Call for Presentations

Calling all Student Members!

Call for Ignite Presentations: Your Networking Opportunity of the Year

Do you want to showcase your research to colleagues and planning professionals alike? OPPI is looking for student members to run dynamic, engaging 2018 Symposium sessions based on their areas of research.
 
Proposals will be accepted from student members in a variety of interactive formats, including 15-minute ignite sessions, multimedia presentations and much more!
 
Proposals should include:

• Title of the session
• Brief description of the session
• Name(s) of speaker(s)
• Amount of time and/or session format desired
• Multimedia equipment you require
• Intended learning outcomes (e.g. “by the end of the session, participants will have learned…”)

Proposals will be accepted, on a first-come-first-served basis, from student members until Friday September 21^st.

Act soon, as space is limited! Submit your proposal today and get your work noticed by planning leaders from across the province.

If you have any questions about potential sessions or this call for presentations, please contact us by email at oppi@absolutevents.com.

OPPI 18 Call for Presentations Now Closed

The Call for Presentations is now closed.Thank you to everyone who submitted to speak at #OPPI18, and to help facilitate the exchange of planning knowledge!  If you have questions or concerns regarding a proposal, please send us an email.

The theme for 2018 is Community Readiness. Ontario communities experience and will continue to experience challenges, be it through the adverse effects of climate change, economic uncertainty, and more. We encourage you to think about these challenges, and the work Ontario’s professional planners and related professions are doing to ensure communities are ready to face potentially negative outcomes.

RPPs are the professionals specifically educated, trained, experienced and ethically committed to guiding decision makers, the public and people in all sectors along the better-informed path to inspired communities in the public interest. With your help, we aim to analyze the Community Readiness through the following Learning Strategy topics and in the process, delve into, and answer these big questions about what community readiness looks like.

• Infrastructure Resiliency
• Economics & Finance
• Culture & Diversity

Suggested Sessions
OPPI’s Planning Knowledge Exchange (PKE) Committee developed a list of suggested sessions for the Symposium. This list outlines a few ideas we’d love to see in action. If you have other ideas, however, we want to hear them!

We are looking for speakers and sessions that challenge convention, spark dialogue, debate and collaboration. 

Key Dates
Online submission site opens: November 8^th

Proposals due: December 11^th

Submissions must be received no later than Midnight EST on the day of the deadline. Submissions will not be accepted after that time.

Notification of proposal status: March 2018

Presentation Formats

We recommend you submit a proposal in one of the following formats. If you have a new, exciting, and different method for your proposed session, don’t be afraid to suggest it! We are always looking for new, innovative e and engaging ways for attendees to learn.

Interactive Training Sessions

Interactive 30 or Interactive 60: Our most popular session type, 30- or 60-minute sessions are designed to teach specific skills or address specific planning related issues. These sessions should provide practical skill development for planners and can incorporate hands-on experience, audience interaction, lectures and take-away resources. Please note question and answer time is built into both Interactive 30 and 60 sessions.

Ignite Sessions

We are looking for brief yet dynamic presentations by savvy planners! These 15 minute sessions are intended to spark ideas, innovation and conversation. Short rapid-fire sessions provide bite-sized learning opportunities, usually based on an initiative or challenge. A series of ignite talks will be grouped together and presented in a given time slot.

Fishbowl Sessions

This session is designed be more of a conversation, and allows for maximum participation by attendees. Seats are arranged in a circular fashion, with 5 seats being left in the middle. These 5 seats represent the “fishbowl,” and anyone sitting in one of those seats is considered a speaker. Audience members are invited to rotate in and out to share their thoughts and continue growing the discussion. Dive into the fishbowl and engage on a new level!

Multimedia Sessions

These presentations could take the form of infographics, videos, podcasts, online communities, interactive mapping, blogs, other innovative communication tools or poster presentations (4' high x 4' wide). Presentations will remain open for viewing for the duration of the symposium and presenters will be requested to explain and discuss their work during specified times in the program. Special consideration will be provided to proposals that include reusable digital content that could be added to OPPI’s expanding library of planner-related content, located on OPPI’s Digital Learning site.

Mobile Workshops

This session format gives local planners and other OPPI members the opportunity to share local sites or projects. For the 2018 Symposium, OPPI hopes to contain mobile workshops within Greater Sudbury for ease of travel. Transportation could be on foot, bike, or public transit. Please note the transportation requirements in your proposal and be aware that workshops requiring bus transportation will be offered at an additional cost for participants.

Unlike other session formats, where the content relates back to the Symposium’s central theme, mobile workshops are not required to focus on community readiness. This is your opportunity to showcase the best in planning in Sudbury!

Presentation Support

If your proposal is accepted, you will have the option to participate in a workshop next September facilitated by an education specialist, to work with you and help you to develop and refine your session to ensure it is successful and engaging.

Submissions must contain the following information:

n	Presentation title
n	100 word session description to be used in the program
n	Identify the thematic area the presentation fits into
n	3 Learner outcomes
n	Techniques planned to engage the audience
n	Length of presentation
n	Contact details and biographical details for all speakers/facilitators
n	Requirements for audio/visual equipment or transportation
n	Whether you are willing to be recorded and/or livestreamed
n	Whether you are willing to write an entry for the Ontario Planning Journal or Planning Exchange blog

Selection Criteria
All presentations will be peer reviewed and each reviewer will assess proposals against a previously-established criteria. Click here to view the criteria. 

Please note: Presentations that are intended to solicit business or sell products/services will not be considered.

Review Process

• All submissions will be peer reviewed.
• The Committee that reviews submissions may determine that a proposal could or should be presented in a format other than that proposed. The submitter will be consulted in this circumstance.
• The main contact person listed on the proposal will be contacted via email with a final decision.
• The decision of the Review Committee on the inclusion or rejection of a proposal, and the presentation format, is final.
• Reviewer comments will not be supplied to those who have submitted proposals, nor will the Review Committee respond to requests for comment regarding rejection of any proposal.

If you have any questions about potential sessions or the call for presentations, please contact us by email at oppi@absolutevents.com.