Apply for the PASS Summit 2014 Program Committee!

With over 40 weeks to go, PASS Summit 2014 may seem like the distant future, however the planning phase is already well underway. An event like the Summit is only possible because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, and opportunities to help this year are already starting to pop up.

One such opportunity is the Program Committee. It's a wonderful way to help out, even if you can't attend PASS Summit. That's right, you can be part of the Program Committee without ever leaving the comfort of your home office, balcony, back porch, or wherever else you can get an internet connection.

What does the Program Committee do? In short, they determine the program! The committee is made up of a few different teams:

The Speaker/Abstract Review Team reviews and rates every speaker and abstract submission. Based on these rankings, the session lineup is determined.

Once the lineup is set, the PowerPoint Review Team goes over the selected abstracts for things like grammar before they are published on the website and printed in the guide. They also review the final drafts of PowerPoint slide decks before being presented at the Summit.

Finally, there's a Special Projects team that helps out year-round with things like testing and reviewing the software used by the review teams.

Is it fun? I've been fortunate enough to be chosen for this committee the past 3 years, and it's been an excellent experience. It's a wonderful way to volunteer and help be a part of such a large event that so many people enjoy. It's also a great way to meet new people: I've met someone new each year through program committee.

How much time does it take? I'm not going to lie, it takes time. We're all busy people, so it's not about having time, it's about making time. In the case of speaker/abstract and PowerPoint review, you'll want to pace yourself so that it takes a few hours per day over a few weeks because there's no way you can do it all in one sitting. The number of abstracts submitted is in the hundreds, and the speaker/abstract review team reads and ranks all of them. The past 2 years I've put in probably 10-12 hours per week for 2-3 weeks doing abstract reviews.

What is reviewing like? Reviewing is tough – there are many abstracts of very high quality, and there's no way the schedule can accommodate them all. Being on this committee gave me a real appreciation for how many abstracts are submitted and how good they all are.

But I've never done anything like this before! I hadn't either, but there's a first time for everything, right? It's important to remember that you won't be doing this on your own – you are part of a team with plenty of others who are ready and willing to offer support and advice.

So I can join the committee give my abstracts the highest rating possible, right? Now that wouldn't be very fair. You most definitely can submit abstracts and be on the Program Committee, however you cannot review abstracts for tracks that you have submitted for.

Sound good? If the PASS Summit Program Committee sounds like something you'd be interested in, apply today! Applications are being accepted until 9:00pm PST, Wednesday 5 February 2014.