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[NOTE: The following posting by Ed O'Donnell originated on the H-Ethnic 
list, and has been circulated to several H-Net lists. It looks like 
excellent advice to those considering organizing sessions and panels at 
any conference. The specific example used is the AHA/OAH, which are the 
American Historican Assoc. and the Org. of American Historians. --RBE] 
 
My answer to the following question which appeared on H-Ethnic has 
generated a number of requests from other lists to reprint it.  Please feel 
free to do so: 
 
Q: There are blurbs that appear on H-Net discussion lists from time to 
time calling for papers, topics, scholarships, etc..  For the novice, how 
does one best approach these calls?  Does anyone have any advice on how to 
successfully create a "package" so that one gets to present a paper. 
 
A: In the course of having three AHA/OAH sessions accepted, I have come to 
see the following as the essential elements to a successful proposal: 
1. Present you paper as part of a panel\session.  If properly arranged and 
well-written, your proposal arrives as a package deal.  Conference planners 
love this because it means they will not need to fit your paper into one of 
dozens of sessions on wide ranging topics.  Putting the package together 
takes more time, but it greatly enhances the chances for acceptance. 
2. Find out the theme of the conference.  Almost all conferences have one. 
For example, the 1999 OAH theme is "State and Society in North America: 
Processes of Social Power and Social Change."  As you think about 
formulating a trio of paper presenters, consider what the title of your 
session will be and how you can explicitly link it to the conference's 
theme.  For example, for the 1999 OAH, I decided to see if I could put 
together a panel on the issue of anti-vice efforts in turn-of-the-century 
cities.  Clearly this involved examinations of the state and society, the 
uses of social power, and conflict arising from social change. 
3. Decide what you want to present a paper on.  Ideally, it should be part 
of your dissertation research for the simple reason that it draws upon work 
you need to do anyway. 
4. Find two other presenters.  In the age of the Internet, this has become 
quite easy.  The guiding principles in choosing these people are diversity 
and coherence.  In a word, you want your panel to be diverse in its 
racial\ethnic\gender composition.  You also want to make sure your 
presenters are from different universities.  Keep in mind that the fourth 
and fifth people needed for a complete session proposal -- the session 
chair and session commentator -- are included in this diversity quest.  At 
the same time, you want quality papers that form a coherent session.  For 
my 1999 OAH panel I managed to find presenters on anti-gun and anti-boxing 
initiatives to go with my paper on the anti-cigarette crusade. 
        How do you find people to invite?   Just ask around.  In all three cases 
where my session proposals have been accepted, I have invited a friend 
(from a different university) to present and then found a third  person. 
That can be accomplished by using the AHA Guide to History Departments to 
find people to call\e-mail about presenting  or serving as chair or 
commentator.  The AHA guide also lists the dissertation topics of all US 
grad students. 
        A final word about the chair and commentator.  Here it is important, 
whenever possible, to get people who are firmly established in the field. 
Many high profile historians are happy to serve in these capacities (it's 
the right thing to do and they often get travel reimbursement from their 
university). 
5. Create a coherent package.  Pull together the three one-page paper 
abstracts and edit them as necessary.  More importantly, use these three 
abstracts to craft a well-written one-page session abstract that justifies 
the session by explaining clearly why the papers are important and how they 
collectively contribute to stated goal\title  of the session.  It often 
helps to rewrite (with permission, of course) the individual paper 
abstracts to emphasize the coherence of the package. 
6. neatness counts.  It is worth taking the time to retype\reformat 
everyone's abstract and c.v. (have them sent to you electronically or on 
disk) so that the proposal looks tight and unified. 
 
I hope this helps. 
 
Ed O'Donnell 
Dept. History 
Hunter College, CUNY 
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