Does your ASTM committee want to:

• Gather information for a possible new area of work or a standard already underway?
• Exchange technical information?
• Encourage new members and networking?
• Provide a forum for technical discussion?

If you’ve answered yes, consider holding a symposium or workshop, and enlisting ASTM International’s staff to help.

“The resources and support available from ASTM to organize these events are fantastic — call on them with confidence,” says Daniel Lemieux, director of international operations, architecture and building science,
for Wiss, Janney, Elstner. He and co-chair Jennifer Keegan, building science solutions northeast regional manager for Intertek, are leading work for a 2018 symposium on Building Science and the Physics of Building Enclosure Performance.

A full-fledged symposium, which usually includes 10 to 15 speakers a day for a one- or two-day program, results in an ASTM publication and takes about 18 to 24 months to organize.

A half- to full-day workshop or seminar does not require a publication and can be organized in much less time once there is approval by your executive subcommittee. Usually, a workshop includes five to 10 speakers. Shorter workshops that have a minimal number of speakers can be organized in six months, which fits well with a twice-a-year meeting cycle.

Next year’s building science and enclosure performance symposium will draw from the expertise and perspectives of two committees — performance of buildings (E06) and roofing and waterproofing (D08) —  that usually do not meet together; it shows a flexibility other committees might want to explore. Lemieux anticipates that the program will “set the table for a more collaborative development of guidelines and standards that address whole building performance.”

Lemieux also offers these tips:

• Start planning early,
• Build a passionate and diverse organizing team, and
• Work closely with staff managers and workshop/symposia staff at ASTM.

A program proposal must be completed and approved by your committee’s executive subcommittee before formal planning in concert with ASTM staff can begin. And there are numerous details that will need to be tackled, all of which ASTM staff will be more than happy to assist with. But don’t hesitate: these programs can enrich your committee’s work.

Learn more here.

View/fill out the proposal form here.

ASTM STAFF
Kelly Dennison
Symposia Manager
tel +1.610.832.9568

...or contact your staff manager.