Abstract Submission - General Meeting

Producing a meeting as large as the ASM General Meeting requires the development and implementation of strict planning deadlines.  The deadline for submitting abstracts for the General Meeting is in January each year. Members must submit abstracts electronically. Deadlines are posted on the General Meeting website as part of the Call for Abstracts.

Preparing an abstract. Every abstract MUST be in formatted as described in the Call for Abstracts published by ASM. Your abstract is likely to be rejected if the format is not followed and there is no appeal process. Abstracts that do not state the following will also be rejected by the scientific reviewers:

- The problem under investigation
- The experimental methods used
- The essential results obtained in summary form, but containing sufficient data to permit evaluation by reviewers. (Do not state "The results will be discussed.")
- A conclusion

Abstract acceptance criteria includes (1) the quality of the research, (2) importance of the topic to the membership, and (3) content.

Student Travel Grants. Students who are ASM members may request consideration to receive a Corporate Activities Program Student Travel Grant. The requirements to qualify an abstract submission for consideration are listed in the Call for Abstracts. Grant selection is highly competitive and only about 25-30% of those requesting a grant will recive one.

Symposia consist of oral presentations (seminars) where one topic is covered by a series of speakers (30 minute presentations per speaker). Topics for symposia should be submitted to the Division C Chair as early as possible. Submissions may be sent using a dedicated web page and all information placed on this site will automatically be sent to the Division Officers.

Planning for the next General Meeting begins well before the opening of the current meeting. Ideally, topics and ideas for these sessions for the next year have been submitted to the Division Chair prior to curent General Meeting when the Division Chairs meet with the Divisional Group Representatives to discuss all ideas already submitted. This planning meeting takes place on the day of the Opening session for the General Meeting. However, topics and speaker suggestions for the next meeting can be submitted during May, June, and July and may be added to the active list under consideration.

Each division is allocated a limited number of "slots" for symposia. For example, Division C may be allowed 6 or 7 slots for the next meeting. Therefore, topics will be evaluated and selected by the Chair in July.

Sunrise Sessions Division C also develops a number of 1-hour, question and answer sessions on topics of interest to bench level technicians in the clinical community. These sessions are held early in the morning of the three full meeting days (normally Monday - Wednesday). Topic ideas should be submitted to the Division Chair following the submission procedures noted above for other symposia.

Session Selection. Sessions that have been prepared and submitted for consideration will be reviewed by the Division Officers and ranked. Full session information is forwarded to the Divisional Group Representative and to the ASM Meetings Department. Sessions are reviewed by the Dvisional Group Representative and, along with sessions from the other divisions, are brought to a planning meeting in early October of the full Program Development Committee where the final selection of sessions is made and placed on the appropriate day, time and room in the Convention Center. This information is published in the Preliminary Program that is place on the General Meeting website. A printed version is usually mailed to ASM members in December.

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