Request A Social Event

In Person or Virtual

Mixer | Reception | Business Meeting

All ESA Annual Meeting proposal and abstract deadlines are 5:00 PM Eastern so that technical support and ESA staff assistance will be immediately available when submitters need it. If you begin your submission very close to the deadline, you are choosing to take a risk, and we will not make an exception if you are unable to complete your submission in time. The form automatically closes at 5:00 EST / 2:00 PST whether you have completed your submission or not.

ESA meetings, open to ESA members and those interested in ecology, are among the most respected meetings of ecologists in the science community. ESA is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment. All participants including, but not limited to, attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, ESA staff, service providers and others are expected to abide by the ESA Meetings Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct applies to all ESA meeting-related events including those sponsored by organizations other than ESA but held in conjunction with ESA events, in public or private facilities. In addition, all ESA meeting attendees must agree to abide by the ESA Scientific Integrity and Professional Ethics Policy and the ESA Diversity Statement.

How To Submit

You must submit your request using the online submission form. Requests sent by email will not be considered.

Click the link below to begin. You will be able to return to the request to edit it until the submission deadline has passed. Information on how to do so will be included in two automated emails you will receive, first when you begin and then when you complete your submission.

To submit a request, you will need to log in using an ESA member account. If you have been an ESA member or registered for an ESA meeting in recent years, you should already have an ESA member account. Your username and password to log in for the meeting are the same as for your ESA member account. If you have not been an ESA member or registered for an ESA meeting in recent years, you will need to create an ESA member account before you can submit. You do not need to pay membership dues to create an ESA member account or submit for the meeting.

About the 2023 Annual Meeting

ESA is monitoring the ongoing situation with COVID-19. We continue to plan for an in-person meeting in Portland, with most sessions held in person. Speakers for in-person sessions should plan to present in person in Portland. ESA requires attendees to abide by any applicable local or state laws that may be announced at any time before or during the event, which may include wearing masks, engaging in social distancing, temperature checks, rapid testing, or providing proof of COVID-19 vaccination status.

We will offer virtual short courses again this year, and we have accepted 42 invited paper sessions to pilot a new hybrid format. These hybrid paper sessions will include a combination of in person and remote speakers, with a livestream for virtual attendees. Hybrid paper sessions will take place in dedicated rooms with an ethernet connection, a camera, and a technician present to keep everything running smoothly. We will also consider requests for virtual social events that take place entirely in Zoom.

About Social Events

We invite event requests for in person and virtual social events for the 2023 Annual Meeting. Networking is one of the most important benefits of conference attendance. Whether it’s a small business meeting or a large evening mixer with food, beverages, and A/V, a little advance planning goes a long way. To help us provide the appropriate in person or virtual setup and meet your logistical needs, anyone planning a social event (mixer, reception, business meeting) as part of the meeting program is required to submit an event request in advance. Social events can be requested for Monday through Thursday. If you are requesting multiple social events, you should submit a separate request for each event. If you are holding an event offsite and would like us to include it in the online program, please submit an event request and provide the offsite location (including its address).

You can request an in person or virtual social event this year. Unless the event is ticketed, social events are open to all registered meeting attendees without any advance signup required.

Social events are not scheduled concurrently with oral or poster sessions. Social events will be scheduled to minimize topic overlap and as meeting space and logistics allow. We are planning to schedule social events for the traditional breakfast, lunch, and evening time slots. See the Event Request Format section for a complete list of potential timeslots.

Feel free to contact us (meetings@esa.org) if you have questions about planning your event. We can help you figure out what you need to request to plan the event you have in mind. If you are in charge of an event that ESA has hosted before, we can help you estimate how many attendees you might expect based on past years.

In Person Social Events

Virtual Social Events

Event Request Format

The information listed below must be submitted through the online submission form. It is provided here to assist you in planning your submission. The form may differ slightly from the version listed here. Event requests that are incomplete or received by email will not be considered. You may begin a submission and then return to edit it up until the deadline.

