As soon as I was elected in Kansas City, it was my responsibility to appoint someone as RTVJ's liasion to RTNDA. I appointed Don Heider and he began his term at the BEA/RTNDA/NAB meeting in the spring. Additionally, I appointed Jim Upshaw as chair of the Bliss Award committee. It was his job to secure nominations and gather a committee to evaluate the nominations.

In Kansas City, the RTVJ officers met to brainstorm panel ideas and to discuss deadlines. The officers unanimously decided to not have a pre-convention workshop. All the officers expected to both create panels and urge others to submit panel proposals.

In addition to work by the Teaching Chair and the PF&R Chair, Anthony Moretti, then Vice-Head and Program Chair, and I worked together to encourage people to submit panel proposals. We aimed to meet an October 3 deadline for panel proposals to be submitted. We asked that panel proposals have at least two panelists who were confirmed to be on the panel if it was programmed.

After Moretti received all of the panel proposals, he circulated them among the RTVJ officers for rank ordering. Moretti took the rank ordered proposals, considered teaching and PF&R balance and submitted a selection of the submitted panels to circulate among all of the AEJMC program planners in divisions and interest groups. According to the RTVJ charter, he didn't need to do that. As the Vice-Head and Program Chair, he could have just picked the ones he liked, or the ones he thought the membership would enjoy. He made a decision that involved all of the officers in the selection of the panels that had been proposed.

The RTVJ panels were sent to AEJMC by November 1st and the packet of all of the panel proposals was then circulated among all the heads and vice heads. Moretti went to work to secure co-sponsors for RTVJ panels. Co-sponsorship extends the quantity of panels in which RTVJ participates, however, in does not extend the number of RTVJ members who participate in panels.

RTVJ programmers could choose to program all sole sponsored panels. Currently, the only carrot for co-sponsorship is AEJMC speaker funding. To secure funding for speakers the panel must be co-sponsored. (In past years, co-sponsored panels were placed on the program grid before sole sponsored panels.)

Moretti had done such a good job of securing co-sponsors that our experience at the December programming meeting was perfectly smooth. We left the meeting with a full slate of programming for the Toronto convention. He worked hard with other programmers in subsequent weeks to secure the details of the panelists and to write or monitor the writing of program copy.

In January, I submitted a request for speaker funding. In March, Moretti submitted program copy.

In June, we proofed the program copy.

So, this gives you an idea of the work involved and when it needs to be completed.