How to Write a Panel Proposal

(a continuation of the discussion of conference proposals from yesterday)

So you’ve got an idea for a panel at an upcoming conference.  Now what?

Think carefully about how to frame the topic of the panel.  The topic should be of interest to more than just the people on the panel.  You want to propose your panel in way that signals to the section chair:  this panel will attract an audience.  The topic needs to be narrow enough that there is a reason to have a panel, but not so narrow that no one wants to show up.

Find participants.  You may already have some friends working on this topic, or you may have in mind some people you have never met but would like to.  Send them an email and ask them if they would be interested in a panel on your topic.  The earlier you email potential participants, the better.  Especially as people become more senior, they get more and more requests to be on panels.  If you wait until the last minute, they may not be available.

Also, if you’ve never emailed someone out of the blue to ask them to be on a panel, keep this in mind:  people usually love when they are asked.  First, it is flattering (hey!  Someone knows who I am!).  Second, and even more important, you are saving them the trouble of having to organize a panel themselves.  It’s a win-win.  You will get turned down from time to time, but if you start early, I think you will be surprised at how often people will say yes.

Find paper authors first.  Chances are, when you ask Famous Theorist X to be on your panel, she will say something like, “I am not working on that topic anymore, but I would be happy to be chair for the panel.”  This is a Very Good Thing, even if it feels disappointing.  A lot of the people you first approach won’t be interested in presenting papers, but will be happy to serve as chairs or discussants.  So, start asking people to write papers first (these are the harder slots to fill), and you will likely end up with a chair and a discussant without even trying!

Try to submit as full a panel as you can, but submit what you've got.

• Ideally, you want a “full” proposal:  one that includes a chair, 1-2 discussants, and 4-5 papers.  A full proposal is ideal because the section chair is less likely to tinker with your panel by adding on random papers that she thinks fit the theme.

• As a minimum, you should have four people:  1 chair/discussant (double-duty), and 3 paper authors.  Anything less than that is not really a panel proposal.

• If you have an idea for a panel, but say you have three great papers and no chair/discussant, or just two papers looking for a companion, then try this:  submit the paper proposals, and then email the section chairs you submitted them to, and let them know about the panel you think could be created around these papers.  If the section chairs know to look out for a possible panel on a theme, you may get the panel you wanted anyhow.

Think about variety and seniority when composing the panel.

• Do not propose a panel of you and your grad school friends who all hang out at the same bar on Friday night.  Nobody wants to go to the panel whose participants all have the exact same institutional affiliation.  And you want to network and meet other people, right?  So diversify.

• Find people with different approaches to the same topic.  You do not need to have diametrically opposed viewpoints (although that can be fun), but audiences want to see some alternatives, some provocation, some drama.  Give the people what they want.  If the panelists are all in agreement with one another, it will be dull, dull, dull.

• If the paper authors are all relatively junior (i.e. grad students, recent PhDs, junior faculty), then try to get someone to serve as discussant or chair who has a bit more seniority and star power.  That person will help attract an audience for your work (a good thing!), and will also lend the proposal some credibility in case the section chair is wondering about it.  Think of this as like a celebrity endorsement.

Edit the individual paper proposals to fit together.

• First, ask each of the authors to submit to you a 250-word abstract at least a week before the final proposal is due.

• The abstracts you get will be of varying length and quality (not to mention punctuality).  They will also use different language.  You can make them more consistent with one another and with the panel by suggesting revisions and clarifications to the authors as you think warranted.

• Edit all of the paper abstracts to roughly the same length.  I say 250 words per paper.  There is no need to go on about individual papers in a panel proposal.

Write a separate panel abstract explaining the panel as a whole.

The abstract for the panel can and should be longer than the individual paper proposals – I would aim for somewhere between 250 and 500 words.  It should include (in some order):

• what is the topic of the panel
• why does the topic matter (to anyone other than the panelists)
• how does each paper add something important and unique to the panel

Here’s an example I just made up:

This panel explores the reception history of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex.  Intellectual historians are beginning to appreciate the importance of studying how the same text is received in different cultural contexts.  This panel contributes to that burgeoning literature by analyzing the impact of The Second Sex in different feminist movements around the world.  Author W looks at the reception in the U.S., Author X looks at Great Britain, Author Y at Brazil, and Author Z at the Soviet Union.

This is hardly a great proposal – yet.  But it illustrates the idea.

Choose Your Panel Title Wisely

Section chairs get to read the full panel proposal.  But conference attendees will only see the panel title.  If you want to attract an audience, think carefully about what you put in your title.  A clever phrase or quotation might seem like a good idea – to someone who gets to read the full proposal.  But it might make no sense on its own.  Go for descriptive titles that signal to your audience why they should care to attend your panel, instead of going to some other panel, or heading to the bar.