Components of an Event Request

For any event request, you will need to provide the following information:

• Event title
• One lead organizer (Required; name, institution, and email).
• Any number of co-organizers, including zero (Optional; name, institution, and email for each).
• Moderator (Optional; name, institution, and email).
• Name of group organizing the event.
• Event description (250 words max., required)
• Does this event align with the values in the ESA Diversity Statement? If you answered “no” to the previous question, please provide an explanation.
• Are there any barriers to participation associated with the event that may discourage full attendance by all ESA members? If you answered “yes” to the previous question, please provide an explanation.
• Preferred date and time:
  • Monday breakfast (7:00-8:00 AM)
  • Monday lunch option 1 (11:45 AM-1:15 PM)
  • Monday lunch option 2 (12:00 PM-1:00PM)
  • Monday evening 6:30-8:00 PM
  • Tuesday breakfast (7:00-8:00 AM)
  • Tuesday lunch option 1 (11:45 AM-1:15 PM)
  • Tuesday lunch option 2 (12:00 PM-1:00PM)
  • Tuesday evening 6:30-8:00 PM
  • Wednesday breakfast (7:00-8:00 AM)
  • Wednesday lunch option 1 (11:45 AM-1:15 PM)
  • Wednesday lunch option 2 (12:00 PM-1:00PM)
  • Wednesday evening 6:30-8:00 PM
  • Thursday breakfast (7:00-8:00 AM)
  • Thursday lunch option 1 (11:45 AM-1:15 PM)
  • Thursday lunch option 2 (12:00 PM-1:00PM)
• Linked sessions: Are there any other sessions proposed for the meeting that you are aware of that would ideally be scheduled in a specific order relative to this one, or close together in time?
• Conflicting sessions: Are there any other sessions proposed for the meeting that you are aware of that should not be scheduled at the same time as this one?
• Scheduling notes: Is there anything else we need to know about your preferred scheduling? For example, are there specific timeslots to avoid?
• Anticipated number of attendees: How many people do you expect may attend this event? We are looking for your best ballpark estimate at this point in the process. If you estimate changes over time, please let us know. We will need a final estimate by June 23rd.
• Organizer demographics: The submission form asks a few questions about the social event’s lead organizer to help ESA improve our services and monitor our efforts towards diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. All information will be shared only in the aggregate to help us assess the diversity of our event requests. The committee will not see this information for individual requests. It is required to answer each question, but you can select “Prefer not to answer”.
• Event request submitters must read and agree to abide by the Code of Conduct for ESA Events, the ESA Diversity Statement, and the ESA Code of Ethics.

For in person events, you will also need to provide the following information:

