Conference Policies

General

The deadline for receipt of all items specified below is a month before the first full day of the annual conferences, specifically, August 14, 2016.

Anyone on the program who cannot present at the conference should notify the appropriate chair and commentator as well as the conference coordinator. Failure to do so has consequences. The Northern Great Plains History Conference written operating statement bans anyone who does not show and who does not submit appropriate notices from presenting for the next three years.

Length of papers: All presenters should emphasize brevity, because of the relatively short session times. Typically, the annual conferences have 90 and 120 minute time slots. Therefore, participants should adhere to the following formats:

• 90 minutes -- 2 papers -- 20 minutes each, commentary 10 minutes total.
• 90 minutes -- 3 papers -- 15-17 minutes each, commentary 10 minutes total.
• 120 minutes -- 2 papers -- 30 minutes each, commentary 10 minutes total.
• 120 minutes -- 3 papers -- 22-23 minutes each, commentary 10 minutes total.

These allocations allow time for introductions by the chair and audience participation.

Normally, it takes two minutes to read a typed, double-spaced page with one-inch margins. Because of different font sizes, various reading speeds, and sometimes use of AV materials, all presenters should ascertain their delivery time in advance. [Practice, practice, practice!]

In order to facilitate determination of lengths, all papers should have full page texts (double-spaced with one-inch margins) and endnotes rather than footnotes. Presenters should also report the word count of their texts to the session chair and commentator. (Each double-spaced page with one inch margins is about 280 words.)

Paper Presenters

• Submit your paper and brief vita to both the chair and commentator. If you fail to meet the submission deadline of August 14, 2016, notify the chair and commentator of your anticipated submission date.
• Submit any equipment request to the conference coordinator as soon as you have determined it. Such requests should be made no later than the paper submission deadline.
• Be sure that all equipment is in working order before the start of the session.
• Keep your presentation within the prescribed time limit.
• If you have submitted your paper too late to allow the commentator adequate time to evaluate it, please inform the audience that the commentator will not be considering your paper because of your tardiness. Please confer with the commentator before making any such announcement, because that person may choose to comment despite your lateness.
• You are also urged to send a copy of your paper to each of the participants in the session as a means of enhancing scholarly interchange.