We now welcome all bids to organize the #ISBNPA2026 meeting.
At this stage, we invite research groups within the field of behavioral nutrition and/or physical activity, who are interested in organizing the meeting in their city/country. ISBNPA will provide access to a private conference organizer, in close collaboration with the organizing team.
In 2024 the conference will take place in Omaha, US, in 2025 in Auckland, New Zealand.
As the annual meeting rotates between continents, bids from Europe or Aftica are preferable for the 2026 meeting, but we will consider any proposed location.
The bids should be prepared until September 30, 2023 (updated deadline). The decision will be made during the until the end of 2023. ISBNPA is prepared to support you in the preparation of the bid (see text below for more information).
1. The local organizers are expected to:
- a) be able to attract a local delegation to the meeting of at least 50 participants, preferably more
- b) communicate how many participants are needed at the meeting to reach the budgetary break-even point
- c) attract sponsors for the meeting, taking into account that ISBNPA will review every potential sponsor for consistency with its sponsorship policy.
2. Dates of the meeting should take other meetings into account, thinking about overlap, a possible combination of meetings, and other relevant factors. Dates should also take vacation periods into account in different parts of the world. Late May or early June are generally the most appropriate schedule for ISBNPA annual meetings.
VENUE CONSIDERATIONS
1.
2. The venue needs to be able to accommodate at least 800 participants in one room for the keynotes and the plenary sessions, and needs at least 8 parallel rooms (besides of the plenary room) for the parallel sessions of the symposia and orals.
3. The venue needs to have a place available for the posters (Which is large enough to put up 150 posters per day. Poster standard size is 90cm wide x 150cm high portrait style.) The poster room should have enough space to allow for poster session and can be potentially used as meeting place for people during breaks and lunch.
4. The venue needs at least one room for additional meetings of the EC, IJBNPA editorial board, etc. As previous meetings attracted more participants (up to 1,200) the possibility to accommodate a larger crowd is preferable. As in previous meetings, the use of two venues located within walking distance can also be considered.
5. The venue needs appropriate rooms and facilities not only for presentations and posters but also for workshops, EC annual meeting, Annual business/membership meeting, mentoring meetings, committee meetings/journal editorial meetings, etc.
6. We have found that as a medium size meeting we may be too small for large convention centres and as such innovative conference venues that make use of University / Hotel / large halls within the city or a combination of such settings may be interesting options that provide a stimulating, interactive meeting for between 600 and 900 people. When considering venues examine not just the cost of venue hire but also AV and food costs as often these last two costs can be very large and are an area that is open to negotiation.
7. A variety of budget options should be available for accommodation, covering a wide range of prices, especially considering the large number of students and early career researchers that typically attend ISBNPA meeting.
8. The annual meeting normally runs from Wednesday evening with a first keynote and an opening reception, to Saturday afternoon, with a closing ceremony. The day before the actual meeting (i.e. the Wednesday) a full day EC meeting and preconference workshops take place. On the evening of this day the first keynote and the opening reception are held. Further, the meeting continues for 3 complete days with presentations.
BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS
1. ISBNPA is very dependent on the income derived from every annual meeting. A minimum profit of 35,000 USD is suggested.
2. ISBNPA takes financial responsibility for the meeting, this means that all profit from the meeting (including sponsorship) goes back to ISBNPA. If a deficit occurs, it would be covered by ISBNPA.
3. A contract will be signed in advance by the chair of the local organizing committee with the venue and with the local facilitator. Finances needed at this point are made available by ISBNPA through its treasurer.
4. Sponsorship is an essential source of revenue to the society. However, all sponsors must be approved by the EC and be consistent with our sponsorship policy. Inevitably, this reduces the amount of income that can be derived from sponsorship and we, therefore, think it is crucial that all potential host teams set realistic sponsorship targets when setting the bid. I Sponsors have included local non-profit organisations, government agencies, physical activity monitoring companies, software companies and publishers.
5. In setting the registration fees we want to make sure that affordable fees for students (but they should cover at least 80% of the cost of F&B) are available and that the fee for members are at least $250 less than the non-member fee. (This is to encourage attendees to become members of the society which currently costs $250). We have included at the end of this document the fees for each category for the meetings in last 5 years.
DOCUMENTATION TO SUBMIT THE BID
Bids need to be sent to António Palmeira, ISBNPA Executive Director ([email protected]) by September 30 2023 (updated deadline). They will be discussed in the EC and decision is expected to be reached during until the end of 2023. It is likely that the EC will seek additional information from the best-placed bids before making a final decision.
Bids need to include the following information:
- a) Description of the local research group and links with ISBNPA
- b) Location of the conference
c) Accommodation costs (high, mid-range and budget options) - d) Additional activities in the area
- e) Possible sponsors and estimated amount of financial support
- f) Number of locals (i.e. from the state or country) expected to attend the conference
- g) The break-even number of paying delegates needed to cover the costs
- h) Closest airport and distance/accessibility to conference venue including International accessibility by air
