What we’re looking for in a proposal

We invite proposals that address the following topics in ways relevant to AMICAL members:

• Responses to & engagement with AI in teaching & learning
• Campus-level AI strategy & implementation
• Digital pedagogy & scholarship (incl. digital liberal arts, oral history, virtual exchange)
• Leadership in libraries, centers for learning & teaching, or academic technology
• Information & other literacies (AI, digital, data, media, etc.)
• Open education & OERs
• Library resources, services and technology
• Support for research & scholarship (incl. open access)
• Teaching writing & writing centers

We will consider proposals on other topics relevant to libraries, pedagogy and academic technology at international liberal arts institutions, but the above topics will be given priority.

Proposals should target one or more of the event’s expected attendee profiles:

• Librarians (incl. library directors and instruction librarians)
• Faculty developers
• Faculty
• Coordinators of campus-wide programs/initiatives (e.g. campus-level AI initiatives, writing centers, first-year experience programs, etc.)
• Deans & provosts
• Instructional technologists and designers
• IT directors and staff

Speakers should be in a role at their institution that aligns with the topic of their session, or the reason for the discrepancy should be adequately explained in the proposal.

The scope of a proposal should respect the limits and requirements of the chosen format – see below for more details on each format.

Proposal abstracts should clearly and succinctly communicate to prospective attendees what will be covered during the session and what their main takeaways will be.

We will give priority to proposals that do one or more of the following:

• Address AMICAL members specifically, speaking to issues relevant to AMICAL institutions, with their American-international liberal arts environments.
• Have topics that address emerging trends and/or current needs.
• Offer concrete ideas on improving practices and resources, or addressing challenges, at our institutions.
• Involve or discuss collaboration across professional roles or AMICAL institutions.
• Showcase, discuss or leverage the impact of previous AMICAL professional development.
• Have speakers from different roles and/or institutions (only applicable if there are multiple speakers).

If you are proposing a session with one of the “long formats” listed below: we will give priority to your proposal if it is organized in collaboration with a committee or interest group. We encourage you to reach out to the chair/convener of a relevant group. If you’re not sure how to do that, send an email to contact@amicalnet.org and we will introduce you.

Session formats

A session may be proposed in any of the following formats:

• Presentation (15 mins)
• Long formats (the following require attending a support meeting if accepted):
  • Guided practice workshop (60-120 mins)
  • Fishbowl discussion (75-90 mins)
  • Interactive session (60-120 mins) – requires submitting an early draft proposal & attending a feedback meeting

Please read the format guidelines carefully! We will decline proposals that do not satisfy a format’s stated requirements. For example, a presentation with 3 speakers, a workshop without a concrete product as an outcome, etc.

🎤 Presentation

Share your initiatives, projects, resources, or research – whether finished or in-progress – with peers across the consortium.

• Proposals can be submitted for individual presentations up to a maximum of 15 minutes.
• Presentations can be delivered by 1 or 2 presenters. The second presenter may be a student from your institution or an AMICAL partner.
• Presentations must focus on work that the presenter(s) led or were actively involved with.
• Presenters may pre-record their presentation if they need to, but will still need to be present for the entire session.
• Accepted presentations will be grouped into topical panels of 2-4 presentations. A shared Q&A segment will take place after the presentations, enabling the audience to ask questions from all presenters. The entire panel session will last 60-90 mins, depending on the number of presentations.

You may find it helpful to review examples of strong proposals from AMICAL 2024, which used a similar format (though with a 10 minute limit).

🛠️ Guided practice workshop

Instruct participants in specific tools, platforms, or methods.

• Workshops are dedicated entirely to guided practice. Participants will follow along with your instructions – working directly with specific tools, platforms or methods – and can ask for real-time help.
• In addition to gaining skills and experience, participants will actively create/develop something specific during the workshop and leave with a concrete product.
• Workshops can be delivered by 1 or 2 facilitators.
• Proposals must include an outline of the session’s structure, including what will be covered and approximate, but realistic, timing.
• Proposals must also include a description of the concrete product participants will leave with.
• Duration: 60–120 mins.

🐟 Fishbowl discussion

Share know-how gained from experience with a larger community through discussion.

