Friends,
Good afternoon! This is a special “newsletter” we have created to communicate with our conference participants. I hope this gets through to everyone and answers some questions.
The biggest takeaway from this message is that you need to register! Details are
below. Some of this may be repetitive and some might be brand new to some of you. I apologize for the communication issues we had early on, but I’m hoping this newsletter fixes it.
*If you organized a whole panel, help me ensure that all your participants receive this info!
1. Review the schedule.
- While I may be able to accommodate requests for changes, they are unlikely at this point. I will do my best.
- Make sure your name, panel/paper title, and affiliation all appear as you would like them
- We hope to complete the printed program by mid-February
2. Register by clicking here!
- Registration will
increase from $225 to $250 on February 2nd. Don't wait!
- Registration includes access to the conference, dinner on Thurs., Fri., and Sat,. and lunch on Fri., and Sat.
- Belmont Abbey students, faculty, and staff register for free but you must still register if you plan to attend the meals. We need to have an accurate headcount
- Prorated and onsite registration are not available
3. Book your room (click here for details on lodging and transportation)
- We have reserved two hotel blocks. Their cutoff dates for the group rate are February 7 and 9 depending on the hotel. Don't wait!
- The closest airport is Charlotte (CLT) and ridesharing services like Uber are available.
- We will have a shuttle and some volunteer drivers to get people between the
hotel and campus and between the hotels themselves.
4. Encourage anyone and everyone you think may be interested to register, sign-up for the newsletter, visit the website, or consider supporting the Ciceronian Society
6. Feel free to ask me (Josh Bowman)
anything!
- However, like all of the Ciceronian Society, I'm a volunteer. I'll do the best I can to get back to you. Feel free to call or text us at (734) 265-0149
- A lot of questions are addressed on the website, but there's always some I forget to anticipate.
7. Prepare your paper/comments
- If you’re on a traditional academic panel with a discussant, drafts of the papers will be due to
discussants by February 24th and presentations should be between 12-15 minutes in length.
- If you require audio/visual equipment for your presentation, please let us know.
- I'll provide you with email addresses for your fellow panelists in February if you need to reach out to them. If you need help contacting someone before then, let me know.
8. Are you a discussant?
- Different disciplines and professions have varying expectations for a "respondent" or "discussant" on a panel. Below is a description I provided last year that still applies. It's what we're aiming for, though we know the reality is always more challenging.
- Discussants are traditionally assigned to comment on all the papers of a given panel, offering substantive
feedback for improving whatever the proposed project or argument happens to be.
- There is, however, a tendency in many disciplines for the discussant to be ill-prepared and poorly engaged. There’s also a tendency for discussants to talk too much, to view their role more as adversarial, and to use the opportunity for self-promotion. Please don’t be that discussant.
- Instead, we ask discussants to do the following:
- Provide written feedback on each of the papers. This
feedback can be handed to the panelists or emailed to them by the time of conference.
- After all 3 panelists have presented, the discussant will offer comments on the presentations individually and as a whole.
- Spoken remarks by discussants should not exceed 5-7 minutes and should not be as comprehensive as the written remarks.
- The objective of the discussant at the time of the panel is to begin a constructive conversation between the
panelists and between the panelists and the audience.
- The discussant should ask, “What can I say or ask to provoke a conversation conducive to improving these projects?”
Some of you may be new to presenting or speaking at a conference like this, and that
may be a little unnerving. But you should know that the Ciceronian Society conference is a safe environment to "get your feet wet" and to try out new ideas. We love to laugh and to encourage each other. While we take our faith and our core themes very seriously, we do not take ourselves too seriously. Be well-prepared, be professional, do your work to the glory of God, and expect Grace to get you the rest of the way. :-)
Thank you for your participation in the Ciceronian Society. We can't wait to see you in North Carolina.
