If your journal chooses to host a conference or symposium, please let the Sheena in the Student Journals Office know immediately. She can assist you throughout the entire process of planning your conferences, including requesting space, ordering food, arranging travel for your Guests, etc. When you meet with Sheena you should have a proposed date and budget, but this Can be further discussed as you flesh out the details.
Some general guidelines for planning a conference or symposium are:
Setting a date
• Consider whether you’d like your conference to happen in the fall or spring. The spring tends to fill up pretty quickly with all of the events on campus, and there tends to be fewer conflicts in the fall.
• Once you’ve picked a date, get it on the calendar! You can do this through Sheena, or by sending an e-mail to publicity@law.harvard.edu.
Fundraising
Before beginning any fundraising effort, you must meet with the Dean of Students Office and review our Alumni Office Procedures. We will place you in contact with the Development Office and review the guidelines for reporting the funds. Funds raised through outside sources must be used for the specific event for which they were raised.
HLS and Harvard University limit solicitation of alumni for funds. Any request for funds from HLS or Harvard alumni, or from law firms requires the advance approval of the Law School Development Office. Please contact Sara Bell with questions. You can also apply for funding for a symposium through the Milbank Tweed Student Conference Fund. The Milbank Tweed Student Conference Fund is available for all student organizations and journals planning conferences or symposia.
Inviting a speaker
• extend an invitation to the individual(s) you would like to speak
• if the person is a head of state, head of government, cabinet minister, or high
American official or leader, or can be considered “famous”, let Sheena know as soon as possible about contacting the university marshal’s office. For more info on the marshal’s office, visit http://www.marshal.harvard.edu/guidelines.html. Why contact the university marshal?
-to make sure that another group or school has not invited the same person and make sure that once your organization extends an invitation, no other group sends a competing invitation.
-in certain cases, the president of harvard or dean kagan may want to invite the person and the marshal can help determine that. In those cases, it will help your organization because some speakers will be more likely to come if they receive an invitation from the president or dean.
• if the speaker or any of the invited guests needs accommodations for a disability, please contact Stephanie Russo (srusso@law.harvard.edu) in the Dean of Students Office.
Reserve a room or rooms
• fill out the room reservation form at http://www.law.harvard.edu/administration/eventsoffice/
• if you have any questions about the form, or about arrangements for your event,
Contact events@law.harvard.edu or visit the events office in Pound 208.
• Please note that completing the form does not constitute a reserved room. You will
Receive a confirmation from the events office once the room is scheduled.
Reserve a/v
Contact media services to reserve a microphone, equipment for showing a powerpoint
Presentation or a film. There is also a price list available.
Security/police detail
High profile or controversial speakers—many high profile speakers will bring their own
Security details (supreme court judges, celebrities, etc.) But if you have any concerns at all
About needing extra security, let Sheena know. She can help you make decisions on requesting
Extra security detail for your event. If you decide you need extra security, notify the harvard
Police of your event to request a detail officer at http://www.hupd.harvard.edu/forms/
Publicize the event
• public and community calendar – announcements on the calendar feed into news@law and the events screen in the hark concourse. The form for putting an event on the calendar has been incorporated into the room reservation form. Or send an e-mail to publicity@law.harvard.edu.
• postering – there are bulletin boards throughout the tunnels for postering. Sheena can help you design posters, or put you in contact with ethan thomas from communications.
• stuff student mail boxes (please note that boxes marked with a red dot can only be stuffed with flyers from harvard law school organizations.)
• chalk blackboards in classrooms
Reimbursing speakers
If the student organization has sufficient funding to cover expenses for a speaker, the speaker
May be reimbursed directly. As with all reimbursements, the speaker must submit original
Receipts and a completed universal expense form (available from the student journals office).
• it is beneficial to complete this form while the speaker is on campus. The conference organizer/chair should complete as much of the form as possible and get any additional information, including a signature, while the speaker is on campus.
• the conference organizer/chair should collect receipts, or have the speaker send
Original receipts after the trip is complete to Sheena.
• The treasurer may also want to have the speaker sign a Missing Receipt Affidavit in
The event that a receipt is lost.
If you have questions regarding reimbursing a speaker, please contact Sheena (sprosper@law.harvard.edu) before the event begins.