We are excited to invite you to submit a workshop or side event proposal for the Health-Related Water Microbiology symposium, scheduled from June 15-20 2025, in the Netherlands.
Workshop and side event format and objectives:
Workshops
During the week, a 1.5 hour long workshop is planned for each day (Monday 16 – Thursday 19 June) on the proposed conference topics. We welcome proposals on global change and water safety/microbial hazards, new tools, water as information source for health, control options in a changing world, and impact. These workshops are intended to be plenary for all participants of the conference, approximately 450 people. We are looking for workshops that are attractive, relevant to a diverse audience and highly interactive. They should not be limited to traditional presentation sessions, but contain interactive components such as roundtables, panel discussions, breakout sessions or serious gaming, to name a few suggestions. These sessions will provide the opportunity for a deep dive on the topic.
Side Events
On Sunday the 15th of June or Friday the 20th of June, 1.5 hour side event opportunities exist. These side-events can be organised for the full audience of ~450 participants, or for a smaller audience. For the side events, we are also looking for attractive, relevant, and interactive events. Your side event can cover a wide range of topics, objectives and set-ups, including, but not limited to: more general topics, such as paper writing, storytelling and career development; or topics on content, such as agenda setting, a think tank, testing a theory or tool, or paper development. They can also cover topics which are more out of the box, such as complex problem solving or creative or active sessions.
Workshop and side event facilitation
As a workshop or side event organiser, you will be responsible for the facilitation of your session. You are required to join the workshop or side event in person. Organising workshops or side events for large groups requires creativity and careful preparation. Organizing plenary workshops does not require keeping all participants together for the full 1.5 hours; you can start and end in a plenary session and split into groups for the remainder of the time. For both the workshops and side events we suggest the use of technology to increase interaction, such as Mentimeter, Miro, Mural, Padlet, Slido and the like. We encourage a focus on inclusivity and diversity among facilitators, contributors and participants. We encourage young water professionals to submit a workshop proposal or to be connected to workshop proposals. After the workshop, organisers will be expected to briefly summarise the workshop outcomes and potential follow-up.
Support and facilities:
The symposium organisation team will assist with the setup and can provide the following facilities:
- A theatre with a large screen
- A large open space with a small podium (but no screen)
- Seven breakout rooms with screens (size based on theatre setup):
- One breakout room for up to 140 people
- Two breakout rooms for up to 90 people
- Two breakout rooms for up to 75 people
- One breakout room for up to 30 people
- One breakout room for up to 25 people
- Equipment, such as posterboards, flip charts, sticky notes, and markers
Feel free to discuss your ideas with the symposium organisers to ask for more details and share thoughts. Contact details are available here.
How to propose a workshop or side event:
We invite you to submit a workshop or side event proposal in our conference submission system. Your proposal should have a maximum word count of 1,000 words and include:
- Introduction (200 words): What is the purpose of your workshop or side event and its importance and relevance to the target audience?
- Objectives (150 words): What are the specific goals you aim to achieve?
- Methodology/Format (250 words): What are the structure and format of the workshop or side event, and how will participants engage?
- Expected outcome (150 words): What is the tangible outcome expected from the workshop or side event?
- Materials and resources (150 words): List the necessary material, equipment, and resources, including room setup and office supplies.
- Explanation of diversity and inclusivity (100 words): Briefly describe how you will ensure that you workshop or side event is inclusive and diverse in terms of facilitators, contributors and participants.
Submit your proposal by October 11, 2024. The organising committee will evaluate submissions based on relevance, clarity, feasibility, interactivity/engagement, and diversity and inclusivity. The organising committee can also make pragmatic decisions on the programme planning. For workshops, you will be notified of the decision by the 31st of January. For side events you will be notified of the decision by October 23, 2024, to allow for registration for side events once the registration opens.
We look forward to your proposals.