Submission Review Procedure

Session proposals are reviewed and selected by SSP’s Annual Meeting Program Committee.  This committee comprises around 40 members of the society who are chosen annually to represent a diverse selection of individuals and organizations from across the membership. Committee members are asked to disclose any conflicts of interest and to recuse themselves if a conflict exists with a proposal assigned to them for review. The committee is led by the current co-Chairs (Tim Lloyd, Erin Foley, and Jessica Slater) with support from society staff.

Educational Sessions

In 2023, we received 96 Educational session proposals, of which c. 25% were accepted.

Educational session proposals are individually reviewed by 6-8 committee members, who rate them on the following criteria:

  • Topic is timely and relevant 
  • Original concept and/or fresh analysis 
  • Includes diverse representation of speakers and ideas
  • Focus and learning outcomes are well defined
  • Appropriate interactivity with the audience is planned

Once the individual proposals have been reviewed, the co-Chairs select sessions for the final program based on a number of factors including:

  • Individual proposal ratings
  • Balanced programming. Good session proposals may not be accepted if there are better quality proposals covering similar ground.
  • Diversity. Good session proposals may not be accepted if a particular presenter or organization is already well represented in the program.

Posters

Poster submissions are individually reviewed by the Poster Subcommittee, who rate them on the following criteria:

  • Topic is timely and relevant 
  • Original concept and/or fresh analysis 
  • Information is well presented and accessible
  • Poster is not a marketing vehicle for a commercial product or service

Once the individual proposals have been reviewed, the Poster Subcommittee will select posters for the Poster presentations based on a number of factors including:

  • Individual proposal ratings
  • Available space and budget. The number of submissions accepted may be limited by space available at the venue or the meeting budget.

Previews

We receive an average of 25 Previews proposals annually and usually accept 50%. Due to time constraints, the number of accepted proposals is limited to 12. 

Previews submissions are reviewed by the co-Chairs, who rate them on the following criteria:

  • Topic is timely and relevant
  • Original concept and/or fresh analysis
  • Information is well presented and accessible

Once the individual proposals have been reviewed, the co-Chairs select presentations for the Previews session based on a number of factors including:

  • Individual proposal ratings
  • Balanced programming. Good session proposals may not be accepted if there are several similar products/services featured in the pool of submissions.