DL Program Guidelines for Program Chairperson
The following information covers the terms, guidelines and expectations of AAPG with the hosting society or university.
Lecturers:
Our lecturers are unpaid volunteers. Usually they devote at least four weeks to AAPG and are given a very demanding schedule. Talks before two societies or universities in a single day are not uncommon. Between lectures, they have to worry about transportation delays, flight connections, finding their way in strange cities, etc. It takes a strong person to stand the rigors of the tours and for many lecturers the schedule can be totally exhausting. For these reasons, our Distinguished Lecturers are not expected to give more than the scheduled number of talks. Multiple lectures will be permitted only when arranged in advance.
The ideal schedule for a lecturer is one scheduled lecture per stop and, possibly, one informal seminar, or question-and-answer period with students or society members.
If a university or society has a special desire for extra time with a speaker, we urge them to contact the Lecture Coordinator at 918-584-2555. An attempt will be made to adjust the speaker’s schedule to permit extra time for more interaction if the lecturer approves. (Often we have requests for speakers to spend weekends in specific cities).
Our speakers are pleased and flattered when parties and receptions are held for them or when they are invited to homes for dinner. However, this is often difficult to continue night after night for a couple of weeks. We encourage entertainment; but please allow the lecturers to retire gracefully at a reasonable hour if they so desire.
Obligations of Host Group:
To offset some of the travel expenses for Distinguished Lecturers, host groups are responsible for a share of tour costs. Fees are set in accordance with the size of the sponsoring organization. Our fees are as follows:
| Societies with 300 or more members | $525 |
| Societies with less than 300 members | $365 |
| University Departments | $300 waived |
Important:
Each sponsoring organization is responsible for the AAPG fee, local lodging, meals, and local transportation while the lecturer is in their city (not to exceed two days unless otherwise discussed). Hotel, meal, and travel expenses should be paid directly by the local group. However, any expenses not picked up by the participating group will be billed with the applicable fee at the end of the tour. The fees paid by each group help offset part of the travel and administrative costs of the Distinguished Lecture program.
Since our lecturers work the normal five day week, the host city on Friday is required to also pay expenses for Saturday and the Monday host city is required to pay for Sunday. It is gratifying that we get innumerable requests for speakers to spend weekends at universities or with geological societies. These are opportunities to renew or establish friendships, to take field trips in areas of joint interest, to exchange ideas, etc. Although our lecturers are not to be exploited on weekends, a day’s meals and lodging is often considered to be an insignificant price to pay for additional contact with an expert in his/her field.
It is distressing to learn that a lecturer has been virtually isolated in a small hotel in a small city over a weekend following a Friday lecture, without further word from local society members, university faculty or students. Please take special care that this does not occur.
AAPG Goals:
- To schedule our lecturers to talk to the largest audiences by traveling the shortest distance
- To schedule speakers to every society or university making a request, even if doing so entails a financial loss to AAPG
- To send speakers on the dates requested. Again, in the interest of minimizing travel, this is extremely difficult. It is doubly difficult to schedule lecturers on prescribed dates in out-of-the-way cities or those with poor air service.
Rules:
Once schedules are confirmed, it is almost impossible to make last minute changes. For this reason, NO cancellation of speakers may be made less than two weeks before the scheduled lecture date. If a group cancels a speaker after this deadline, they will be required to pay the lecture fee, unless another group can be easily substituted.
Our lecturers are committed to this AAPG Foundation program for the length of the tour season, September 1 to May 31. All requests for their talks during this period must be directed to AAPG Headquarters. A lecturer may present his talk to his local society, and no fee will be charged; but this is the only exception.
Itinerary:
In the process of solidifying a speaker’s tour, you will receive an email with the proposed dates of the Distinguished Lecturer’s tour. Once those dates are confirmed a Travel Itinerary form will be sent to you to provide hotel reservations and ground transportation arrangements. Please act on this as soon as you receive it. It is difficult to solidify and itinerary when one person is holding everything up. It is imperative that you refer to the speaker's itinerary for final flight arrival and departure times.
If an alternate program chair plans to host the speaker’s appearance instead of the submitting contact, please convey the importance of referring only to the Itinerary for the scheduled lecture date. If you have particular problems, please contact the Lecture Coordinator, Lorry Richardson at 918-560-2621 who will do all she can to assist you.