ARO 2010 MidWinter Meeting Call for WORKSHOP and SYMPOSIUM Proposals The ARO Program Committee is presently soliciting proposals for Symposia and Workshops for the 2010 MidWinter Meeting. Symposia are organized as a series of oral presentations on a theme. Preference will be given to proposals that strive for novel syntheses across or within existing disciplines or explorations of new approaches that will expand research in new directions. Speakers from outside the usual ARO circle are encouraged insofar as they might contribute a novel perspective. Note that the ARO will reimburse coach-class travel expenses and will pay a small honorarium for non-ARO-member symposium and workshop speakers. Workshops can be on topics of interest to a focused subgroup of ARO members or might focus on a particular technical innovation. Workshops often are scheduled for late afternoon or early evening. The Program Committee encourages participation in symposia and workshops by non-U.S. scientists. Proposal submission involves two steps: submission of a Letter of Intent followed by solicitation of a Formal Proposal. Letters of Intent are requested with a strict due date of Monday, February 16, 2009, at 10:00 am. The letter can be emailed (preferred) or hand-delivered to the Program Committee chair or to the ARO Registration desk (attn: Program Committee chair) at the 2009 MidWinter Meeting. The late due date for proposals is intended to accommodate symposia that might arise from discussions in the first day or two of the MidWinter Meeting - earlier submission is encouraged if possible. The Letter of Intent should include: Name of the organizer with contact information, including email The session title A brief (<300 word) description of the theme and target audience A tentative list of speakers (4 to 7), with descriptive titles of their topics. Indicate whether each speaker has been contacted and agreed to participate. Not all speakers need to have committed at this point. The program committee will meet during the 2009 MidWinter Meeting to select the topics of interest. Formal proposals will then be solicited. The formal proposals will include agreements to participate from all the speakers, brief preliminary abstracts for each talk, a time schedule, etc. Solicited formal proposals will be due on April 10, 2009. The Program Committee will evaluate the proposals shortly thereafter and will make the final selections. Note that the final abstract for each symposium or workshop talk will be due at the regular abstract submission time, September 1 - October 1, 2009. Send Proposals to: Sharon G. Kujawa Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary 243 Charles St., Boston, MA 02114 Phone: 617-573-6382, FAX: 617-573-3023 Email: sharon_kujawa@meei.harvard.edu E-mail is preferred.              Thank you for visiting the Association for Research in Otolaryngology ARO Office: 19 Mantua Rd. Mt. Royal, NJ 08061 USA headquarters@aro.org