Dear SOT Members,
Now that the 2018 Annual Meeting in San Antonio has come and gone, now is the time to focus our attention on the 2019 Annual Meeting. Proposals for symposia, workshops, roundtables, continuing education courses, and other special sessions for the 2019 Annual Meeting will be accepted until May 15, 2018. The Annual Meeting will take place March 10–14, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland. The 2019 proposal site is ready for your submissions.
If you plan to submit a proposal for consideration, please continue collaborating with endorsing groups: Specialty Sections, Special Interest Groups, or the appropriate SOT Committee. Early review of your proposals before the formal endorsing group scoring begins on May 17 is highly encouraged! Their input is important for a variety of reasons including the opportunity for the collaborating endorsing group to review, score, and rank the submissions before the Scientific Program Committee conducts their final evaluation. Strong endorsement is helpful.
New for the 2019 Annual Meeting: 90-minute Symposia and Workshops! In response to past concerns regarding the length of the scientific sessions at the SOT Annual Meeting, and the short times between 165-minute and 80-minute sessions in the mornings and afternoons, SOT Council has endorsed a pilot for the 2019 Annual Meeting in Baltimore in which one half-day will be programmed with up to fourteen 90-minute sessions. There will be seven 90-minute sessions occurring concurrently, followed by a 30-minute break to allow for individual follow-up with speakers or networking with session attendees, and then an additional seven 90-minute sessions.
Notably, the 90-minute format will allow for twice the number of sessions to be presented in a half-day, which will enhance the possibility of proposal acceptance. Both 90-minute and traditional 165-minute Symposia and Workshop sessions may be proposed for the 2019 Annual Meeting.
Prior to the 2018 Annual Meeting, the Scientific Program Committee held a webinar to discuss the best practices for developing and submitting a proposal. A recording of this webinar and a copy of the slides are available on the Preparing Proposals page of the proposal website.
We are looking forward to developing an exciting program from the proposals submitted for consideration for the 2019 Annual Meeting.
Sincerely,
Ron Hines
2018–2019 SOT Scientific Program Committee Chair