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  • 1.  The best way to organize an academic paper session

    Posted 06-05-2009 11:39
    Friends,

    I am compiling a set of examples or suggested practices for running a paper session at the AOM meetings or SMS. The only constraint is that there will be four papers, the authors, an hour to 90 minute, and a session chair. My question to you: What have you found to be the best way to run such a session? The traditional format is to have the four papers presented then discussed by the chair or open the papers to discussion and questions from the audience. I'm betting that you have been in sessions that were run a different way, and were much better as a result. Please send me these examples and I will post a summary of these to the BPS-Net.

    Thank you! Mason Carpenter, U-W Madison


  • 2.  The best way to organize an academic paper session

    Posted 06-05-2009 11:52
    Hi Mason,

    90 minutes requires some time management. If the format is round table, then, a brief synopsis of each paper can be presented (15 minutes each), then, 20-25 minutes follow-up discussions (which require to be moderated), and 5 minutes for creating a common thread among all papers and suggesting further studies, research, or even collaboration among participants by the chair--moderator.

    If there are too many attendees to the session, then, power points by each writer (or their team) should be presented. However, the timing should remain the same.

    In addition, AOM has extensive material about organizing the sessions on annual meeting page.

    In any case, it is strongly suggested to conduct the presenters ahead of time and provide them with clear guidelines to make your session a success.

    Good Luck!

    Regards,

    Life is a Journey NOT a Destination,
    Enjoy the Journey of Life,
    Dr. Hamid H. Kazeroony
    Associate Professor
    Master of Business Leadership
    College For Working Adults
    William Penn University
    kazeroonyh@wmpenn.edu <mailto:kazeroonyh@wmpenn.edu>


    ________________________________

    From: Business Policy and Strategy List on behalf of Mason Carpenter
    Sent: Fri 6/5/2009 10:38 AM
    To: BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Subject: The best way to organize an academic paper session



    Friends,

    I am compiling a set of examples or suggested practices for running a paper session at the AOM meetings or SMS. The only constraint is that there will be four papers, the authors, an hour to 90 minute, and a session chair. My question to you: What have you found to be the best way to run such a session? The traditional format is to have the four papers presented then discussed by the chair or open the papers to discussion and questions from the audience. I'm betting that you have been in sessions that were run a different way, and were much better as a result. Please send me these examples and I will post a summary of these to the BPS-Net.

    Thank you! Mason Carpenter, U-W Madison


  • 3.  The best way to organize an academic paper session

    Posted 06-05-2009 15:58
    Dear Mason,
      A key issue is that interesting issues and follow-up questions early on can derail or hijack the session, eating up time that otherwise would be used for presentation of other papers -- that's why "clarifying questions only" and "no discussion during presentations" is often the rule. A good discussant (this can be the session chair, though it's easier if somebody is assiduously minding the time and somebody else is attending to content) can kick off the discussion by very briefly commenting on something from each paper, weaving things together - 5 minutes, maybe - then invite audience participation and direct traffic. The best sessions get lots of audience participation; the difficulty, that most of the audience will not have read the papers, so will only be able to comment "on the fly," from what they've heard in the session. This suggests encouraging presenters to be provocative.
      Another way to proceed, quite differently and highly dependent on the chair's ability to marshal a group of papers into some relationship, would be to have each presenter in turn say what their research topic was; then turn to methodology for each; then turn to key findings, then conclusions. You can see the difficulty: holding 4 different projects in mind is tough, and typically presenters expect the normal "give me my 15 minutes of fame." A good discussant can do something very like what I've just laid out, preferably in a single power point for each segment - so the similarities and differences get highlighted. This is a more demanding task, and requires (sometimes substantial) upfront work before the session. But it can also pull together insights and call forth an informative discussion.
      At EGOS in Europe, somebody ELSE (one of the other presenters) presents your paper, summarizing its key points; discussion gets the author in the game. That has the benefit of allowing an author to hear how others construe their words on the page, and fostering an objective look at one's own work. I've learned a lot in such sessions.
      Simply assuring the time line is the heart of the matter: some presenter are miffed if they don't get to go through all their slides - even though they've shown up with a deck of 50 slides for a 12 minute presentation slot! Somehow, they lose sight of the three other papers scheduled for the same session, and thought that all that time was theirs. (I've had it happen ...) The session chair absolutely needs to lay out the ground rules before the session, by email or phone conversation; reiterate them at the beginning of the session (out loud for the room to hear), and enforce them, courteously but firmly and despite objections if presenters want to go on. I use 3 X 5 cards with time limits in black marker, and I stand up if the presenter doesn't respond fairly promptly, thanking them and basically moving the session on! This sounds harsh; but the poor soul whose paper is last has as much riding on the session as those who go first, and without time discipline, it's too easy to never get to them.
      Good sessions get everybody in, allow abundant audience participation, and weave themes and relationships among papers, methods, topics and the literature, moving, as Hamid suggests, to further research, enthusiasm for the quest, and a good time for all.
    Regards,