• This format calls for 3 types of participant: 1-2 facilitators, 4-6 invited discussants (the “fish” whose interactions will be watched in the “fishbowl”), and the attendee audience.
  • The “fish” should have experience with and made concrete progress on an issue, challenge or project of interest to other conference attendees.
  • Each “fish” must be from a different AMICAL institution.
  • 1-2 of the “fish” can double as facilitators.
• This format uses a particular three-part structure based on Users Experience Fishbowl Liberating Structure:
  • Part 1: The “fish” take turns describing their experience—the good, the bad, and the ugly—informally, concretely, and openly in conversation with each other as if the audience wasn’t there. (No formal presentations!)
  • Part 2: The facilitator presents to the “fish” the questions posed by attendees via chat. The “fish” respond by discussing amongst themselves, as before. This part continues until questions wind down, or the 30-minute time limit is reached.
  • Part 3: All attendees (including the “fish”) are invited to reflect on their own for a few minutes in writing – including takeaways, questions/challenges, and next steps. Attendees are then put in breakout rooms in groups of three. Attendees take turns sharing their reflection, while those listening take notes in a shared document. After each person has shared, there is an open discussion in the breakout room. Finally, all attendees return to the main room for a brief opportunity to review the shared notes doc.
• Duration: 75-90 mins total (with 3 parts of about 30 mins each).
• The proposal should include a list of the “fish” and their respective experience/expertise. The “fish” should have confirmed to the proposer they are willing to participate in this session format and share details about their experience in public.

🤝 Interactive session

Enable participants to explore and engage with a topic through a variety of interactive approaches.

• Interactive sessions are designed around participant engagement, so that they can explore ideas/concepts, discuss challenges, practice something, or share and get feedback on ideas.
• At least two-thirds of the session’s work should be done primarily by participants. These activities might include:
  • Working in small groups
  • Answering questions in chat or via polling tools like Slido and Mentimeter
  • Exercises
  • Guided practices
  • Collaborative editing on Google docs or slides
  • Other interactive activities, such as Liberating Structures (Troika/Wise Crowds, 15% Solutions, 1-2-4-All, Conversation Café, etc.)
• Interactive sessions can be delivered by 1 or 2 facilitators.
• Proposals must include an outline of the session’s structure, including what will be covered, how the audience will be engaged throughout the session, as well as approximate, but realistic, timing.
• Proposals must also include a description of the practical takeaways participants will leave with.
• Duration: 60–120 mins

Additional guidelines

• If a proposal has multiple speakers, all of them must be contributors in the development and delivery of the session. We understand that sessions may represent the work of several people (co-authors or project collaborators). You are encouraged to recognize them in your session abstract and materials, but they cannot be listed formally on the schedule, as that exclusively represents the speakers who will be delivering the session.
• We will consider multiple proposals from the same speaker(s), but to support diversity in the program it is unlikely we will be able to accept more than one of the proposed sessions.
• We will not consider multiple proposals for the same initiative/project.

How will proposals be reviewed?

Proposals will be reviewed for inclusion into the program on the basis of the criteria noted above by at least 2 members of the AMICAL 2025 Program Committee.

All things being equal, priority will be given to speakers from institutions or professional roles underrepresented in AMICAL programs, and to proposals with topics that have not been addressed by other proposals.

A response will be sent out within three weeks of the deadline, noting whether the proposal is:

• Accepted into the program as-is
• Accepted into the program with minor revisions, along with a list of requested revisions
• Declined and not included in the program. This may be due to the proposal not being well-aligned with this call, insufficient space in the program, or both.

We are not able to offer individualized feedback, but we can share our review notes with you if requested.

Accepted proposals will be invited to attend a brief support meeting. This is optional for Presentations, but mandatory for the long formats.

Accepted proposals will be scheduled for Monday–Thursday, between 10 am and 5 pm Paris time, during the planned conference dates (19–29 May 2025). Tentative scheduling will be communicated to speakers by late March (or sooner). You should inform the organizers as early as possible of any scheduling constraints. We cannot guarantee that these constraints will be accommodated, but we will do our best if given sufficient notice.

Preparing your proposal & getting assistance

We strongly recommend preparing your proposal content as a separate document before entering it in the proposal form. We provide a Google Doc proposal template, which you can duplicate in other formats as well (PDF, DOCX, ODT), to use for your draft.

As you are working on your proposal, you may also find it helpful to refer to the proposal review criteria, which succinctly lists all the requirements and priorities for this call.

We’ll also be holding a number of information sessions in the coming two months:

• Info Session #1 – 17 December 2024, 11:00 Paris time (see local time)
• Info Session #2 – 9 January 2025, 11:00 Paris time (see local time)
• Info Session #3 – 21 January 2025, 11:00 Paris time (see local time)
• Info Session #4 – 5 February 2025, 11:00 Paris time (see local time)
• Info Session #5 – 10 February 2025, 11:00 Paris time (see local time)

You can sign up to any of these sessions to learn about the available formats and how to submit a strong proposal. We will also answer any questions you may have.

If you’d like to receive feedback on your proposal, we encourage you to draft your proposal using the proposal template and sharing it with contact@amicalnet.org at least a day before the session you’ll be attending.

If you have questions about the proposal process, you can also email us at contact@amicalnet.org

Submit a proposal

Submission deadline extended to: 20 February at 23:59.