ALL MEETING PARTICIPANTS | Session Chairs | Session Presenters (Authors) | Session Panelists | Session Discussants | Poster Session Presenters |
Industry Council Co-Chairs | Interest Section Co-Conveners | Committee Chairs
PROCEEDINGS AUTHOR GUIDELINES | PAPER/ABSTRACT UPLOAD | PARTICIPANT COMMUNICATION ARCHIVE

Dear LERA 67th Annual Meeting Participant,

Thanks for attending and participating in our next LERA Annual Meeting. We are excited you will be there! Bookmark this page, and check back often. Here, we will post links, checklists, and information that you will need to have in hand as the meeting approaches. Participants presenting a paper are invited to publish this in the Proceedings of the LERA Annual Meeting (Chairs/Discussants may also be invited to publish remarks and poster session participants are invited to publish an abstract.)

Cordially,
LERA Staff

Information for All Meeting Participants

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Additional Checklists:

Session Chairs

Thank you for participating in our upcoming LERA Annual Meeting! We are excited about this program and your involvement, and we hope you enjoy the conference. To help you prepare, please find information below that you will need in the coming months. Session chairs play a very special role at our meeting; without you, a successful event would not be possible. Please download and read this letter with more complete information about chairing a session at the LERA meeting. Here is a summary:

1.     Verify program information – Could you take a moment to look up your session information in our online program? Is the listing accurate? If you have changes in the coming months, please let us know and we will update the information in the online program, and in the final printed program that we will distribute on site.

2.     Contact Session Participants – We ask that you contact your session participants and request from them both 1) a copy of their paper or presentation if any, and 2) a brief biography to help you with introductory remarks as you will responsible for introducing the participants in your session. You should ask to receive these materials by April 14, 2015. We also instruct them to forward this information to you, but, as Session Chair, it is ultimately up to you to obtain this information. Any contact information we might have can be found in the LERA Member Directory.

3.     Forward Contact Information for Session Participants to LERA – Also if you could, please forward contact information for your session participants to [email protected]. We ask because we plan to send informative emails and mail out participant information at various times throughout the coming months, and if we don't have their contact information on file, we will forward their information to you instead to distribute to them to participants. I’m sure it will be simpler if we distribute to participants directly. Any contact information we might have can be found in the LERA Member Directory.

4.     Determine and Enforce Time Limits for Session Participants – At the meeting, ninety minutes should be allotted for your session (please check the online program for your session specifics), with time reserved for questions and comments from the audience. Therefore, presenters should have about 10-12 minutes each, depending on the number of participants in your session, to present their material. You should determine and communicate these time limits to participants and you enforce the time limits at the meeting.

5.     Publish in the LERA Proceedings – If your session will have papers presented in it, then we would invite you to submit remarks as Chair (considered discussant remarks) for publication in the LERA Proceedings of the Annual Meeting. Please let us know by June 10, 2015 if you plan to publish; you will have until July 15, 2015 to actually submit remarks. Author guidelines can be found online, as well as the upload form. Participants in your session authoring and presenting papers and discussants (if any) would also invited and encouraged to submit their papers/remarks. Papers can be submitted anytime between now and July 15th online, and it’s no problem to submit a revised version later if need be.

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Session Presenters (Authors)

Thank you for participating in our upcoming LERA Annual Meeting as a Presenter. We are excited about this program and your involvement, and we hope you enjoy the conference. To help you prepare, please find information below that you will need in the coming months.

1.     Verify program information – Could you take a moment to look up your session information in our online program? Is the listing accurate? If you have changes in the coming months, please let us know and we will update the information in the online program, and in the final printed program that we will distribute in Chicago.

2.     Time limits for session participants – Ninety minutes is allotted for the session (please refer to online program for specifics), with time reserved for questions and comments from the audience. Therefore, participants are given about 10-12 minutes each, depending on the number in the session, to present their material. Your session chair has been asked to determine and communicate these time limits to you and to enforce them at the meeting.

3.     Forward Presentation and Bio by April 14 – Please forward a copy of your paper or presentation to your session Chair and Discussant(s) (if any) by April 14, 2015 to allow them time to review and prepare remarks. In addition to your paper/presentation, you will also need to supply the Chair of your session with brief biographical remarks for yourself so that they can introduce you. You can locate your session chair and discussants using the online program, and any contact information we might have for them can be found in the LERA Member Directory.

