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Guidelines for running a POMs meeting

Dates:  The annual "Ontario-Quebec Physical Organic Mini-symposium" is normally held in  late October or early November. The choice of the actual dates is left up to the local organizers, bearing in mind factors such as the probable weather for the area, available accommodation, and other potential events (eg. Halloween, Elections, etc.).

Location: Wherever possible the meetings should be held on a university campus, to limit costs. Accommodation, as well as eating and drinking facilities should be nearby. Otherwise, the meeting may be held in a modest hotel/motel, as long as suitable lecture and projection facilities can be provided. Also, there must be an area available for displaying posters.

Usual Format:

Among the regular participants there is a distinct preference for short talks and posters on recent work. Speakers will normally may be allocated 20 minutes (15 talk + 5 discussion). Contributions from students and post-docs are particularly welcome and encouraged. Let's face it, they have got to start somewhere, and why not in the friendly, but rigourous atmosphere of a POMs meeting. Contributed papers are solicited in an initial e-mailing in the late summer.

For preference, the posters should be in a location close to where "beverages" are available.

Invited Speakers: If there are any, they should be kept to a minimum, since the emphasis is placed on contributed papers. Also, they are the responsibility of the local organizers, as there is no ongoing POMs budget to defray speakers expenses.

Announcements and Mailings: Information is disseminated largely by E-mail and through webpages of this POMs website. An initial announcement should be sent out in the early summer. A reasonably current E-mailing list can be obtained from the most recent organizers (see - POMs History) or from Ossie Tee at Concordia University.

The meeting can also be announced earlier in the C.I.C. magazine and the R.S.C. webpages of Conferences and Events at no cost, as well as through the C.S.C. Organic Division list server. For access to the latter contact Jim Charlton at the University of Manitoba: charltn@cc.umanitoba.ca

Finances: The meeting must be self-financing as POMs has no budget, per se. The registration fee can cover mailings, xerox copies, coffee, cookies, and other sundry expenses. If a modest lunch is arranged for the Saturday this may be included in the registration fee, also. The fee to students and post-docs should be kept to a minimum to facilitate and encourage their attendance.

In recent years, POMs have received seed money ($500 or so) from the Organic Division of the Canadian Society for Chemistry. It is expected that the amount will be returned to the Division after the meeting, along with a portion of the profits, if there are any, to maintain our semi-official symbiotic relationship with the Organic Division. Now that University Conference Services routinely charge us for the use of lecture theatres, audio-visual equipment, week-end security, etc., it has become necessary to raise more support money, to keep the cost of registration modest, especially for students. Thankfully, over the years, we have received generous support from various pharmaceutical and chemistry-related companies, as well as from host university faculties and departments.

Attendance is normally in the range of 50-120. It is generally high in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, and lower in the smaller centres.

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Any questions about POMs, or offers to organize any future meeting, may be addressed to the following:

Heidi Muchall, Dept of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke W., Montreal, QC, Canada H4B 1R6
E-mail:: muchall@alcor.concordia.ca      Tel: +1 (514) 848-2424 ext 3342;     Fax: +1 (514) 848-2868

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