ABOUT THE
CONFERENCE
SESSIO
N
TYPES
PLENARY
Pl
enary ses
sions
by some
of the world’s leading thinkers
are 30 minutes in length. As a general rule, there are no questions or
discussion during these sessions. Instead, plenary speakers answer questions and participate in discussions during their
Garden Ses
sions (see below).
GARDEN SESSIONS
Garden Sessions are unstructured sessions that allow delegates a chance to meet plenary speakers and talk with them
informally about the issues arising from their presentation.
PAPER
PRESENTATIONS IN THE
MED SESSIONS
P
aper presentations are grouped by general themes or topics into Themed Sessions. Each presenter in the session makes a
formal fifteen
-
minute presentation of their work; Q&A and group discussion follow after all have presented. Each presenter's
formal, writ
ten paper will be available to participants if accepted to the journal.
WORKSHOP/INTERACTIVE SESSION
Workshop sessions involve extensive interaction between presenters and participants around an idea or hands
-
on experience
of a practice. These sessions m
ay also take the form of a crafted panel, staged conversation, dialogue or debate
–
all involving
substantial interaction with the audience. A single article (jointly authored, if appropriate) may be submitted to the journa
l
based on a workshop session.
P
OSTER SESSION
Poster sessions are ideal for presenting preliminary results of work in progress or for projects that lend themselves to visu
al
displays and representations. In these sessions, a number of authors have the opportunity to display or exhibit th
eir work and
engage in informal discussion about their work with other delegates throughout the session.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS
Individual authors have an assigned table during a session to review and discuss the ideas, frameworks, and perspectives
under
lying their work with interested delegates who gather at the table.
COLLOQUIM
Colloquium sessions are pre
-
arranged by the presenters and consist of five or more short presentations with audience
interaction. A single article or multiple articles may be su
bmitted to the journal based on the content of a colloquium session.
VIRTUAL PRESENTATION
Virtual presentations are papers submitted without the participant attending the conference in person, but are eligible to be
refereed and published (if accepted) in
the journal. A virtual presentation allows participants to join the conference community
in the following ways:
The conference proposal will be listed in the Session Descriptions of the conference.
Acceptance of a conference proposal for a virtual partic
ipant is based on the same criteria as that for an attending
participant.
The full paper may be submitted to the journal.
The journal paper submission will be refereed against the same criteria as attending participants. If accepted, the
paper will be publ
ished in the same volume as conference participants from the same year.
Online access to all papers published in the journal from the time of registration until one year after the conference
end date.
TALKING CIRCLES
Talking circles are meetings of minds
, often around points of difference or difficulty. They are common in indigenous cultures.
The inherent tension of these meetings is balanced by protocols of listening and respect for varied viewpoints. From this,
rather than criticism and confrontation, p
roductive possibilities may emerge.
The Purpose of Talking Circles in this Conference
The purpose of the Talking Circles is to give shape to a conference that is wide
-
ranging in its scope and broad
-
minded in its
interests. They also give people an opport
unity to interact around the key ideas of the conference away from the formalities of
the plenary, paper, roundtable, workshop and colloquium sessions. They are places for the cross
-
fertilization of ideas, where
cycles of conversation are begun, and relati
onships and networks formed. Talking Circles are not designed to force consensus
or even to strive towards commonality. Their intention is, in the first instance, to find a common ground of shared meanings
and experiences in which differences are recognize
d and respected. Their outcome is not closure in the form of answers, but
an openness that points in the direction of pertinent questions.