Keep it short! We all have tight time schedule. To be efficient, the symposium starts on Thursday evening (dinner), and ends Saturday after lunch. The Thursday & Friday dinners are essential parts of the symposium. The weekend is thought for further gathering.
Keep it small! The symposium is limited to 50 participants and max. 5 people/group.
Keep it cheap! The local organizer does everything to keep the symposium cheap. This includes extensive fund raising, use of university facilities (rooms, lunch), personal organization (no catering, no paid organizers), cheap hotel options etc.
Think local! ‘Wise old man session’: The invited speakers are local or regional experts; no special conditions are offered. This keeps things cheap, supports local science cultures and avoids discussion whom to invite…
Widen the horizon! ‘The experimental challenge’: One invited expert is an experimentalist. She/he should be able to ‘connect’ to theory with the work.
Think young! The symposium promotes young scientists with the possibility to present their work in oral or poster contributions. ‘Think young’ also applies to the organizer, promoting young researchers at the beginning of their independent career for visibility, responsibility, and management experience.
Discuss it! ‘I-have-nice-results-but-even-more-questions’: The talks should include sufficient time for discussion (15+5 for contributing talks, 25 + 5 for invited talks). If posters are presented, an official poster session of at least 1 h is scheduled. The posters should be accessible during the whole symposium; ideally, the location for coffee breaks coincides with the place where the posters are hanged.