Symposium Organizers
Contents:
Timeline and Checklist of Action Items
- Immediately: Send the speaker disclosure form to all participants in your symposium (Co-Chair and speakers). Click here to download the speaker disclosure form.
- July 2 : Speakers should return disclosure forms to the Symposium Organizer for entry into the submission site.
- July 9 : Enter your final session information and speaker disclosure information on the submission site.
- October 16 : Speakers who are unable to attend in person will submit a pre-recorded presentation by October 16. Instructions for pre-recording presentations will be sent to you in mid-September so you can distribute to your Co-Chair and speakers.
Click here to watch a video offering tips and helpful practices on how to successfully organize and manage a symposium for the Annual Meeting.
The video is also available in Spanish.
Updating Your Symposium in the Online
Submission Site
In addition to content, your symposium acceptance was based on the following, as indicated in your proposal:
- gender representation (at least one male speaker and one female speaker)
- consideration of speakers from low- and middle-income countries
- consideration of speakers from diverse institutions and viewpoints
Any deviations from the representation presented in your proposal could impact the status of your final acceptance and symposium presentation at the Annual Meeting.
While we recognize that minor editing may be required for purposes of clarification or to correct errors, there should be NO substantial changes from the content and format (including the number of speakers and individual speaker content) provided in original proposals unless changes have been specifically requested by the Program Chairs.
If you feel that more substantive changes are needed, please contact the Program Chairs for authorization through Shaima Abdul-Aziz, Project Manager, Scientific Program at [email protected] no later than June 25. Your final submission will be reviewed and compared with the original proposal.
FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS TO UPDATE AND FINALIZE YOUR SYMPOSIUM:
- To access the symposium submission portal in order to update the session information, use this link.
- Enter username and password to access the portal.
- After logging on, click the title of your existing symposium proposal.
- Use the menu on the left side of the page to access the information entered for the Symposium Organizer, Co-Chair and speakers.
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Use the “Delete” and “Edit” links to the left of the Sort Order box to update the information for symposium participants.
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New this year!
Content Tags for Your Session Description – Choose up to Five Tags
In order to facilitate our attendees in the search for specific content, we ask you to include content tags in your session description. Using this list, please incorporate at least three and a maximum of five content tags at the end of your session description. You can simply copy and paste 3-5 content tags from this list and paste them at the end of your session description. Be sure to include the hashtag (#)
Finalizing Symposium Information Using the Summary Page
After updating your symposium information, click Summary in the menu on the left side of the screen. Review and update the information entered for your session to ensure that all information is accurate. Edits may be made as often as needed until the deadline, but DO NOT click Finalize until all information is complete. 
Once you click Finalize, you cannot access your information for editing.
Even if you do not need to edit your symposium information, you must return to the symposium submission site and click Finalize to complete your submission by the July 9 deadline.
Speaker Disclosure Information
Continuing medical education (CME) credit guidelines require ASTMH to collect speaker disclosures from every speaker. Click here to download the speaker disclosure form, which will be used to collect the necessary information for each of your symposium participants (Symposium Organizer, Co-Chair and speakers). We suggest that you send this disclosure form to your speakers immediately and instruct them to return the completed form to you by July 2.
Enter the information from the completed speaker disclosure forms into the appropriate fields on the disclosure sections on the symposium submission site. Note that this information is mandatory. You will NOT be able to finalize your symposium without the speaker disclosure information, which must be entered into the symposium submission site by July 9.
After you finalize your symposium submission, you will receive a notification by email that gives you the option to upload the original speaker disclosure forms completed by your symposium participants. This upload is not required but is given as an option for storing the original disclosure forms in the conference database.
As required by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), ASTMH staff will follow up with speakers indicating a conflict of interest such that the conflict can be resolved prior to symposium presentation in accordance with ACCME procedures.
Speaker disclosure information for accepted symposia will be published and distributed to Annual Meeting attendees.
Final Acceptance of Your Symposium
Final acceptance will be issued once the final symposium content and speaker disclosure information are entered into the symposium submission site. All information regarding your symposium submission must be entered in the online submission site by July 9.
After July 9, sessions that are not marked FINALIZE in the symposium submission site will be declined and not scheduled for presentation.
All sessions will take place in person at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA, USA. A select number of sessions will be available to a remote audience.
Pre-recorded presentations will be the only option for speakers who are unable to attend in person.
IMPORTANT: If speakers in your session know they will be unable to attend in person, please advise them to begin preparing their pre-recorded presentations as soon as possible to meet the October 16 submission deadline.
Presentation Schedule
Due to the complexity and competing demands of our meeting schedule, ASTMH cannot grant requests for symposia to be held on specific dates or times during the meeting. Final schedule assignments (presentation date and time) will be available in mid-September.
Your session will be assigned to a 105-minute session on one of the days listed below. Please ensure that your speakers are available to present anytime during this timeframe.
- Thursday, November 14
- Friday, November 15
- Saturday, November 16
- Sunday, November 17
The symposium information entered into the portal as of July 9 is the information that will be published for your session in the Program Book and meeting app.
Please make every effort to ensure that speakers present the newest and unpublished data relevant to the topic. Note that presentation of data at the ASTMH Annual Meeting and inclusion in the Program Book generally does NOT preclude publication in scientific journals.
When updating the symposium description, please follow these guidelines:
- Ensure that your session summary is clear and concise since this description will likely impact attendance for your symposium.
- Do not include speaker names in the session description. The Program Book will already include each individual symposium presentation with speaker information.
- When you enter the presentation length for each talk, please enter a presentation length as a multiple of 5, i.e. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.
Please note that the individuals listed as Symposium Organizer and Co-Chair on the submission site will both be listed as CHAIR in the Program Book.
Registration
ALL symposium participants must be registered for the Annual Meeting. Please note the registration policy details:
- Symposium Organizers, Co-Chairs and speakers who are ASTMH members can take advantage of a special discounted rate (25% off posted member rates).
- In order to take advantage of the 25% off discount, member participants will need to use a coupon code at the time of registration. This code will be distributed to Symposium Organizers in August after symposium information is finalized.
- Each symposium will receive one complimentary Annual Meeting registration to be used by a symposium speaker who is not an ASTMH member.
- The Symposium Organizer will indicate this non-member speaker in the symposium submission site.
- All other non-member speakers will pay the full registration fee.
Registration will open on July 15. Click here for registration information.
IMPORTANT: The early registration deadline is September 30. On October 1st, registration rates will increase.
You and the Co-Chair (if applicable) will moderate the session and facilitate questions from the audience.
Symposium Roles and Responsibilities
For more information on symposium roles and responsibilities, click here.
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QUESTIONS? Contact Shaima Abdul-Aziz, Project Manager, Scientific Program at [email protected].
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