Session Guidelines

Learn more about the meeting format.

The types of session included in the meeting program are on-demand sessions and live session discussions.

On-demand Sessions

On-demand sessions are sessions made up of oral and poster presentations that are included in the open call for abstracts. Meeting participants are expected to preview on-demand presentations and engage with the presenter directly through various communication methods (e.g., chatboxes associated with each presentation or personal email, chat or social media accounts provided by the presenter). Presenters are encouraged to be active in the online meeting platform and monitor their chatboxes and associated contact channels.

Live Session Discussion

Live session discussions are moderated 50-minute discussions on overarching topics of on-demand sessions. The goal of live session discussions is to stimulate deliberations and engagement about a specific scientific topic broadly. They are not expected to summarize individual presentations nor be a cumulative Q&A session of all representations. They are encouraged to refer to specific presentations to help support a case. Live session discussions are expected to provide a short summary of the state of the science from the presented research and identify key research questions that need to be addressed in the coming period.

Live session discussions are open to all meeting participants and moderators are expected to facilitate a lively discussion. 

A minimum of one chair and a maximum of four chairs should accompany every session submission. Session proposals are submitted using the SETAC online Meeting Management System (MMS).

The technical subcommittee of the program committee reviews session proposals.

All tentatively accepted sessions are included in the call for abstracts though they are not guaranteed a session slot in the final program until final approval by the technical subcommittee at the end of the abstract submission period, typically in June.

Once the program committee has accepted a session proposal, the responsibilities of the session chair or co-chair include:

• Solicit abstracts and specifically recruit for participation in the session.
• Critically review all submitted abstracts in the session.
• Provide recommendations to the technical subcommittee of the program committee regarding the acceptance or rejection of each abstract and the best organization of the session in terms flow of the presentations so they are grouped to collectively “tell a story” and provide a well-rounded perspective on the topic.

November– March

• Chair or co-chairs submit session proposals.

March  

• SETAC office sends session acceptance decisions to chairs and co-chairs.

March

• General call for abstracts opens.

March–June

• Chairs and co-chairs recruit designated abstracts and start reviewing abstracts submitted to their session and providing recommendations to the technical subcommittee of the program committee.

May

• General call for abstracts closes.
• Session chairs or co-chairs provide recommendations to the technical subcommittee of the program committee.
• The technical subcommittee of the program committee reviews the submitted abstracts.

June

• SETAC office sends the results of the abstract review to the presenters and the session chairs and co-chairs.
• The technical subcommittee of the program committee prepares the meeting program.

July

• SETAC office posts the final program online.

September

• Presenters must upload their presentations to the SETAC Meeting Management platform by 5:00 EDT on Monday, 13 September.
• See presentation guidelines for more details.
• Training session are conducted for live session discussion moderators focused on the virtual meeting format.

• All presentations are available on-demand.
• Session chairs are expected to view presentations in their sessions.
• Presenters are expected to be present at the site of their presentation virtually during the live Q&A for on-demand presentations, especially on the day of associated live session discussion, if any.
• Live session discussions are administratively hosted by members of the meeting program committee. Hosts are equipped with slides about the live session discussion (titles and discussion points). Hosts introduce the moderators then moderators lead the discussion. Hosts remind the moderators when it is time to end the discussion.