A Guide for Organisers

  1. IABS conferences should be organised and hosted by recognised Byron societies, though proposals from individual Byron scholars, universities or other research institutions will also be considered, especially where there is a strong case for a particular location that does not have a recognised Byron society. Conference proposals should be sent to the IABS Joint Secretaries for approval two years in advance. On approval from the IABS, the proposed organisers of any conference (normally representatives of the Byron society proposing the conference) should then appoint a small advisory committee, made up of senior academic members from other societies and ideally including at least one past organiser of an IABS conference, to assist in the selection of papers and to advise on practical matters.
  2. IABS conferences should ideally be held at Byron-related locations, though conferences proposed by established Byron societies based at other locations will also be considered. Conferences should normally take place in major cities and/or at major universities, and organisers must provide adequate academic facilities and recommend acceptable accommodation. The latter should be at a single location (one hotel, one hall of residence) wherever possible.
  3. Papers should be pre-selected by the organisers, with the help of the advisory committee, to ensure academic standards. Proposals from non-academic Byron society members should be welcomed, but these should only be accepted if they are of a suitable standard.
  4. Conference fee payments should be made through by Pay pal or some similar online payment system wherever this is possible.
  5. Financial assistance should be made available to postgraduate students to help them attend any IABS conference. The form of this assistance might vary (a lower conference fee for postgraduate students, for example, or a fixed number of individual grants to be applied for by postgraduate students needing financial help), and this should be decided by the conference organisers. The cost should be built into the conference fees for all other delegates.
  6. Conferences should be split between academic (60%) and other (40%) activities (such as tours, visits, free time). The organisation of both kinds of activities is the responsibility of the conference organisers. The pattern should be as follows: 3-4 consecutive days of academic papers, 2-3 other days devoted to other activities. Academic papers should end earlier on the second academic day to allow time for the IABS AGM (which should be two hours long).
  7. Delegates should be allowed to attend all activities OR just the academic programme. There should be one fee for the whole conference, and another fee for just the academic programme.
  8. Three or more parallel sessions should be avoided wherever possible.
  9. Book stalls should be solicited by organisers.
  10. Wherever possible, the conference organisers should also take on the responsibility of publishing selected conference proceedings, ideally in book form but perhaps online. However, this should not be a condition of organising a conference.