    --
    Sam
    Mariann Jelinek, Ph.D.
    The Richard C. Kraemer Professor of Business
    Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary
    Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795

    Tel. (757) 221-2882






    On 6/5/09 11:52 AM, "Kazeroony, Hamid" <KAZEROONYH@WMPENN.EDU> wrote:

    > Hi Mason,
    >  
    > 90 minutes requires some time management. If the format is round table, then,
    > a brief synopsis of each paper can be presented (15 minutes each), then, 20-25
    > minutes follow-up discussions (which require to be moderated), and 5 minutes
    > for creating a common thread among all papers and suggesting further studies,
    > research, or even collaboration among participants by the chair--moderator.
    >  
    > If there are too many attendees to the session, then, power points by each
    > writer (or their team) should be presented. However, the timing should remain
    > the same.
    >  
    > In addition, AOM has extensive material about organizing the sessions on
    > annual meeting page.
    >  
    > In any case, it is strongly suggested to conduct the presenters ahead of time
    > and provide them with clear guidelines to make your session a success.
    >  
    > Good Luck!      
    >  
    > Regards,
    >  
    > Life is a Journey NOT a Destination,
    > Enjoy the Journey of Life,           
    > Dr. Hamid H. Kazeroony
    > Associate Professor
    > Master of Business Leadership
    > College For Working Adults
    > William Penn University
    > kazeroonyh@wmpenn.edu <mailto:kazeroonyh@wmpenn.edu>  
    >  
    >
    > ________________________________
    >
    > From: Business Policy and Strategy List on behalf of Mason Carpenter
    > Sent: Fri 6/5/2009 10:38 AM
    > To: BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    > Subject: The best way to organize an academic paper session
    >
    >
    >
    > Friends,
    >
    > I am compiling a set of examples or suggested practices for running a paper
    > session at the AOM meetings or SMS.  The only constraint is that there will be
    > four papers, the authors, an hour to 90 minute, and a session chair.  My
    > question to you:  What have you found to be the best way to run such a
    > session?  The traditional format is to have the four papers presented then
    > discussed by the chair or open the papers to discussion and questions from the
    > audience.  I'm betting that you have been in sessions that were run a
    > different way, and were much better as a result.  Please send me these
    > examples and I will post a summary of these to the BPS-Net.
    >
    > Thank you!  Mason Carpenter, U-W Madison


  • 4.  The best way to organize an academic paper session

    Posted 06-18-2009 03:28
    Saving discussion and questions for the end insures there will be no time for discussion and questions. Contact presenters prior to the session and give them a hard presentation length. They will not follow this as they will not rehearse the presentation. Tell them you will cut them off at the time limit and cut them off at the time limit. Allocate time for Q and A after each presentation, enforce that time limit. Hope one of the presenters is a no show.

    Do not accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.
    -Samuel Johnson
    Romie F. Littrell, BA, MBA,PhD, FIAIR, An fánaí fiáin
    AUT Business School N.Z., romie.littrell@aut.ac.nz
    http://www.romielittrellpubs.homestead.com/
    http://www.crossculturalcentre.homestead.com/
    Facilitator, Leadership & Management in Sub-Sahara Africa Conferences
    Contents copyright Romie F. Littrell

    --- On Sat, 6/6/09, Mason Carpenter <mcarpenter@BUS.WISC.EDU> wrote:

    From: Mason Carpenter <mcarpenter@BUS.WISC.EDU>
    Subject: The best way to organize an academic paper session
    To: BPS-NET@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
    Date: Saturday, 6 June, 2009, 3:38 AM

    Friends,

    I am compiling a set of examples or suggested practices for running a paper session at the AOM meetings or SMS.  The only constraint is that there will be four papers, the authors, an hour to 90 minute, and a session chair.  My question to you:  What have you found to be the best way to run such a session?  The traditional format is to have the four papers presented then discussed by the chair or open the papers to discussion and questions from the audience.  I'm betting that you have been in sessions that were run a different way, and were much better as a result.  Please send me these examples and I will post a summary of these to the BPS-Net.

    Thank you!  Mason Carpenter, U-W Madison