Mission
The mission of the Annual Meetings Board is to coordinate the planning of scientific programs and the technical sessions of the Annual Meeting.
General Responsibilities
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Pro-actively consider and propose innovative scientific programs to (a) support and promote the achievement of APS’s strategic goals; (b) provide members with the most current and accurate information on topics of timely importance; and (c) meet the needs of APS members while appealing to new audiences.
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Explore new opportunities for continuing education, professional development, outreach, and collaboration within APS.
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In the case of meetings held jointly with other professional scientific societies, collaborate in the development of common objectives and joint activities.
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Coordinate with APS Committees in the development of their meeting-associated sessions, and provide assistance in the development of new venues/platforms for those programs.
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APS Committees, which typically have as their members or associates the most knowledgeable scientists in the subject area, should be utilized as an important resource to APS staff in identifying and planning sessions.
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Handle requests from individuals and groups fairly and equitably through the proposal process.
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Help coordinate the meeting- and course-related activities and objectives of various branches of APS governance.
Organizational Structure
To carry out its responsibilities, the AMB shall be comprised of the following:
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Director
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Director-Elect, appointed by Council at least one year prior to starting Director position for onboarding.
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APS President-Elect
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APS Vice-President
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APS Senior Councilor-at-Large (advisory role only, ex-officio, non-voting)
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Six members representative of the following areas: Biology of Plant Pathogens, Diseases of Plants,Epidemiology/Ecology/Environmental Biology, Molecular/Cellular Plant-Microbe Interactions,
Plant Disease Management, Professionalism/ Outreach /Service
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Editor-in-Chief, APSnet Education Center (advisory role only, ex-officio, non-voting)
Terms
The Director-elect shall be an APS member who has previously served on the AMB as well as experience and interest in scientific programs, including short courses and workshops, meeting planning, and education. The Director-Elect is appointed by Council at least one year prior to starting the Director position for onboarding and serves a one year term.
The Director serves a three-year term and may serve two terms consecutively.
AMB Members are formally appointed by a majority vote of the AMB and serve a three-year term but may not serve more than two consecutive terms.
General Responsibilities of the Director
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Facilitate communication and coordination among the Annual Meetings Board, APS Council and APS staff.
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Consider issues and recommend policies related to identification, planning, coordination, implementation and financial aspects of sessions and workshops.
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Develop ideas for supporting and promoting APS’ key strategic goals through scientific programming.
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Inform APS Council of board activities.
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Coordinate with APS Press regarding publication issues, including the “first right of refusal” policy for Annual Meeting symposia.
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Coordinate the appointment of the AMB members.
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Coordinate planning of the I.E. Melhus Graduate Student Symposium in cooperation with the host committee.
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The director shall appoint an official note taker at each meeting of the AMB. That individual will provide their draft to the director to be disseminated, approved, and archived.
Annual Meeting Planning
The AMB will assure optimum balance between subjects in the program and equitable distribution of financial support for the program as it develops the format and schedule of events for the annual meeting. APS Council approves the annual meeting budget with designated funds for travel of non-APS members invited as speakers. A budget is developed for each approved symposium and the session organizer for each symposium is responsible for review, approval, and reporting to appropriate APS staff of symposium expenditures (see Policies: APS Symposium Funding).
APS staff provides assistance to the Annual Meeting Board and its chair as follows:
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Receives, acknowledges, and prepares abstracts, and processes payments and invoices as necessary.
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Prepares a draft program of the special sessions, technical sessions, and poster sessions for critique, amendment, and approval by the AMB Director.
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Prepares the final online meeting program.
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Handles all logistics for the annual meeting.
Annual Meeting Handbook
The Annual Meeting Handbook is a resource for an overview of the meeting, related processes, and historical documentation. A copy of this handbook is given to the newly elected vice president each year for reference. The handbook is updated whenever necessary and is available upon request for reference by any APS leader.
APS Symposium Funding
Policies and Procedures on Use of APS Annual Meeting Program Funds
Funding and complimentary registration are restricted to NON-MEMBERS of APS. To qualify as a "non- member", the participant must not have been an APS member at any time during the 3-year period preceding the current APS annaul meeting. Organizers can verfiy APS membership status via the online APS membership directory or checking with APS staff.
Funding is restricted to non-member speakers only. It cannot be used to support non-member session organizers.
Funds are provided on a per-session, not a per-person, basis. The session organizers (not the sponsoring committee chairs) are responsible for determining how the funds received are distributed and for staying within their budgets.
Funding may be used to defray all reasonable costs of transportation, housing (see 1e, below), and meals; and/or to cover publishing costs of the proceedings. Meeting program funds cannot be used to pay for other items such as honoraria or for refreshments.
Funds used for accommodations cover housing at APS-contracted hotels only. The speaker is responsible for making their own reservations.
Expense reimbursement forms must be submitted no later than 30 days after the annual meeting (instructions and forms provided by APS staff); all disbursements will be made within 3 months of the meeting.
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Policies and Procedures on Use of External Funds in Support of Special Sessions
Session organizers who wish to raise outside funding are encouraged to do so.
Except as noted below, funds raised externally are not subject to the above restrictions, i.e., they may be used in any appropriate way to support the session, including payment of expenses of APS member or non-member speakers or organizers, refreshments, or publication of the proceedings.
Organizers should forward a copy of the financial support request letter (provided by APS staff) to the sponsor with the highlighted sections updated. The sponsor must include a copy of the letter when submitting the sponsorship funds, payable to APS, to the appropriate APS staff. Additionally, the sponsor should send a copy of the completed form to the organizer for their records. The organizer is responsible to communicate this information to the sponsoring committee(s) chair(s) and to indicate on the overall budget sheet for the session how the internal (if any) and external funds will be used.
All funding must be spent within 6 months of the meeting.
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