current conference

Forty-Seventh Annual Conference, Oct. 5-8 2023, Montréal, Canada

#thegsa2023

General Information

Last update: September 26, 2023

Information for Submissions

Conference Registration

  • Conference and hotel registration
    • Conference registration: Register for GSA 2023 on the conference registration page.
    • Hotel booking: Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email containing the link to book your hotel room at the discounted GSA group rate (see below). Please check your spam folder if you don’t receive the confirmation email within a few minutes of registering.
  • Meals and registration costs (prices in USD unless otherwise noted)
    • Luncheons: $37
    • Banquet: $45
    • Exhibitor table: $250
    • Registration rates (registration rates increase $10 on 9/5/2023):
      • Regular, joint, and emeritus members: $160
        • Non-members: $230
      • Independent scholars (members): $70
        • Non-members: $135
      • Graduate students (members): $50
        • Non-members: $120

Conference Hotel

Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel
1201 Boulevard René-Lévesque West
Montréal, Québec, Canada  H3B 2L7
  • All conference-rate rooms at the conference hotel have sold out. Search for hotel availability via aRes Travel. (aRes Travel is a third-party travel planner. Rates, deposits, and cancellation policies may vary and are the responsibility of the guest. Questions on hotel policies or payments made on aRes website should be directed to the aRes Reservation Center or to the hotel directly.)

Conference Program

Information for Presenters

  • The 47th Annual Conference is an in-person conference; participants may not attend virtually (e.g. Zoom, FaceTime, etc.), nor may they have their contributions read in absentia.
  • All presenters must email advance copies of their completed papers to the commentator, and a brief biographical paragraph to the moderator, three weeks in advance of the conference at the latest.
  • Presenters in 3-person panels are expected to limit their presentations to twenty minutes. Should four presenters be scheduled, the time limit is fifteen minutes.
  • Commentators should speak for no more than ten minutes. Please note that any commentator who does not receive a completed paper by the deadline is under no obligation to offer a response on that paper at the conference.
  • Moderators are urged to let speakers know when they have only a minute or two left and then to intervene if they exceed their allotted time.
  • Withdrawals: Should changes in your situation necessitate your withdrawal, even last-minute, please inform Dr. Jennifer L. Jenkins (operations[at]thegsa.org) as soon as possible before, or if necessary, after the conference so that we may keep accurate records. We also ask that you inform your fellow session participants. For more information, please see our submission guidelines.
  • Refunds: Registration fees for cancellations by September 15, 2023 will be refunded, but will incur a cancellation penalty of 50% of the fee. No registration refund requests made after September 15, 2023 will be honored. Due to our obligations to the hotel, we cannot refund meal tickets after September 15, 2023. For more information, contact Operations Director Dr. Jennifer L. Jenkins.

Accommodation Requests

  • Accommodation requests related to a disability and accessibility should be directed to the GSA Operations Director, Dr. Jennifer L. Jenkins.

Moderators and Commentators

We encourage GSA members to volunteer as moderators and commentators in Montréal!

For the sake of independent and impartial peer review and effective oversight of session rules (such as time limits), presenters may not serve as commentator or moderator of the panel on which they are presenting; similarly, a commentator may not also serve as the moderator of the same panel and vice versa. Exceptions to this policy are only made in the case of late participant withdrawals at the discretion of the Executive Director/Program Director.

Moderators hold a crucial position in making the panel run smoothly. A session moderator's duties consist of 

  • ensuring the session starts on time
  • introducing the various speakers
  • making sure presenters limit their presentations to the amount of time allotted to them: 20 (3-person panels) or 15 (4-person panels) minutes for presenters; 10 minutes for commentator, e.g. by letting speakers know when they have only a minute or two left and then intervening if they exceed their allotted time
  • serving as m.c. for the discussion that follows
  • making sure the session concludes on time

Moderators contact the panelists in advance to 1) ensure that each panelist sends a c.v./biographical blurb to the moderator for introducing them, and 2) remind presenters to send their papers to the panel's commentator far enough in advance of the conference such that the commentator can adequately prepare the commentary (this should be done no later than ca. 3 weeks prior to the conference.)

