Report by Ysabel Bertolucci, Chair:

Committee Members: Judy Consales and Jamie Lamkin

A successful meeting is predicated on Chairs selected and site determined at least 18 months in advance. I was asked to work on the program committee in the Spring of 1998 and by the early summer, learned that there was no CoChair for Program and had to scramble to recruit committee members and speakers. We were working in July, 1998 and speakers, institutes etc we had hoped to schedule were already booked for February 1999. We were told that many schedule at least one year in advance. There were also few committee chairs selected at that point which made decisions difficult. Most Joint Meeting Chairs start meetings in the late spring or early summer of the year before so that ideas can be formulated, experiences shared, and those who whose work will overlap can begin to work together. Just one example, I had no idea of the room schedule requirements and did not find out until late November that the room on Friday morning needed to be empty for at least an hour and half to be set up for lunch. Had I known that in advance, we could have tried to schedule the smaller rooms for 11-12:00 and run contributed papers then, or in addition to the afternoon. Again, because no substantive work was done with the hotel before November, other changes we might have wanted could not be accommodated. If the planning had taken place in the spring and summer, room assignments could have been changed.

As to scheduling, the Program Committee needs to remember that the MLG meetings need to be scheduled. Also, one might want to call and snail mail the president of MLA to determine whether they want time. I emailed Jacque Doyle twice over the summer, never heard from her, and made the incorrect assumption that she did not want to do an MLA update. The RML previously has done updates, but not for the last couple of years, so the chair might want to check with them early on also to determine if they wish a place on the program. Given that the number of contributed papers is never final until quite late, I might schedule two sessions with one being the last meeting of the day, so that if it is not needed it can be cancelled.

I would suggest that if a question on the evaluation form asks for suggestions for future meetings topics or speakers, that the information be given to the next year’s program chair to help in planning.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my committee members who had more great ideas than I did

Ysabel Bertolucci

Kaiser Permanente Medical Center

280 West MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94611

510-596-6158 Fax: 510-596-1500 e-mail: Ysabel.Bertolucci@ncal.kaiperm.org

Notes: Another fill-in possibility would be round table discussion groups. These were successful in some prior meetings. The RML program, coordinated by Judy Consales, is posted on the PSRML website. http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/psr/mtg_pres.html

M.B. Train