Call for Proposals BELTA Day 2019

BELTA Day

11 May 2019

The 7th Edition

Introduction

The annual BELTA Day is a significant conference in Belgium, and Europe, as it brings together English language teachers from all over Belgium, Europe, and the world. It is a unique opportunity to present new approaches, ideas and activities in an English as a Foreign Language context.

It is essential that you read this introduction, the criteria for selection and the guidelines on this page.

Call for proposals must be submitted online by clicking the link on this page.

The deadline for submitting a proposal is midnight on 31 December 2018.

You will receive an email with the result of your proposal by 1 February 2019.

All speakers who have a proposal accepted MUST register and PAY a registration fee. The fee for the speakers is 35 euros for the full conference; speakers must register by midnight on 5 May 2019. Any speaker who has not registered or paid the fee runs the risk of having their session canceled.

You do not have to be a current member of BELTA to present, but you can choose to become a member when you pay your speaker's fee. Becoming a member will entitle you to all the membership. This includes being able to submit for the IATEFL Manchester 2020 Travel Grant. The total cost of membership and BELTA Day is 65 euros.

All proposals are read blind by a committee comprised of Board members and individual members. Every year the quality and number of proposals submitted increase. Feedback from participants informs the current guidelines and the selection criteria. The focus of the selection committee is to find talks/workshops that our previous delegates have indicated that they would like to see/hear. Based on past evaluations, we know that non-practical, highly theoretical talks/workshops do not go over well with our delegates. They prefer new, insightful ideas and activities that they can apply to a variety of classroom situations. Please take this into account when writing up your proposal.

Content Criteria

Focus

In your abstract and summary, you must indicate whether the focus of your session is mainly theoretical or practical, or a combination of both.

Clarity

Your title should communicate what you are going to talk about to your potential audience in the programme without being gimmicky or using unnecessary technical jargon. In your abstract and summary, you must clearly state precisely what you are going to talk about in the presentation.

Content

It must be clear from your abstract and summary that you have something new to say or that you play to shed some new light on a topic.

Relevance

In your abstract and summary, it must be clear how your audience can apply what you say to their context. This is especially important if you are planning to describe a course, project or product, or if your presentation relies heavily on a description of a local situation.

Specificity

If your session is based on research, it must be clear in your abstract and summary that you are going to report on a completed study or on a significant phase that has been completed.

Audience

It must be clear from your abstract and summary that you have catered for the level of knowledge of your target audience which you have indicated in your choice of audience focus.

Structure

In your summary, you must clearly outline how you are going to structure and organize your session.

Coherence

Your session title, summary, and abstract must reflect each other.

Timing

For a talk, it must be clear in your summary that there is sufficient time for the audience to ask questions. For a workshop, it must be clear in your summary that there will be a substantial amount of time allocated for audience participation.

Guidelines

The Call for Proposals opens on Saturday, 15 September 2018 and closes on 31 December 2018 at midnight. You will receive an email by 1 February 2019 informing you of the Selection committee's decision regarding your proposal. If your proposal is accepted, you must:

Indicate via email your acknowledgment of the acceptance or rejection. If your proposal is rejected, you can request feedback from the committee about their decision. If acknowledgment email must be sent to beltapresident@gmail.com by 14 February 2019.

Register for the conference and pay the fee (35 euros for BELTA Day OR 65 euros for BELTA Day and full membership) by 5 May 2019.

Speakers may submit only ONE proposal.

Completing the online form:

NOTE: All required fields are indicated. You will not be allowed to submit your form if a required field is left blank.

General Information

Please review this information, which gives some information about the form and the critical dates associated with BELTA Day 2019. You can find these dates here as well.

IMPORTANT DATES:

15 September 2018: Call for Proposals opens

30 December 2018: Call for Proposals closes

1 February 2019: Acceptance letters sent out to all possible speakers

15 February 2019: Publication of BELTA Day schedule / Registration Opens

5 May 2019: Registration closes

10 May 2019: Pre-conference Dinner (at own cost)

11 May 2019: BELTA Day & Post-conference Dinner (at own cost)

SPEAKER(S) INFORMATION

NOTE: Up to two presenters can submit information via this form. If there are more than 2 speakers, then please add the information required in the section provided on the form. Each speaker must register and pay the correct fees.