• Event location: Will this social event be on site (at the convention center or hotel) or off site (not at the convention center)? If you are organizing an event off site, you are responsible for making any needed arrangements with an external venue.
• Off site event location: If this is an off site event, please give us as much information as you can at this stage of the planning process about what you are planning to arrange offsite, and where, including the street address for the external venue. Please finalize any offsite arrangements by June 22nd.
• Anticipated number of attendees: How many people do you expect may attend this event? We are looking for your best ballpark estimate at this point in the process. If you estimate changes over time, please let us know. We will need a final estimate by June 15th.
• Room set: You can refer to these Room Set Descriptions [PDF] which include helpful illustrations. We will accommodate room set requests as much as possible within the constraints allowed by social distancing requirements.
  • Reception Flow
  • Classroom
  • Conference
  • Hollow Square
  • Round Tables
  • Theater
  • Theater with a Panel Table on Stage
  • N/A – Off site event
• Requested equipment. You can choose multiple options from this list:
  • None
  • A laptop (with sound for videos), screen, and LCD projector (setup for speakers with slides)
  • Podium with microphone (setup for speakers without slides)
  • Wireless internet connection
  • Wireless microphone
  • Other equipment (specify with a note)
  • N/A – off site event
• Flip charts: How many flip charts will this session need? (0-5).
• Equipment notes: Is there anything else you anticipate you will need for this session?
• Beverage service: The catering menu as of January 2023 is available here [PDF]. Please note all food and beverage orders have a 24% service charge on top of the prices listed in the menu. If you are requesting a cash or open bar, there is $225 bartender fee. You can choose multiple options from this list.
  • No Beverage Service
  • Coffee
  • Hot Tea
  • Soft Drinks
  • Bottled Water
  • Iced Tea
  • Lemonade
  • Cash Bar (wine and beer only)
  • Open Bar (wine and beer only)
  • Drink Tickets (indicate number)
  • N/A – External Event
• Food Service: Bringing in outside food or beverages is strictly prohibited. Up to date menus will be sent to you in the spring for you to make your final food selections. In the meantime, you can look over the catering menu as of January 2023 here [PDF]. Please note all food and beverage orders have a 24% service charge on top of the prices listed in the menu.
  • No Food Service
  • Snacks
  • Reception
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
  • N/A – External Event
• Covering costs. We can only fulfill requests for food service, beverage service, or equipment that incurs costs if there is a source of funding available. If you are requesting any of these, please specify your budget to cover these costs and your source of funding. If there is someone we should invoice for these costs, please provide their name and email.
• Everyone submitting an in-person social event request must check a box to acknowledge the following:
  • I understand by checking the box, I do hereby agree to indemnify and to hold harmless the Ecological Society of America, its officers, employees, members, and agents, from and against any and all liability claims, actions, causes of action, demands, rights, damages, cost, loss of service, expenses, and compensation for all negligence whether active or passive arising out, of, or in any way connected or related to the ESA Annual Meeting, August 6-11, 2023.
  • I acknowledge by submitting a request to host an event that all stated costs are my responsibility. If this event is a chapter/section/official ESA committee function, the costs will be deducted from the group’s budget at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting. If I’m an outside group, I understand that I will be invoiced after the meeting for payment for my event. I also understand that I can pay ESA by VISA, American Express, MasterCard or check within 30 days of receiving my invoice. If payment is not received, you will not be able to hold future events until full payment is made.

For virtual events, you will also need to provide the following information:

• Who would host this Zoom meeting? We would prefer that you use your own Zoom account if you are able to do so, to give you more flexibility while hosting the event. If you do use your own Zoom account, ESA will need the link and any information attendees will need to access the meeting (such as a password) in advance. If ESA hosts a social event, it will be managed by ESA staff in ESA’s Zoom account.
• Note on virtual logistics (if hosted by ESA). If you are planning to use a Zoom meeting hosted by ESA, please indicate anything we might need to know about your anticipated logistical needs. For example, do you plan to use breakout groups?
• Who will be in charge of this event on the day it occurs? Please include the name, email address, and mobile phone number for the person we should contact if there are any issues right before or during the event. This could be the same person who is listed as the session organizer, but sometimes it is someone different.

After Submission

Everyone who has submitted an event request will be notified of their event’s status in May. All of the logistical concerns for the event will be handled through follow-up over email.

ESA may not be able to accept all event requests. Confirmation of an event request does not obligate ESA beyond providing a meeting space and including the event in the online program.

If you have questions during the planning process, please contact us (meetings@esa.org).

Cancellation Policy

If for some reason you must cancel your event, it must be cancelled in writing (email is sufficient) by June 15, 2023. Cancellations after this date may incur a cancellation fee, especially if food and beverages have been ordered.

Important Dates

Questions?

Contact the ESA Meetings Team meetings@esa.org

Engagement Resources

ESA Sections and staff coordinate and continue developing online and place-based resources that include guidelines, best practices, workshops and opportunities for public engagement. There is an abundance of resources currently available from the ESA Public Affairs Office, the Communication and Engagement Section and Policy Section too numerous describe.

A few examples are below: ESA Resources (available online and promoted in member communications:)

• The ESA Katherine McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award

• The ESA Policy Toolkit is available online  

• The ESA Communication and Engagement Section

• The Policy Section

• Communicating Science – A collection in The Bulletin of the Ecological Society

• ESAs Annual Meeting includes policy and communication workshops for member

 Resources (noting there are many more but here a few)

• Earth Leadership Program

• COMPASS Science Communication)

• Alda Center for Science Communication  

• American Geophysical Union Sharing Science Program (https://connect.agu.org/sharingscience/home)