Summary of Session Allocation Policy
Adopted by the APA Board, April 1998

Volunteer Sessions
are those chosen from the proposals submitted by members and other interested individuals in response to the published Call for Presentations.
(50% of the program)

Board-established programs
are on-going programs that take place each year. These programs have been approved by the Board. They include:

• Local Host Committee sessions
  5% of program
• Division Sponsored Sessions
  2 sessions per division or 16% of the program
• Bettman Symposium
  3 sessions, 2% of the program
• Stollman Ethics Symposium
  1-2 sessions, 1% of the program

Allied organization, "house" sessions, and staff-sponsored sessions
are essentially those not mandated by the Board, but that have traditionally been part of the program. They now constitute a specific percentage of the program.

Allied Organization

sessions are proposed and conducted by groups such as the Society for City and Regional Planning History, ACSP, ASCP, National Association of County Planners, URISA, Manufactured Housing Institute, Edison Electric Institute, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, among others. More sessions (no more than 2%) from these groups may be selected if they compete successfully against the Volunteer session proposals. However, a percentage of the program is set aside to accommodate these groups.
2% of the program

Training Workshops

include the K-12 programs; special focus sessions for students; professional development, planning commissioner, and GIS workshops
16% of the program

"House" Sessions

include those organized by internal interest groups, i.e. AICP-sponsored sessions, such as AICP Symposium, Planners Casebook, "Planners Threatened.
1% of the program

Department of Staff Sessions

include those organized by the research and policy departments or Planning magazine about their ongoing work, and in the case of the research department frequently address ongoing contract and grant work.
6% of the program

Student Sessions

include a job hunting session and often a poster and research session.
1% of the program

This table shows what a "typical conference of 200 sessions would look like broken down by percentage and number of sessions.

Program Percentage	Number	Group Organizing the Session
50%	100	Volunteer sessions
5%	10	Local Host Committee (does not include mobile workshops)
16%	32	Divisions (2 per division)
3%	6	Bettman and Israel Stollman Symposiums
2%	4	Allied Organizations
6%	12	Research, Policy, and Publications staff
16%	32	GIS workshops, Professional Development workshops, Planning Commissioner workshops
1%	2	AICP sessions (recently sessions have been on Best of ACSP, AICP Symposium, Practicing Planner, and Planners Threatened)
1%	2	Student sessions