Presentation Guidelines

MEA Annual Meeting sessions are in a workshop format 1 hour, 45 minutes in length.  In four-paper sessions this allows each presenter to have 15-18 minutes and each discussant 3-5 minutes.  We recommend that papers be presented in order and discussants’ comments come after all have presented.  Any remaining time can be filled with general discussion of all papers. 

Each session has discussants assigned. Paper #1 is will be discussed by Discussant #1, etc. An overhead projector and screen will be available in each meeting room. Power Point projectors will not be available except by special arrangement. You are welcome to bring your own equipment, however. Because LCD projectors for Power Point presentations cost several hundred dollars to rent we are requiring presenters to pay in advance if they would like this equipment available. Please contact Jeanette Copeman at mea@grinnell.edu as soon as possible to reserve this equipment and arrange payment.

Paper presenters:

You are responsible for making sure that all participants in your session (the chair, all discussants, and all other paper presenters) receive a copy of your paper prior to the meeting. If you send the paper by e-mail, make sure that all recipients are able to download and print the paper. Discussants who receive a paper after March 1 will not be obligated to comment on the paper. Do not send your paper to the MEA office.

Session chairs:

You will be responsible for seeing that paper presenters and discussants stay within their allotted time and for maintaining order, civility, and adherence to acceptable norms of social behavior during the session. It is vital that time limits be adhered to so that each presenter has an equal amount of time and that your session does not run overtime. You should also have read (or at least scanned) each of the papers in your session so that you can pose questions or offer comments if the need arises. Please follow up with the authors to make sure their papers are distributed in a timely manner.

Discussants:

Keep in mind that the main purpose of professional meetings is to exchange ideas and improve the quality of research. Accordingly, your aim should be to offer constructive criticism. Ideally, a discussant’s comments will briefly restate the goals, methods, and results of a paper, and then go on to describe the paper’s strengths and weaknesses.

If you find the paper convincing, say so. If you find a paper less than convincing, indicate why and suggest approaches that could be taken to improve it.

To All:

Thank you for your participation and contribution. The MEA meetings have a tradition of friendliness that, along with their serious purpose, has always made them a pleasure to attend. If there are any changes to the enclosed session sheets, please let the MEA office know so that the printed program will be correct.