Criteria & Protocols for Talks Committee (Last updated Feb 2003)
A. CRITERIA TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN ALLOCATING TALKS: 1) Match between talk topic and speaker's areas of expertise. 2) Community service and physics analysis contributions to STAR. 3) Abilities as a speaker. 4) Details of previous relevant talks (see B.2 below). 5) Junior status (especially type of current employment). 6) Institutional and geographic balance. 7) Special criteria other than the above, if requested by conference organizers. The Talks Committee will use its best judgement in each case when deciding the relative importance of the above criteria. B. PROTOCOL FOR RECEIVING INPUT FROM THE COLLABORATION 1) The STAR Talks Committee recommends speakers to the spokesman from among collaborators who have been nominated (by any STAR collaborator) for a particular talk, or have been nominated (by any STAR collaborator) to be on the standing roster of STAR talk nominees. New nominations are welcome at any time. [The current roster is the result of merging the list inherited from the previous committee with the nominations received so far by the present committee.] 2) In order that the information called for in A.4) above can be maintained, collaborators who have, since August 2000, given a conference talk which includes STAR results are requested to enter the prompted information on the web page provided for this purpose. Colloquia/seminars at universities or labs, and contributed 10-minute APS talks are not considered relevant. Previous talks where the nominee was invited directly by the conference organizers, or may have included only publicly accessible STAR data, or had a broader scope than just STAR results, are considered somewhat relevant by the Talks Committee, although less so than talks given as a designated representative of the STAR collaboration. 3) Speakers representing STAR are reminded of their obligation under the Publication Policies to rehearse their talks and to post and get approval for any new results. In addition, the Talks Committee requests speakers to post their slides at least one week prior to departure for the meeting, and to notify STARpapers-l@lists.bnl.gov about where the slides can be found. 4) The STAR Talks Committee will actively solicit comments and suggestions from the collaboration from time to time, and when special situations arise (e.g., QM & other non-typical cases). At any time, information on pending recommendations can be viewed, and collaborators are welcome to offer comments or suggestions to the committee. 5) A STAR collaborator who receives a speaking invitation directly from conference organizers is expected to inform the spokesperson and the chair of the Talks Committee if the invitation is accepted. If a conference organizer solicits the advice of a collaborator regarding a STAR speaker, the collaborator is expected to refer the matter to the Talks Committee. C. PROTOCOL FOR REPORTING BACK TO THE COLLABORATION 1) The standing roster of talk nominees is posted and maintained on the web. 2) Talks Committee recommendations are posted on the web with the usual password protection as soon as the speaker accepts an invitation. The database of past talks going back to August 2000 is also posted in a protected area. 3) The Talks Committee notes that the charge of the Council's Publication & Talks Committee includes a periodic review of the demographic data on the distribution of talks.