The planning committee reviews a list of suggested topics from the previous year's evaluations and a list of write-in suggestions. After adding their own recommendations, committee members discuss the relevance and timeliness of the topics and vote for what they consider to be the top sessions for the next year's meeting. This past year, the committee identified 10 themes and organized many of the sessions around those themes. Once the topics are determined, the committee recommends chairs for the sessions. After discussing a variety of possible session chairs during two conference calls, the committee votes to select the chairs.
Strong consideration is given to fostering a diverse group of chairs.
As the AHSR annual meeting program grows in size and complexity, often there is a need and desire to revise the meeting structure or add new types of sessions. The planning committee and the executive committee discuss suggestions from the evaluations and recommend new ideas. For example, the 1998 meeting will offer twice as many call for papers sessions as the 1997 meeting in direct response to requests from the membership for more of these sessions. In addition, the committee decreased the number of invited papers sessions to allow room for more call for papers sessions. In August, selected individuals are invited to participate on the planning committee for the next AHSR annual meeting.