4.     Publish in the LERA Proceedings– If you are presenting a paper, then we invite you to publish it in the LERA Proceedings of the Annual Meeting. Please let us know by June 10, 2015 if you plan to publish; you will have until July 15, 2015 to actually submit remarks. Author guidelines can be found online, as well as the upload form.

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Session Panelists

Thank you for participating in our upcoming LERA Annual Meeting as a Panelist. We are excited about this program and your involvement, and we hope you enjoy the conference. To help you prepare, please find information below that you will need in the coming months.

1.     Verify program information – Could you take a moment to look up your session information in our online program? Is the listing accurate? If you have changes in the coming months, please let us know and we will update the information in the online program, and in the final printed program that we will distribute in Chicago.

2.     Time limits for session participants – Ninety minutes is allotted for the session (please refer to online program for specifics), with time reserved for questions and comments from the audience. Therefore, participants are given about 10-12 minutes each, depending on the number in the session, to present their material. Your session chair has been asked to determine and communicate these time limits to you and to enforce them at the meeting.

3.     Forward Presentation and Bio by April 14 – Please forward a copy of your paper or presentation to your session Chair and Discussant(s) (if any) by April 14 to allow them time to review and prepare remarks. In addition to your paper/presentation, you will also need to supply the Chair of your session with brief biographical remarks for yourself so that they can introduce you. You can locate your session chair and discussants using the online program, and any contact information we might have for them can be found in the LERA Member Directory.

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Session Discussants

Thank you for participating in our upcoming LERA Annual Meeting as a Discussant. We are excited about this program and your involvement, and we hope you enjoy the conference. To help you prepare, please find information below that you will need in the coming months.

1.     Verify program information – Could you take a moment to look up your session information in our online program? Is the listing accurate? If you have changes in the coming months, please let us know and we will update the information in the online program, and in the final printed program that we will distribute in Chicago.

2.     Time limits for session participants – Ninety minutes is allotted for the session (please refer to online program for specifics), with time reserved for questions and comments from the audience. Therefore, participants are given about 10-12 minutes each, depending on the number in the session, to present their material. Your session chair has been asked to determine and communicate these time limits to you and to enforce them at the meeting.

3.     Receive Papers by April 14 – We have requested that session participants forward a copy of their paper/presentation to you by April 14 so you have time to review and prepare their remarks. If you do not receive these materials, please check with your session chair. You can locate your session chair using the online program, and any contact information we might have can be found in the LERA Member Directory.

4.     Publish in the LERA Proceedings – If papers are presented in your session, then we would invite you to submit discussant remarks for publication in the LERA Proceedings of the Annual Meeting. Please let us know by June 10, 2015 if you plan to publish; you will have until July 15, 2015 to actually submit remarks. Author guidelines can be found online, as well as the upload form.

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Poster Session Presenters

Summary of poster session guidelines are as follows: 1. Set up poster at least 10 minutes before session begins. 2. Prepare title/author label with lettering at least one inch high for the top of your poster space. 3. Prepare an abstract (300 words or less) with lettering at least 3/8” high for the upper left-hand corner of your space. 4. Indicate clearly the sections and sequence of your materials. Keep it simple. 5. Bring at least 30 copies of your paper with you for distribution. On-site reproduction will NOT be available. 6. Remove material from poster board at the end of the session. 7. Prepare a brief abstract (no more than 100 words) of your research presented in the Poster Session for publication in the LERA Proceedings. 8. Upload your brief abstract (100 words) and your completed Author Agreement Form online at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5565808 by June 10, 2015. Click here for complete poster session guidelines.

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Publication in LERA's Online Proceedings of the Annual Meeting

Papers presented at the meeting are invited to be published in the Proceedings of the 67th Annual Meeting.  A copy of the author instructions is linked below, to help prepare for publication. Authors will need to let us know whether or not they intend to publish in the Proceedings by June 10, 2015. (See author guidelines for forms, deadlines, instructions.) LERA wants to publish your paper in the proceedings even if it appears in another journal, as long as the other publisher is informed and gives permission. You can upload your paper files anytime between now and the conference using the upload form linked below.

SHARE YOUR EXPERTISE: If you are not presenting a paper but are acting as a panelist on a topic, LERA still wishes to share your expertise by posting an electronic resource on our Members’ Only Online Library. Please upload your PowerPoint presentations, handouts, etc. to the upload form below by June 10, 2015 to be posted online, and note that this is "Conference Content" to be uploaded.

