Tips for Getting Your Idea into the Educational Program

by Sean Tolliver

February 1, 2009

Here at ICMA we get plenty of emails and calls asking for tips on getting an idea into the educational program.  While ICMA, EPA, and all the conference partners work together to select the program, there are some simple ways to help improve your submission!

How Long Can my Idea be? -  There is no limit as to how long an idea may be.  But lengthy submissions sometimes are hard to navigate though, especially when you have been reading several hundred ideas. 

I would suggest, when you submit your idea to focus on the session highlights, audience takeaways, and justification on why this session should be in the program.  For example, we may receive several ideas on waterfront redevelopment projects - but only have room for a couple given all the conference offerings.  Those sessions that provide the audience with take home examples, feature new speakers (who haven't presented at the conference before), and provide logical explanations of the significance of their project/programs are given more weight than just 'finished projects'.

Provide a brief couple of sentences about any speakers you may have and their current contact information.  You don’t need to cut and paste their CVs.

Also, don't recommend more than 4 speakers for a session.  Our sessions are around 70 – 75 minutes in length.  Once the moderator introduces everyone, get the presentations going on the laptop and provided that none of your speakers go over time (or have a technical glitch) - it only leaves around 12-15 minutes per presentation (with not much room for Q&A afterwards).   It’s just too time constrained.

Consider your format when you submit an idea! – The conference gets lots of panel session ideas, and while they form the backbone of most conference programs, they have a tendency to get repetitive!

The conference encourages creatively formatted sessions.  One format you should consider is a Marketplace discussion (we sometimes call them roundtable discussion)! These facilitated sessions always rank highly in post-conference evaluations, the attendees like Marketplace sessions and so do ICMA!

What is a Marketplace discussion session?  A Marketplace discussion sessions feature one or two facilitators who direct dialogue and discussion around a certain, focused topic.  The sessions are dynamic and full of excellent discussion between attendees and the facilitator.  Attendees connect with each other on the topic, or just sit and listen to vivid conversations.  This session usually has no PowerPoint presentations but instead is focused on the facilitated discussion. 

Know your audience and what they expect to learn – Check this out -

This is from the 2009 Marketing Prospectuses and looks at the breakdown of attendees by sector for the last couple National Brownfields Conferences. 

The conference attracts experts and newbies alike.  So, ICMA prefers to include sessions in the program that provide audiences with take-away examples ot those sessions that encourage dialogue and discussion.   When you submit your idea - feel free to address these sectors and what they will learn from your session idea.

How about some new blood!  We enjoy hearing from new speakers and so does the audience and cosponsors!  We try to include as many first time speakers as possible to create a new and exciting program for the conference.   We prefer ideas that often have a mix of veteran and new conference speakers. 

How are ideas chosen?  For several years now, ICMA and EPA have been involved with the creation of the educational program.  But we don't do it alone. The conference has quite a few partner organizations.  These are other federal or non-profit organizations who have a stakeholder interest in the various topics covered at the conference.  After the close of the call for ideas, ICMA brings together these organizations and together craft the majority of the educational program.  These Partners, facilitated by ICMA staff, organize the sessions by theme and select topics and speakers for the conference.  Last year, the partners went through more than 400 session ideas in just a day to craft about 100 educational sessions.

I still have a question!  Feel free to give me a call at 202/962-3590 or send me an email at .  I'm here to help!

So go ahead, don’t be shy, submit that idea!