please be sure to reach out if you have any questions while submitting a session proposal. This year SSP is proud to work with Scholar One for our session submission process.

• Take advantage of the new session format options available for 2017
  New this year, you have new options with regards to session formats – take advantage of that when putting together your proposal. Consider whether your proposal is best presented as a 45-minute or a 90-minute concurrent session, a five-minute demo during our ‘previews’ session, a half-day educational session, or as a sponsored session aimed at a particular segment of the SSP audience. You can choose what format works best for your content when submitting each session proposal.

The more you can share about your sessions when submitting your proposals, the better.  Please be sure to note what track and audiences you have in mind, and suggest a few names or types of speakers who you would plan to invite. Every additional detail will help paint a clearer picture of your envisioned session. Remember that SSP encourages a diverse range of speakers and viewpoints.

SSP members are part of making the Annual Meetings a fantastic learning and networking experience. Thank you in advance for your proposals!