THE COLLEGE LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION CONVENTION
CHAIR AND PRESENTER GUIDE

General Policies

The College Language Association supports a variety of session types at its annual conventions, though members are encouraged to think creatively about the structure of their sessions. Common sessions types include:

panels including no fewer than three to four presenters delivering a paper of approximately 15 to 20 minutes depending upon the number of presenters,
roundtables including four to six presenters delivering informal presentations of approximately 5 to 10 minutes with the majority of the time devoted to conversation
creative sessions including no fewer than three to six writers reading selections of their work

While members typically submit individual abstracts in response to the call for papers, the College Language Association Program Committee also encourages members to conceive, advertise, and develop pre-formed sessions. CFPs can be advertised on sites such as the UPenn Call for Papers site or The CFP List.
Because convention programs are printed in advance of the convention date, last-minute changes often cannot be accommodated. However, adjustments will be made to the digital program posted on the CLA website and, in some cases, an errata sheet will be distributed.

Presenters at the College Language Association Convention may deliver up to two presentations of different types (panel presentation, roundtable presentation, workshop, etc.). Presenters, however, may not present the same paper as part of two different sessions.
Presenters must be current members in order to submit an abstract for consideration for the convention program.
Presenters must be current members and pay the CLA convention registration fees in order to present at the convention.
Membership fees and registration fees are non-refundable. That said, those who need to withdraw from the convention should contact the chair of their session as well as the Program Chair as soon as possible so that adjustments to the program can be made, if possible, to ensure that all panels remain viable.
Because we hold that conversation surrounding the intellectual content/issues raised in convention presentations is just as important as the presentations themselves, currently the College Language Association does not allow papers to be read in absentia.
In our commitment to accessibility, CLA strives to always respect participants' individual needs. Therefore, presenters are encouraged to prepare a limited number of printed copies for those who may have difficulty seeing, hearing, and processing information and to announce that these copies are available prior to delivering the presentation.

In submitting pre-formed sessions, members must include a chair who will introduce the session, monitor time, and organize the question and answer portion of the session.
After the initial draft of the convention program is released, members interested in serving as a chair for a session(s) will have the opportunity to contact the Program Committee to express interest. Please select a session in which you are familiar with the overarching topic.
A question and answer portion is a required element of each session. Chairs need to monitor the time of presentations and provide presenters reminders (typically at the five-minute, one-minute, and time's up marks) to ensure that at least 15 minutes remain for Q&A.
Post-convention, chairs will be asked to complete a session information form to gather some data/feedback regarding the session that the Program Committee will use in planning the next convention. Please make note of how many people attended the session and whether any of the listed presenters did not attend.