Nomination Procedures

Distinguished Lecturers are nominated by their peers, and selected by the Distinguished Lecturer Committee for quality, timeliness and relevance of presentations. We solicit nominations from each region of the world to cover all disciplines.

Nominee characteristics

Each lecturer chosen by the Distinguished Lecturer Committee is:

  • An expert in his or her field
  • An experienced and articulate public speaker who is comfortable speaking to different audiences in English
  • Willing to volunteer personal time to instruct and share knowledge with other SPE members
  • Willing to travel for an average of 20 presentations with tours lasting around four days or as long as two weeks
  • An experienced traveler—tours can be rigorous due to flight schedules, routing and transportation between sections
  • Represent the Society of Petroleum Engineers as an effective ambassador for the profession and Society.

To nominate

Note: The DL Committee does not accept self nominations.

  1. If possible, speak to the person you are nominating in advance so they can review the requirements of the program and be prepared to complete the nomination process.
    • Give the nominee sufficient notice to have all requirements completed by the deadline of 31 March. Have the nominee’s first and last name and email address ready before nomination.
  2. Complete the online nomination form.
  3. When the nomination form is complete, click the submit button at the bottom of the screen. You will receive an email confirming your submission. The nominee will receive an email requesting their participation in the program.
  4. Deadline to submit a nomination is 15 March.

If you are nominated

You will receive an email informing you of the nomination with instructions for the online form. Complete all steps by 31 March.

You do not have to complete in one session and may save a draft during the process.

  1. Create a unique login. An account is established for each nominee.
  2. Include one topic per nominee. The committee will review one topic per nominee, do not submit more than one topic.
  3. Complete the online nomination information form and save a draft. This will start your folder and allow you to log back in to submit requirements. Upload all of the following required items.
    • A presentation that can be given in 30 minutes and is NO LONGER THAN 40 SLIDES:
      • File types accepted: .pdf only
      • If desired a link to the nominee’s online presentation such as YouTube, etc. video may be included but is not required.
      • File name: 30 min preso-nominee last name.nominee first name (example: 30 min preso-Smith.Joe.pdf)
    • Two separate recommendations are required and must be received by the deadline. Utilizing the online form, the nominee will request the two recommendations by entering the recommender’s email address.  Requests for recommendations will then be sent automatically to the recommender’s email that will allow them to upload a recommendation letter.  An email notification will be sent to the nominee letting them know the status of each recommendation request.  Reminders will also automatically be sent to the recommender.  It is strongly suggested for the nominee to email the recommender to ensure that the request is received as it may arrive in their spam folder.
        • Note: Only one of the forms (the two recommendations or original nominator) can be from the nominee’s company.
        • Note: You will be unable to submit your packet until BOTH recommendation letters have been received.
        • Required Abstract/bio master form:
              • Abstract: Include brief description of presentation. In addition, please include an answer to the question "What is the one idea you would like the members to take away from this lecture?"
              • Biography and abstract must be on the same abstract/bio master form (.doc) in 12-point font. See a sample abstract (.doc)
              • Biography: no more than 100 words; abstract: no more than 250 words
              • File types accepted:  .doc or .docx
              • File name:  Abs-Bio-nominee last name.nominee first name (example:  Abs-Bio-Smith.Joe.doc)
  4. After completing and uploading all items, click the "submit" button at the bottom of the screen. The nomination process cannot be completed unless all of the required items are received by the deadline 31 March.

You have the option to save your progress at any time and come back at a later date to complete the form. Once submitted, the nomination form cannot be changed.




 

Selection Process

As part of the SPE Distinguished Lecturer (DL) selection process approximately 100+ nominees are evaluated by the DL Committee (DLC) to come up with the 30-35 required lecturers. DLs serve the nearly 200 SPE sections worldwide with 3 lecturers each per year (2 for season 2017-18). The selection process is comprehensive and goes through three rounds detailed below.

Round 1 – Potential Lecturer Selection – The DLC reviews the quality of the biography, consistency of title and the abstract, the technical content, quality of the slides and graphs, the length of the presentation and timeliness of the topic of all nominees. At the DL Committee meeting in May, all evaluations and scores are reviewed and discussed. The committee ensures diversity in topics, regions and disciplines as well as company representation. This process results in 40 to 50 Potential Lecturers (PLs) being selected to continue to the next round. DLC members are assigned PLs to act as Points of Contact (POC) to help them incorporate the review comments into their next submission.

Round 2  – Second Online Review – Those selected as PLs will be asked to submit updated presentations and documents online to be reviewed by the DLC for Round 2. Suggestions from this round will be sent to the PLs for incorporation prior to the In Person Presentation Review (Round 3).

Round 3 – In Person Presentation Review and Final Selection – The PLs are invited to present to the DLC in person at the Presentation Review Meeting.  During the in person presentations, the committee reviews 1) Quality of oral presentation, 2) Interaction with the audience, 3) and Time management.  After all Potential Lecturers have presented, the DLC evaluates the results. After considerable deliberation, 30-35 DLs are selected based on the scores from the review meeting, diversity, geographical and discipline distribution, ambassadorship, and other considerations. Each selected DL is again assigned a POC who is there to help the DL throughout his/her tenure.

Note: Only 30-35 lecturers are selected for each season. Of those that complete the submission process less than one third are selected as lecturers.

Timeline

15 March
1700 GST

Deadline for submitting nomination

31 March
1700 GST

Deadline for nominee to submit all forms and requirements.

May

Distinguished Lecturer Committee selects potential lecturers

Potential lecturers receive a letter to present to the DL Committee

August/September/October

Verbal presentations are given by the potential lecturers to the DL Committee at the Presentation Review Meeting

October

Letter of invitation sent to all DLs that are accepted

September through June

Lecture program year