PROCEEDINGS AUTHOR GUIDELINES | PAPER/ABSTRACT/FILE UPLOAD

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Industry Council Co-chairs

1. Ninety minutes is allotted for your session. If you plan to hold a program, please allow about 10 minutes per speaker, and reserve some time for questions and answers from the audience, as well as some time for your Industry Council Business Meeting. It is the job of the Chair or Co-Chairs of the session to determine and communicate speaker time limits to presenters and the Chairs are asked to enforce them at the meeting.
   
   

2. To promote your meeting to the rest of your membership, please send an announcement to [email protected] to forward to your IC membership if you haven't already done so.  You can plan to update this message periodically; we are happy to send out additional announcements. When we send this message, it's a good time for you to include a call for any volunteers (such as Webmaster for your Council Website!) or interested parties to serve as future Co-Chairs, if needed or if your bylaws require it, etc. Your IC information (bylaws, mission, charter, as applicable) can be found at the LERA website: http://www.leraweb.org/industry-councils.

3. Plan to attend the Industry Council/Interest Section Advisory Committee Meeting which will be held from 5:30 - 7pm on Friday, May 29, 2015.  If you cannot attend yourself, see if someone active in your Council can attend as your proxy. It's a good time to discuss future conferences, ways councils can work together on programming, listservs, web pages, and more.

4. Please plan to hold a brief business meeting during your session to review, renew, or amend Council Bylaws, discuss section business, and hold any Officer or Co-Chair elections required by your bylaws. Directly following your business meeting, please plan to let us know of any new Co-Chairs (and their contact information), changes in bylaws, IC business,etc. Your Council meeting is the perfect opportunity to plan a session program to submit to the LERA Program Committee by the October 2015 deadline for next year's meeting.

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Interest Section Co-conveners

1. Ninety minutes is allotted for the session, with time reserved for questions and comments from the audience. Therefore, each participant in your session will be given about 10-12 minutes each, depending on the number in the session, to present their material. The chair should determine and communicate these time limits to you and is asked to enforce them at the meeting.
    
2. To promote your meeting to the rest of your membership, please send an announcement that we can forward if you haven't already done so.  You can plan to update this message periodically; we are happy to send out additional announcements. When we send this message, it's a good time for you to include a call for any volunteers from your section to serve as readers for the refereed papers competition next year and a call for interested parties to serve as future conveners for your section, if your bylaws require it.  Bylaws can be at the LERA website: http://www.leraweb.org/interest-sections.
    
3. Please plan to hold a brief business meeting during your section meeting to review section business, and hold any officer or co-convener elections required by your bylaws. Directly following your business meeting, please plan to let us know of any new Co-conveners (and their contact information), changes in bylaws, Section business, and who the readers will be that will represent your section for our next annual LERA Competitive Papers. Your Section meeting is the perfect opportunity to plan a session program to submit to the LERA Program Committee by the October 2015 deadline for next year's meeting.
   
   
4. Plan to attend the Industry Council/Interest Section Advisory Committee Meeting which will be held from 5:30 - 7pm on Friday, May 29, 2015.  If you cannot attend yourself, see if someone active in your Council can attend as your proxy. It's a good time to discuss future conferences, ways councils can work together on programming, listservs, web pages, and more.

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Committee Chairs

1. Please encourage your committee members to attend your meeting, and forward to them emails you receive from LERA, as you receive them, with the links to register, obtain their hotel accommodations, and fill out the packet pickup form. 
   
   
2. Send us your agenda, reports, attachments, etc., if any, by April 14, 2015 so that we can have copies made and shipped on time to the Annual meeting for either your Committee meeting or the LERA Executive Board meeting. Also, please let us know if you will be able to attend the May 29, 2015 LERA Executive Board meeting, Friday night from 6:30 - 10 pm.

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Shipping Instructions to The Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh

All meeting participants who are staying at The Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh should ship any packages they have a need to ship to their own attention at the hotel's address. Please be sure to time the arrival packages to when you should arrive at the hotel, as the hotel will likely charge you per day of storage, and there may be a handling fee as well.

Attn: <My name> (guest)
The Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh
1000 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
United States

Wi-Fi at The Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh

• Guests at can connect wirelessly or wired in their guest room for free.
• Free wi-fi will be available in the lobby of the hotel.
• Wi-fi WILL BE available in the meeting rooms and registration area for the duration of the conference. Check at the registration desk for details.

Ground Transportation from Airports

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