Commentators: During a panel session, each paper presenter will present their paper (20 minutes each for 3-person panels; 15 minutes each for 4-person panels), followed by the commentator's prepared commentary (maximum 10 minutes). The floor will then be opened to discussion, moderated by the panel's moderator.  A commentator's duties include

  • preparing the commentary on the panel's papers, which aims above all to accentuate the common ground that the papers cover (i.e. the ways in which they intersect with each other; how they deal with common questions/issues/challenges and collectively raise common questions, etc.)
  • stimulating collective discussion

While commentators are free in their commentary to pose questions to individual paper authors, the overall emphasis should be more on bringing the papers into dialogue with one other rather than on discussing each of them in isolation. Presenters are responsible for sending their panel commentator copies of their papers no later than ca. 3 weeks prior to the conference so that commentators have sufficient time to prepare their comments. Please note that graduate students may not serve as commentators.

Certificate of Attendance

If you will need official confirmation of attendance (e.g. for travel reimbursement from your institution, for a tenure/promotion dossier, etc.), you must request it in person at the registration desk in Montréal.

Conference Travel Support

Please visit the following pages for information about available financial support for travel to the GSA conference:

Withdrawal from the Conference

  • All individuals withdrawing from the conference must inform the GSA. Please contact Operations Director Dr. Jennifer L. Jenkins to confirm your absence as soon as possible, even if that means after the conference, so that we can plan and also keep accurate records.
  • All non-North Americans are eligible for our travel grants, and there is no deadline for application. We also have a Community Fund to help cover conference expenses for any member, regardless of location.
  • Individuals withdrawing from the conference after acceptance of their papers and/or panels will not have their GSA membership dues refunded. 
  • Withdrawn participants may not present via video conference (Skype, Zoom, etc.) at in-person sessions, nor may they have their contributions read in absentia.
  • Conference Fee & Meal Refunds:
    • Registration fees for cancellations by September 15, 2023 will be refunded, but will incur a cancellation penalty of 50% of the fee. No registration refund requests made after September 15, 2023 will be honored. Due to our obligations to the hotel, we cannot refund meal tickets after September 15, 2023. For more information, contact Operations Director Dr. Jennifer L. Jenkins.

Conference App

For reasons of sustainability, there will be no printed program. Please refer to the electronic versions of the schedule above and download our conference app by way of this QR code: 

AV Information

All rooms used for presentations are equipped with an LCD projector and a screen. Participants will need their own laptops. The suites on floors 7 and 32–35 will be using TVs as the projector—make sure your computer has an HDMI port or bring your own adapter. Additional sound equipment is available to those whose requests were approved by the Program Committee.

Publisher and Exhibitor Information

  • Advertising order form for
    • GSA 2023 Conference Program Book (online only) – deadlines:
      • Early-bird reservations (receive 20% discount): May 19, 2023
      • Reservations & Artwork: June 15, 2023 Extended deadline: July 5, 2023
    • ​German Studies Review 46.3 issue (October 2023) – deadline:
      • Reservations & Artwork: August 15, 2023
  • Customs information
  • Exhibitor registration, package shipping instructions, booth hours
    • Exhibitor registration:
      • Proceed to conference registration; scroll down to "Exhibitor Conference Items", then check "Exhibition Table" and select the number of tables your organization would like to purchase. You will receive an emailed receipt from Johns Hopkins University Press with a link to reserve your room at the discounted GSA conference rate; please check your spam folder if you don't see it.
      • Please also complete and submit the GSA Exhibitor Survey, providing a tentative list of names and email addresses of representatives likely to attend. 
    • Package shipping instructions [note: please ensure that you read all of the above customs information before proceeding to ship!]
    • Exhibitor set-up time, booth hours, and tear-down information:
      • Set-up: Thursday, October 5, from 2:00pm–3:30pm
      • Booth hours:
        • Thursday, October 5: 3:30pm–6:00pm
        • Friday, October 6: 8:00am–6:00pm
        • Saturday, October 7: 8:00am–6:00pm
        • Sunday, October 8: 8:00am–11:00am
      • Tear-down: Completed by 12:00pm on Sunday, October 8
        • ​Tear-down procedures: The Sheraton requires that exhibitors pack their boxes properly and arrange pick-up directly with their preferred shippers. Exhibitors must fill out and print their way-bill. Once everything is packed and arranged, Sheraton staff will take the boxes and place them in storage at the loading dock until the shippers come to pick them up, ideally on the same day.

For Attendees from outside Canada

While the GSA can not advise on visa matters, conference attendees not resident in Canada may find the following Government of Canada resources helpful: