Call for BPPA Events' Teams 2009

The BPPA needs you!

The BPPA is now inviting applications to host its Annual Conference in 2009. No experience is needed to apply. The BPPA is an established organiser of postgraduate philosophy events, and it's our mission to pass on our accumulated organisational wisdom (well, you get the idea :-). Above all, we are looking for friendly and responsible teams we can work with, and we're confident that where there's a will there's a way.

The deadline for applications to host BPPC 2009 is 13th June 2008. Further details appear below.

During Summer 2008 we will release a call for organisers of the Spring 2009 and Autumn 2009 Masterclasses. If you are interested in hosting a masterclass please feel free to contact us at any stage to discuss your ideas.

Call for Organisers: BPPA Annual Conference 2009

The BPPA Annual Conference (BPPC) is one of the longest running and most prestigious postgraduate philosophy conferences in the land, known to many as the Joint Session for Postgrads. The conference has a reputation for showcasing high quality postgrad philosophy, providing useful postgrad careers advice, and simultaneously enabling postgrad philosophers to socialise and have fun in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere. Here are some essential stats (cue Mission Impossible theme!)

• Now in its 12th year.
• Takes place over a long weekend in late June or early July.
• 50-70 delegates, including presenters.
• Attendance and accommodation generously subsidised.
• The conference consists of twelve to fourteen postgrad presenters, one or two keynote speakers, and two or three career-preparation workshops.
• Volunteers from the conference delegates lead the responses to the academic presentations.
• Presentations liberally interspersed with tea and coffee breaks, lunches and dinners!
• Now open to submissions from both Analytic and Continental traditions of philosophy. Papers are selected on what we hope are impartial standards of clarity, rigour, originality and philosophical interest.
• Once the host department is chosen, the BPPA takes on a purely advisory rôle. The conference team is granted organisational authority, and assumes full financial responsibility. We ask only that the conference be organised in a way that is consistent with the BPPA's aims and objectives as an association.

So, what does it take to organise the BPPC? Well, it's a grand undertaking, to be sure, to be sure. But here's a run down of what you can expect.

1. Deciding to bid
2. Preparing your bid
3. If your bid is successful!

Deciding to Bid

The first step is deciding to bid. In deciding whether to bid, you'll need to be reasonably sure that you could host the conference if selected. So you'll need to make sure of a few things:

• Gauge interest among your fellow postgrads. Are there people who would like to join your organising team? Are there people who would like to help out refereeing papers? Would the postgrads in your department like to attend the conference?!
• Gauge support from your faculty and other support staff. Do you have faculty members who can help secure your keynote speakers and chair sessions? Is there sufficient interest among your faculty to host the BPPC? (For example, did your faculty just host another major conference? Or is your faculty over-committed with other conferences in the near future?)
• Where would the conference sessions take place? You will need at least two large seminar rooms to host parallel sessions. At least one should have a capacity of 70 or 80 persons, depending on attendance.
• Find out about conference accommodations at your school. Is there a conference service department? Is there a liaison between academic departments and the conference services? Is accommodation available on the likely date of conference?
• Can you provide adequate catering facilities? Over three days, you will need to provide 2 x breakfast, 2 x lunch, and 2 x dinner for 50-70 people.
• Consider your funding options. Can your faculty offer financial help? What sponsorship might be available? Can you put together a credible budget that will allow you to apply for conference grants from major philosophical societies?

Preparing your bid

The second step is preparing your bid. Once you have an initial expression of support from your fellow students and faculty, it's time to start making things formal. In particular, you will need:

• A firm commitment from at least three people to form the conference organising team. One of the three must take on the responsibility of lead organiser.
• A letter of support from your head of department, nominating a member of the faculty to support your bid and to act as liaison between the organising team and your faculty.
• A planned date of the conference (typically the weekend prior to or following the Joint Session of the Mind Association and the Aristotelian Society).
• A conference budget. This is a vital element of your bid. Please see below for further information.

