Submit your best proposals for Design Your Own Session/Novel Formats, Symposia, Workshops/Roundtables, and Science at Sunrise sessions to be presented at the ASCPT 2021 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. 

NEW FOR 2021

• ASCPT has increased the budgets for Design Your Own Session/Novel Format submissions to drive innovative and interactive sessions. 
• 80% of the 2021 Annual Meeting session content will be selected from submitted proposals, with the remaining 20% curated by the SPC. 

Your Session Design Should:

• Move beyond the podium and focus on new, novel, and unique elements and presentation styles that will excite and engage attendees. 
• Include a panel of speakers that represents diversity in gender, ethnicity, career experience, and work settings. 
• Attract an audience of 200+ attendees. Topics that appeal to a niche population of the ASCPT membership are unlikely to be accepted and may be better suited for an ASCPT webinar or other educational opportunity. 
• Include a title that clearly and accurately communicates the content of the session, will generate interest among attendees, and is reflective of speaker talks. 
• Clearly differentiate the talks within the session.
• Describe the session flow and plans for operationalizing the details of the session.
• When appropriate, include perspectives from multiple stakeholders. 

Submission Requirements

To be eligible for review, all session proposals must include:

• Session title
• Chairperson(s)’s contact information
• Learning objectives
• Scientific importance/background
• Indication of one ASCPT Community that is most pertinent to the subject
• Indication of Discovery, Development, Regulation, and Utilization (DDRU) Continuum that is most important to the subject 
• Proposed session format and preliminary description of session.
• Speakers’ names, titles, contact information, membership status, and brief 1-3 sentence description of presentation.
• Audio/Visual needs*
• Plan for budget allocation (If proposal includes one or more non-member speakers. See budget guidelines)

*Audio Visual Needs
For each scientific session, ASCPT will provide one LCD screen with a projector, one laptop (PC), a podium with microphone, and head table for the chairs and speakers. ASCPT will consider providing additional audio/visual support on a case-by-case basis based on budget to support novel presentation formats. A full description on additional needs must be included in the proposal to be considered. Requests made after submission or acceptance will not be considered. 

Submission Guidelines

In the interest of attaining a diverse, well-rounded, educational program for the Annual Meeting, proposals must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Multiple submissions are permitted; however, a chair may only chair or co-chair one session for the Annual Meeting. If more than one proposal is accepted by the SPC, the SPC will work with the chairs to identify suitable alternative chairs or co-chairs as appropriate. 
• Speakers may only participate in one session as a speaker for the Annual Meeting. If a speaker is identified on the speaker roster of two or more proposals accepted by the SPC, the SPC will work with the chairs of the proposal to identify suitable alternative speaker(s). 
• One co-chair and one speaker may be from the same institution; however, more than one speaker from the same institution within a session is not permitted. 
• A chair may serve as a speaker. If so, he/she should be identified on the proposed speaker roster and a non-speaking co-chair is required. If a proposal includes co-chairs, the co-chairs must be from different institutions. 

The submitter is responsible for any edits to their submission and must finalize the submission by the Thursday, June 4, 2020, 4:00 PM ET submission deadline. 

Scientific or programming questions related to session proposal development can be directed to the Network or Community Chair that is most pertinent to the subject. Operational questions can be directed to  Diana Tsuji at diana@ascpt.org or Nicole Rockman at nicole@ascpt.org. 

Budget

Session budgets cover travel reimbursement for non-member speakers only. ASCPT members are not eligible for travel reimbursement. All sessions with at least one non-member speaker are required to submit a plan at the time of submission that outlines how the budget will be allocated and, if necessary, how additional funding will be secured to cover costs over the budget. 

ASCPT will verify membership status of all chairs and speakers. Speakers who are ASCPT members as of the speaker roster confirmation deadline for all accepted proposals, Thursday, September 4, 2020, are not eligible for reimbursement, regardless of member status as of presentation. 

Session chairs should send all appeals for additional funding directly to ASCPT. Please forward any paperwork to the ASCPT office for action; do not enter into written or verbal agreement on ASCPT’s behalf at any time. Sharon J. Swan, FASAE, CAE, the Society’s Chief Executive Officer, is the authorized signatory for agreements between ASCPT and outside entities for funding. 

All contributions should be made payable to ASCPT and be sent to the Society’s office. Please work with ASCPT staff to ensure the session receives the financial support and that the donor receives appropriate recognition from ASCPT. 

The Network/Community Review Process

The ASCPT Networks and Communities will review and prioritize all proposal submissions for consideration by the SPC. Prioritized submissions will be competitively peer-reviewed and selected by the SPC. 

Proposal Submission and Review

All proposals must be submitted via the ASCPT online submission system. Session proposals that are incomplete, lack sufficient detail, or do not adhere to the guidelines will not be reviewed. Design Your Own Session/Novel Format sessions will be of significant interest to the SPC. 

The SPC reserves the right to revise session proposals as necessary to achieve the goal of a well-rounded and dynamic educational program for the Annual Meeting. 

Chair Responsibilities

Both Chairs must be members of ASCPT at the time of submission and, if the session is accepted, at the time of presentation at the Meeting. Trainee/student members must work in partnership with a full member as co-chair. If your proposal includes co-chairs, both co-chairs must be actively involved in an administrative capacity, “honorary co-chair” appointments are not permitted. 

If a proposal is accepted, the chair(s) is/are responsible for final confirmation of the speaker roster, communicating session goals, budget allocation, and expectations to all speakers, and working with ASCPT staff to ensure all speaker requirements are met. Onsite roles include starting and ending the session on time, speaker introductions, managing presentation times, and coordination of the question and answer portion of the session, as well as advising ASCPT of any post-SPC acceptance changes to the program, which must be submitted in writing along with a justification on the changes, including the selection of any replacement speakers 

For all accepted proposals, chairs will be required to hold a call with ASCPT staff to review on-site needs and expectations.

Joint Programming

Submitters interested in developing a joint program between ASCPT and another organization must contact ASCPT staff prior to submitting any such proposals. 

Please contact Sharon J. Swan, FASAE, CAE, Chief Executive Officer, at sharon@ascpt.org, who will coordinate with staff/leadership of the partnering organizations.