2021 CONVENTION CALL
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
FCA 91st Annual Convention | October 14-16, 2021
Holiday Inn Resort, Lake Buena Vista (new for 2021)
CollaborACTION
***Deadline Extended: June 1st, 2021***
Vice President’s Note: We are back at it again! We’ve missed all of your smiling faces and we are eager to return to our face-to-face conference in October. At this moment, we are planning to host this conference in person in Orlando while observing federal CDC guidelines and safety precautions. However, our decision is subject to change depending on what the virus does over the course of the next few months. We will keep you all updated as we move forward. Thank you all for your patience and service to FCA! If you have questions, comments, concerns, or sarcasms, let us know!
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You’ve heard of collaboration, but we here at the Florida Communication Association are taking it one step further. We are imploring everyone to put action behind their words and take part in this years’ theme of CollaborACTION. We invite you to submit competitive papers, panel discussions, and performance sessions for our 91st Annual Convention. Our theme of CollaborACTION asks our members to reflect on the question, “How do we bridge the gaps between theory and practice?” In other words, how do we make our scholarship pragmatic? We encourage all submissions to embrace this question through your own paradigms so we can establish more practical research agendas. We welcome voices from numerous scholarly enterprises including critical or scientific research and pedagogical applications and discourse. This friendly regional conference welcomes everyone from the newest communication scholar to highly seasoned professionals and academics.
Submitting Your Proposal
This year’s convention will have two tracks: 1) Communication Theory and Empirical Research (primary scholarship, theory, and professional papers/panels with data collection) and 2) Communication Application (papers/panels, G.I.F.T.S (great ideas for teaching students), individual teaching submissions, teaching workshops, trend reporting in the discipline, reviews and reports, dissertation defense prelim/practice, and talk-backs). The convention also includes a 3) Competitive Poster Session open to anyone.
*Please indicate which track your submission fits in when submitting. Every submission will be reviewed competitively and all submissions will be considered for a best paper/panel award within its own track.*
All proposals should be submitted electronically using the FCA website at https://floridacom.org/proposal-submission/ If you experience problems submitting your proposal, please contact Lakelyn Taylor at lakelyn.taylor@ucf.edu.
Submission Tracks
Communication Theory and Empirical Research Track
Submissions to this track seek to foster a community of academics and professionals who produce new scholarship in our societal, cultural, and organizational settings. These papers, articles, and panel submissions should propose research questions or hypotheses, identify and outline communication and related theoretical framework, conduct research in one of the traditional formats: qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, or ethnography, and then provide summative (albeit preliminary) results. Authors may submit their original solo work or propose their own paper panel with papers from multiple authors and a designated chair. This track is not appropriate for book reviews, reports, or papers without empirical research. Such scholarship is welcome under Communication Application.
Communication Application Track
Submissions to the Communication Application track seek to foster a community of applied and practical scholarship, learning and pedagogical scholarship, outstanding teaching workshops, the communication arts and performative works, discussions panels, and presentations that leave members energized and invigorated. Authors/presentation teams should include a cover sheet with demographic information and indicate the work should be considered for the Communication Application track. Please be as complete in your submissions as possible. Submissions across the conference are matched with similar work for session experience of attendees. Submissions intending to be full session workshops should submitted with the word “Workshop” in the title and must contain a clear rationale for how the full session will be used.
Materials to Include
Panel/Workshop Proposals (Both Tracks)
All discussion panels, workshops, GIFTS, talk-backs, reports, and “other” presentations including paper panel proposals must include a one-page cover letter including: 1) a rationale for the proposed presentation, 2) a brief (50-word) description AND a brief (100-word) abstract for the proposed panel/workshop/paper, and 3) a list of all participants/authors including names, titles, affiliations, and contact information (email and phone number). Please clearly identify the chair of the panel/workshop, who shall serve as the primary contact.
*Please indicate student work by including the word STUDENT on your cover sheet. Student work is conducted solely by students without major contributions from faculty.*
Full Paper Submissions (Both Tracks)
Full paper submissions should include a cover sheet listing the paper title and names, titles, affiliations, emails, and phone numbers for all authors. Please indicate on the cover sheet which track you are submitting your paper to: 1) Communication Theory and Empirical Research or 2) Communication Application. Completed papers should have an abstract and NOT exceed 25 double-spaced pages, excluding references and appendices. Submission should be in either Microsoft Word or PDF.
*Please indicate student work by including the word STUDENT on your cover sheet. Student work is conducted solely by students without major contributions from faculty.*
Paper Awards
Anyone submitting work to the FCA convention will be considered for a Top Scholarship award. FCA seeks to recognize the top student and non-student scholar in each track. Submissions will be compared among like works in the respective tracks and are generally judged on: purpose, supporting literature, precedent, or rationale, novelty and creativity; professionalism and effective writing/speaking, and conference theme when applicable.
Competitive Poster Sessions
Anyone may submit poster session proposals, which must include one attachment containing: (1) a one-page rationale for the proposed poster that includes a list of all participants including names, titles, affiliations and contact information (email and phone number) & (2) a brief (50-word) description of the poster. Anyone interested in submitting extended abstracts should submit them as a poster. Please indicate your position within the communication field: undergraduate student, graduate student, faculty/staff, or industry. We will be having separate poster sessions and separate poster awards for undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty/staff, and industry submissions. For more information, please contact Katharine O’Connor at katharine.o’connor@fsw.edu.
*Student poster presentations have an extended deadline. The deadline to submit student poster presentations has been extended to October 1st, 2021.*
Additional Information:
-Conference Theme
In all scholarship/submissions preference is given to work supporting the conference theme of CollaborACTION.
-Moderators
Faculty or Graduate Students who are interested in serving as a moderator for panels please contact Lakelyn Taylor at lakelyn.taylor@ucf.edu by October 1st, 2021.
-Poster Judges
Faculty or Graduate Students who are interested in serving as judges for the poster sessions please contact Katharine O’Connor at katharine.o’connor@fsw.edu by October 1st, 2021.