Workshop Proposal

The BCI Society’s board is pleased to announce a call for workshop proposals for the 2025 BCI Meeting.

Workshops are a defining feature of the BCI Meeting Series. BCI Meeting workshops have a distinctive emphasis on interaction and contribution from all members. They help to shape the field of BCI research, producing consensus and collaborations. There will be three 3-hour workshop time slots, in which multiple workshops will run concurrently. Each workshop will engage 30-50 participants and focus on a specific topic.

Workshops can combine invited talks, targeted discussions, demonstrations, hands-on exercises and/or sharply focused debates as the leaders see fit. Workshop organization should include the participation of senior researchers to ensure proper coverage of the topic and should have speakers or featured contributors from at least 3 different institutions. The organization of the workshop should be led by at least 2 individuals from different labs/institutions/companies etc.

Workshop Proposal Guidelines

1. The workshop leaders must be BCI society members.
2. All workshops should be 3 hours in length, including a minimum of one 15-minute break
3. A workshop should have at least 2 persons from different labs collaborating in the organization of it. The organizers must guarantee that they are available to run the workshop in person at the meeting.
4. Workshops must be interactive. This is a core requirement for the 2025 meeting and will be a key consideration in evaluating workshop proposals.
5. There will be a limited number of workshop spots available for the BCI 2025 meeting – it is recommended to collaborate with others in similar spaces when developing workshop ideas.
6. The lead organizer(s) must be prepared to provide a conflict of interest (COI) disclosure for each speaker. A relevant COI is a financial relationship to a product or device from a commercial interest associated with the topic on which one is speaking.

*Note: The Conference Manager form is designed for submitting workshop proposals.  Please follow the guidelines for submitting your proposal as if it were an abstract.

 –Submission Deadline: October 31, 2024

Proposal Abstract Details

When submitting the proposal in the Conference Manager system, workshop organizers (submitters) should prepare the following information:

• Abstract (200 words): The abstract must be completed for submission review and for publication in the conference program. It should clearly and succinctly summarize the session content and learning objectives so that conference attendees can choose workshops at registration.

• Intended audience (~100 words; this information will be included with the workshop description to help attendees select workshops): Describe the audience for which the workshop is suitable, and the background attendees should have, e.g. neuroscience, engineering, clinical, etc.
  • Good – “Participants will be able to identify four obstacles facing BCI home use.”
  • Poor – “Participants will discuss BCI at home”.
• Interactive Component (~100 words; this information will be included alongside the workshop description to help attendees select workshops): To support a broad range of activities and help offer unique learning experiences at the meeting you must provide a detailed description of how you plan to build interaction into the workshop. Workshops demonstrating a thoughtful integration of interaction components on the topic will be preferred. For example,
  • Good – “This workshop will include multiple 3-5 mini-group break-out sessions between participants, who will report back to the others in the session”
  • Poor – “After the talks, there will be an open discussion between the attendees”
• Expected output (~100 words): Describe any expected output(s) from the workshop. Do you expect to publish a review paper, tutorial paper, open-source resource, create guidelines or a roadmap on a particular topic, etc.

• Timetable (1 Page Maximum): Describe how time in the workshop will be allocated and outline what each organizer will contribute. You should provide enough detail so the reviewers will have a clear idea about the workshop content and its overall organization. If there are multiple presenters for your workshop, please specify the presenter name and session content for each time allocation. The total time within the timetable must equal 3 hours.

• Presenter Information (3 Page Maximum): Please provide the following details for all Presenters, and indicate who is the Lead Organizer(s):
  • Name:
  • Title:
  • Affiliation/Company:
  • Address:
  • Phone Contact:
  • Email Contact:
  • Short Bio (<100 Words)

The combined Abstract, Learning Objective, Interactive Component, and Expected Output sections should be no more than 1.5 pages.

Scoring

There will be a limited number of workshops approved for the BCI 2025 meeting. Workshops will be evaluated as Low (1-point), Low-Medium (2-points), Medium (3-points), Medium-High (4 points) or High (5-points) value proposals, based on 3 primary metrics:

1. Uniqueness and fit to the BCI 2025 meeting.
2. The proposed interactive portion of the workshop, and its potential for augmenting the workshop material.
3. Clarity of stated objectives and outcomes for the workshop.

The final selection is made by the Program Committee, whose primary consideration is to determine what will best serve the interests of the Society and the success of the meeting. The committee will review submissions and may suggest substitutions of speakers, chairs, or request further details for selected workshops.

IMPORTANT: If the proposal is accepted by the Program Committee, the workshop organizers and all co-presenters commit to attending the meeting in person to give the workshop. Acceptance of the workshop proposal does not imply any monetary award or waiver of meeting attendance, registration, housing, or other fees. All registration and participation fees must be paid by each presenter.

Questions or clarification on the above can be directed to Eli Kinney-Lang, as needed.
Contact: eli.kinneylang [at] ucalgary.ca