Speaker One

NAME: please enter your first name last name (John Smith). Please use proper writing conventions.

POSITION: please indicate your present position

TELEPHONE NUMBER: please enter your country code (no 00 or + is required) and your complete telephone number. This information is only used to contact you if there is a problem on the day of the event.

CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS: please enter your email at which we send all the pertinent information; please use an email address that you will see daily.

ENTER YOUR EMAIL AGAIN: this is only for verification purposes

INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: enter the name of the institution for which your work; if you are associated with an institution, you can enter PRIVATE or FREELANCE

COUNTRY: please enter the country in which you presently reside

SPEAKER ONE'S BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN THE PROGRAMME: Please enter a short bio that will be featured on our website and in the programme. This is a limited field; your bio must be between 50 and 60 words. Please note that any longer text fields may be edited when including it in the programme.

SPEAKER ONE'S HEAD SHOT FOR INCLUSION IN THE PROGRAMME: Please upload a recent head shot that is both digital and print ready. All files are limited to 20 MB.

Speaker Two

NOTE: If there is only one speaker associated with this proposal, this section can be skipped. None of these fields are required.

NAME: please enter your first name last name (John Smith). Please use proper writing conventions.

POSITION: please indicate your present position

TELEPHONE NUMBER: please enter your country code (no 00 or + is required) and your complete telephone number. This information is only used to contact you if there is a problem on the day of the event.

CONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS: please enter your email at which we send all the pertinent information; please use an email address that you will see daily.

ENTER YOUR EMAIL AGAIN: this is just for verification purposes

INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: enter the name of the institution for which your work; if you are associated with an institution, you can enter PRIVATE or FREELANCE

COUNTRY: please enter the country in which you presently reside

SPEAKER ONE'S BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN THE PROGRAMME: Please enter a short bio that will be featured on our website and in the programme. This is a limited field; your bio must be between 50 and 60 words. Please note that longer text may be edited when including it in the programme.

SPEAKER ONE'S HEAD SHOT FOR INCLUSION IN THE PROGRAMME: Please upload a recent head shot that is both digital and print ready. All files are limited to 20 MB.

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

NOTE: This section is used by the Selection Committee to decide on the presentations for BELTA Day 2019. Make sure that you have read the criteria on this page.

Title of Presentation: a maximum of 10 words

Presentation abstract (to appear on the BELTA website and in the BELTA Day programme) a maximum of 60 words. Please note that any longer text fields may be edited when including it in the programme.

Presentation Summary and focus on publications/projects/products (Maximum of 200 words)

This information will not appear in the programme, but it will appear on the conference website and it will be used to by the Selection Committee to make a final determination about the proposals.

Presentation Length: You can submit a 45-minute practical session or 90-minute hands-on workshop. Please Note: Our delegates have consistently rated practical workshops higher; 45-minute sessions with too much theory usually receive a negative rating and not usually accepted AND the 90-workshops are limited.

Conference Theme: Is the topic of your proposal related to or associated with the theme of the conference, ‘Language Learning: Focusing on Success'? (If you say ‘YES,' we will consider your proposal for our designated theme room and the general topic rooms. If you say ‘NO', you will be asked to identify the audience focus.

Audience Focus: Which audience is this talk/workshop geared to? (You can choose more than one.) This information is included in the BELTA Day programme.

Representation: Do you represent a publisher or is your proposal limited to published materials?

All rooms come with a projector and a whiteboard. All locations include WiFi access. You will need to bring your own laptop or tablet if you wish to project any information. BELTA does not supply computer equipment for any of the sessions. You are responsible for your own devices, including any connected devices required by Mac Books.

Presenters Dinner

On Friday (the night before the conference) and Saturday (after the conference), the BELTA Board, the Plenary Speaker, and some volunteers gather together for dinner in a local restaurant.

In the past, many of the presenters have joined us. It is a great way to get to know each other and discuss the conference.

We usually choose a good ethnic restaurant one night and a Belgian restaurant on the other.

Everyone is responsible for their own meal and drinks.

Both speakers can opt-in or -out; you can always change your preference later.

GOOD LUCK!

Submit your proposal today!

Call for Proposals