05/15/2024

ECA 2025 Convention Organizational Communication Interest Group Call for Submissions

Convention Information

Location: Hyatt Regency, Buffalo, New York
Date: March 26-30, 2025
Theme: “Contemporary Problems, Creative Solutions”
Submission Deadline: October 16, 11:59 PM (EST)
Interest Group Chair and Planner: Casey M. Stratton, Salisbury University (cmstratton@salisbury.edu)

Overview

In our dynamic world, contemporary problems require creative solutions. Who can we turn to? Organizational communication researchers, teachers, practitioners, students, and enthusiasts can provide theoretical and practical insight. With the perplexities of politics, artificial intelligence, social justice, and other contemporary conundrums, our unique communicative, organizing lenses offer creativity. Together, we can expose boundaries to our thinking, question our problems, and develop “best” solutions, remaining ever-flexible.

Our Focus

ECA 2025 in Buffalo offers a space to collaborate and discuss some of these pressing questions:

• How can Organizational Communication scholarship, teaching, and practice provide creative solutions to contemporary societal, environmental, geopolitical, technological, and economic problems?
• How can we best prepare learners to address contemporary problems with creative solutions?
• How can we extend Organizational Communication scholarship, teaching, and practice beyond “traditional” bounds?

Our Participants

We encourage all to contribute their ideas, whether you are “inside” or “outside” the field of Organizational Communication, the Communication Discipline, or Higher Education. We seek submissions from researchers, educators, undergraduate and graduate students, life-long learners, organizational members, and anyone willing to contribute to our conversation on contemporary problems and creative solutions.

Our Interest Group

Each Interest Group at ECA will have its unique focus. Doing so keeps us organized in our conversations. Defining Organizational Communication in a certain way (e.g., corporate, traditional businesses) might limit our creativity and create siloed communities. Thus, we remain open in our definition of our group, generally centering our identity on the following:

• Communicative behaviors in organizational settings (e.g., groups, workplaces, profit and non-profit organizations, communities, institutions)
• Creation of meaning, production of messages, and processing of information
• Processes of organizing, structuring, and coordinating

Submissions

General Submission Guidelines

All submissions should adhere to the following procedures:

1. No submitting a paper or panel to multiple interest groups.
2. No presenting work already performed at another convention (conference).
3. All submissions must be uploaded through Attendee Interactive, https://ww4.aievolution.com/eca2501/. Training material is available online for using this site. Contact Jordan Atkinson (atkinson@ku.edu) for questions related to the submission site, beyond the training resources provided.
4. All entries should include the following statement of professionalism on the title page:
   1. "In submitting the attached paper or proposal, I/we recognize that this submission is considered a professional responsibility. I/we agree to present this paper or program/panel if it is accepted and programmed. I/we further recognize that all who attend and present at ECA's annual meeting must register and pay the required fees.”

Submission Types

Contemporary problems and creative solutions may require departing from “traditional” models of academic conference presentations. We organize entries under two general terms: Competitive Papers and Panel Submissions. We further divide these into sub-categories as outlined below.

Competitive Paper Submissions

We invite completed research papers, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) reports, and Extended Abstracts. All competitive paper submissions should follow these procedures:

1. Follow the general submission guidelines above.
2. Remove identifying information (e.g., names, organizations) for blind review.
3. Mark the title page with “Debut” if written by authors presenting for the first time at a regional or national academic convention.
4. Mark the title page with “Student” if authored entirely by undergraduate or graduate students. All authors must be students at the time of submission.
5. If the paper has multiple authors, please indicate, on the title page, who will present at the convention (e.g., all authors, first author, second author, etc.), without disclosing names.
6. Mark the title page with one of the following categories (as described below): Completed Research Paper, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), or Extended Abstract.
7. Include a one-page abstract

We invite the following submissions as competitive papers:

Completed Research Papers

Description: A completed, original study or substantial literature review of no more than 8,000 words (not including the title page, abstract, references, tables, and figures). Completed research papers are eligible for a Top Paper award.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Reports

Description: A systematic investigation of a teaching or learning issue, bridging the gap between research and classroom practice related to organizational communication or similar courses (e.g., leadership, training). The completed paper should include no more than 8,000 words (not including the title page, abstract, references, tables, and figures).

Research Escalator Extended Abstracts

Description: Works-in-progress on research related to organizational communication aiming for discussion and feedback from experienced scholars and peers. The extended abstract should include 500 to 750 words (not including the title page, abstract, or references). We will prioritize submissions that will likely reach completion by the 2025 convention. We will accept extended abstracts in the earlier research stages; however, we will only schedule these If we have leftover slots.

Competitive Panel Submissions

We invite panel discussions focused on research and sessions focused on teaching, as described below. All panel submissions should include the following information on their submission document, repeating where necessary in Attendee Interactive.

1. Follow the general submission guidelines above.
2. A thematic, catchy title for the session.
3. A 75-word description for the entire panel, as it should appear in the program.
4. Names of the chair and respondents (if any). Chairs should not be designated as respondents.
5. A list of presenters, including their affiliations, emails, and roles (e.g., undergraduate student, graduate student, assistant professor, consultant, etc.).
6. A 300–400-word rationale elaborating on the panel’s focus, purpose, importance, and relevance.

We invite the following panel submission types—open to all participants, including undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, practitioners, and more. 

Panel Discussion: Issue-Based Group Discussion

A preconceived, complete session in which a panel of presenters addresses a particular issue (e.g., teaching, research, practice), often in a conversational style, but without individually titled presentations. Highly rated panels include many participants from differing institutions, diverse perspectives, and cross-disciplinary experiences.

Panel Discussion: Theme-based Individual Presentations

A preconceived, complete session in which individual presenters share extemporaneous presentations focused around a common theme (e.g., teaching upper-division organizational communication courses, best practices for research, applying concepts to organizational settings). For each presenter, include a unique title of the presentation, along with a 75-word description of the contribution. Highly rated panels include many participants from differing institutions, diverse perspectives, and cross-disciplinary experiences.

Panel Discussion: Course Workshop

Similar to a short course, a presenter showcases semester-long plans for organizational communication (or similar) courses, highlighting activities, best practices, and lessons learned. In your submission, include audience engagement strategies. These sessions should be highly interactive, where audience members take on the role of a learner experiencing your course activities. Facilitators might also enlist the assistance of past (or current) learners to either co-present or share commentary about the learning experience. Highly rated panels will include a detailed plan for engagement, involving student (learner) voices where possible.

Acceptance Notifications

We will send notifications of acceptance in January 2025.

Call for Reviewers

We invite all to share their voice in the review process. We call undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff, professionals, and anyone else willing to offer peer review on our submissions. We will begin reviewing the week of October 16^th with a review deadline of November 15^th. We also seek individuals to serve as session chairs and respondents. Interested? Provide your information on the following form where you can indicate your availability: https://forms.gle/qXf5GKnikt8BKXyB6

Questions or Brainstorming Help?

If you have questions about the submission process or alternative program categories, contact Casey M. Stratton (2025 program planner) at cmstratton@salisbury.edu