Planning a budget to host the BPPC

Proper financial planning is an essential part of hosting the BPPC. The successful host will need to put together a full budget in order to know how much financial support in the form of conference grants will be needed. But in order to support your application to host the BPPC, you need only put together a partial budget that accounts for the major items of expenditure and income that differ between departments.

A budget consists of an informed report or estimate of your likely expenses and income. In both cases, you should prepare your budget using the assumptions outlined below. It is usual at this stage that your expenses will exceed your income by £1,500-£2,500. This figure represents the amount of external conference funding you would need to make your conference dreams come true.

Income

There are four major sources of income for the BPPC.

1. Income from postgrads paying to attend the conference
2. Sponsorship from e.g. academic publishers
3. Conference grants, such as those awarded by The Analysis Trust, the Mind Association, and the Aristotelian Society.
4. Financial support from your department

The only major piece of information that needs to be included in your budget is the amount of financial assistance offered by your department. This might take the form either of a fixed contribution, or a conference 'buffer', that's to say a promise to contribute a certain amount should the conference go slightly over budget. Some departments may offer both. You will need to include both these pieces of information in your budget.

We aim to keep to the BPPC conference fee to £60 or less, so that it is within the reach of the majority of postgraduate students. A full attendance of 60 paying delegates would therefore provide £3,600 in income towards the costs of the conference.

We do not ask you to estimate amounts of conference grants or sponsorship that you would receive. That's because those items tend to be the same no matter which department hosts the BPPC, so they are not needed for the competition between departments.

Expenses

There are five major sources of expense involved in hosting the BPPC.

1. Catering
2. Conference Venue Hire
3. Accommodation for delegates
4. Travel bursaries for delegates
5. Accommodation and travel expenses for keynote speakers

In order to provide an accurate report or estimate of your likely expenses, you will need to make contact with the various people who provide conference and catering services in your department. In preparing your budget, you should not include details for travel bursaries and travel expenses for keynote speakers; once again, these items rarely differ between departments.

A Template for your Bid

Here is a template for your bid (we hope it's helpful!).

Sample: A Bid to host BPPC 2009 at the University of ...

Introduction

A brief description of:

• Your department and its areas of specialisation
• The size and strengths of your graduate community
• Any members of faculty who have expressed an interest in attending BPPC 2009 if hosted at your department
• Any ideas you have for the conference or the careers' workshops.

Proposed Date of the Conference

Some flexibility is possible here, but it's as well to have a firm date in mind.

The Conference Team

Please give details of your conference team. The team should comprise at least three people who would be willing to organise the conference, and one of the three should be the Conference Chair. Please also include details of the organisers' background and any relevant organisational experience.

Paper Refereeing

The refereeing of papers is an important part of ensuring a high quality philosophy conference, so please outline the procedures you would use. As you may know, the BPPC now accepts papers in both the "Analytic" and "Continental" styles of philosophy. If your department specialise primarily in one or the other, please outline how would you referee papers in your non-specialist area.

Proposed Keynote Speaker(s)

Keynote speakers may be drawn from your own department, or externally, or both! Please indicate any speakers you have in mind from your own department (it's a good idea to try to arrange a tentative commitment in advance).

Budget

Please include the following details, which assume a full conference attendance of 73 persons (60 paying delegates, 12 postgraduate speakers, and 1 keynote speaker):

Travel and Host Town Information

Please include details of public transport links to and from your department (trains, buses, airports), and — if you like — some info about the attractions of your host town!

Any further information

Anything else you think is relevant to your bid!

Submitting your bid

Please submit your application by email to bppaonline@gmail.com [note: there's no hyphen in our email address!]. We encourage prospective applicants to discuss their bids with us prior to submission.

If your bid is successful

The deadline for applications to host BPPC 2009 is 13th June 2008, and we anticipate that the final decision will be announced prior to BPPC 2008 on 27-29th June.