April 30 to May 3, 2021| Washington, DC

Call for Session Proposals

Due to the large number of requests the deadline to submit session proposal for the 2021 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting is exstended until Monday, August 31st, 2020 11:59 p.m. EST. Please note that this is the final deadline for all session proposal submissions.

The Committee on Scientific Program and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are pleased to announce the call for session proposals for the 2021 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting in Washington DC, April 30-May 3.

This is a great opportunity to contribute to dynamic, cutting edge professional discourse while ensuring ACOG's annual meeting is the premier destination for educational offerings focused on emerging clinical issues.

ABOUT THE ACOG ANNUAL MEETING

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting is a gathering of the leading women’s health care experts and delivers the latest scientific information for the benefit of patients and to provide leadership in our changing industry.

The ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting is held over 4 days in the spring of each year and is dedicated to keeping attendees on the cutting edge of scientific information and clinical best practice in obstetrics and gynecology. This is accomplished by providing critical programming in a variety of formats and topic areas to help attendees and their patients succeed. The Annual Meeting provides the largest selection of ob-gyn educational opportunities through conference programming and the exhibitor showcase.

There are many good reasons to attend:

• Patient Care: Exposure to the latest research and breaking science benefits your patients
• Practice Management: Operate at peak efficiency with tips and best practices
• Leading Education: Earn College Cognate and AMA PRA Category 1 credits
• Exam Preparation: Learning opportunities are mapped to ABOG topics for ease of studying
• Hands-on Skills Development: Take advantage of step-by-step simulations on core and cutting-edge topics
• Networking and Collaboration: Enjoy structured opportunities to interact with colleagues and leaders
• Postgraduate Courses: Learn from the experts in concentrated, selected topic areas
• Job Opportunities: Explore possibilities at top-notch ob-gyn Career Fair
• Special Events: Celebrate the profession with receptions, convocation and events geared to junior fellows and medical students
• Industry Innovation:Get familiar with advances, latest tools and more at the exhibition showcase

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

At the conclusion of the 2021 ACSM, participants will be exposed to a variety of educational topics focused on the advancement of women’s healthcare and the professional interests of obstetricians and gynecologists. In addition, the following objectives are in-line with ACOG’s Presidential initiatives:

1.  Indicate an understanding of how to appropriately use genetic history, screening, and testing to expand one’s practice and provide preventative care to improve women’s health outcomes;
2.  Define health equity, describe the social determinants of health and systemic determinants of healthcare delivery that result in disparities in women’s health outcomes, and be able to implement changes at the personal, practice, and health system levels to reduce these disparities;
3.  Identify and be able to incorporate into practice patient-appropriate health screenings, preventative and individualized treatments addressing obesity, chronic medical conditions, mental health screenings and expanded 4th trimester care that will improve maternal and newborn outcomes;
4. Select conscientious medical care practices to include cost containment, personalized women’s healthcare, survivorship care and physician well-being.

Proposals must be submitted online. We suggest that you prepare the proposal information in advance to save time during the online submission process and ensure you have a backup copy. Please copy the proposal information into a plain text editor such as MS Notepad to eliminate formatting prior to placing it into the submission form.

• Please note that even if you have presented previously at the ACOG’s Annual Meeting, you must submit a new proposal.
• Each session type has a limited number of speakers. 
• Each proposal must have at least one primary speaker/course director. 

PRESENTATION

• The content of the presentation must be relevant, accurate and if applicable, based on current scientific methods. 
• Presentations that promote corporate products or services will not be accepted. Corporate support, if any, must be disclosed.
• The text of the proposal should be organized into four section headings, as follows:

1. Title: The title should be clear, descriptive, accurate, and should not be misleading. The title should concisely indicate the subject and focus of the presentation. When choosing your title, please aim for a title that is interesting, concise and best-suited to attract an audience to attend your session. (Maximum 20 words)
2. Learning Objectives: Provide three learning objectives for the presentation and a brief explanation regarding on how each objective will be met.
3. Short Session Description: The session description should be no less than 10 and no more than 50 words. The description should focus on the content of the course, its intended learner/audience, the benefits of attending the course and the value of the subject matter itself. Use complete sentences (no bullets) and avoid the first-person. This description will be used as promotional material for the course/session and will be printed in the final program. Inviting, dramatic or otherwise interesting descriptions are encouraged.
4. Session Proposal Abstract: Summarize the purpose, methods, findings and conclusions of your presentation, and explain what attendees may expect to gain (max 300 words). 
5. Description and Content Outline: Describe and outline the content of your presentation in three parts corresponding to the learning objectives.

SPEAKER

• Speaker credentials and experience should be appropriate to present the subject matter.
• The primary speaker/course director will serve as the sole point of contact and is responsible for submitting the proposal, informing co-presenters of the selection decision, distributing materials to co-presenters, planning the presentation agenda and ensuring the content is not biased.
• Speakers are required to provide contact information and professional affiliation.
• All selected presenters should be prepared to provide a version of their presentation that includes audio and video at the time of submission.
• All speakers are required to disclose any relevant financial relationships with commercial interests, as explained on the required disclosure form.

SESSION TYPE

Clinical Seminars: These 45-minute sessions are interactive lectures on topics of special interest with a course director leading the discussion.

• Clinical Seminars are limited to only one speaker.

EdTalks: These 45-minute sessions consist of three 10-minute segments delivered by three different speakers unified by an overarching theme. Each speaker presents a concise talk without slides. There will be time for questions/answers at the end of the entire session.  

• EdTalk sessions must have three speakers.

Hands-On Courses: These three- and six-hour courses provide a didactic and interactive (hands-on) component so that participants can further immerse themselves in learning. 

• Three-hour sessions are limited to three speakers: one course director and two faculty.
• Six-hour sessions are limited to five speakers: one course director and four faculty.

Lunch Conversations: This small group discussion occurs over lunch and is focused on subjects of special interest. Each group is limited to nine attendees in addition to the discussion leader. 

•  The Lunch Conversation is limited to one speaker.

Postgraduate Courses: These sessions are clinically-oriented three- and six-hour courses taught by leading experts in their field. Since learner participation is a valued part of each course, opportunities for interaction between participants and faculty are built into the program.

• Three-hour sessions are limited to two speakers: one course director and one faculty. 
• Six-hour sessions are limited to three speakers: one course director and two faculty.

Surgical Tutorials: The Surgical Tutorial will incorporate the use of slides, video, case-based formats, and interactive demonstrations.

• Surgical Tutorial sessions are limited to one speaker.

REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESSES

All submissions received by the published due date will be independently peer-reviewed and scored by the Committee on Scientific Program based on the following criteria: 

• contribution to the field of obstetrics and gynecology in terms of scientific rigor and the novelty and originality of research findings; 
• relevance to identified objectives, meeting themes and Presidential initiatives;
• clinical relevance; 
• pertinence to the interests of ACOG membership; 
• expertise and qualifications of the presenters; 
• timeliness of the topic;
• overall impact and quality.