Information for Presenters of Oral Sessions

The information on this page is for presenters of 1-hour oral seminars and short courses. Presenters of technical clinical and technical research sessions and technical demos can find information on the pages for those formats.

General Information for All Presenters

Read more about the required agreements and disclosures for authors and presenters, general expectations for sessions offered at the ASHA Convention, accessibility guidelines, helpful tips for creating your presentation, earning continuing education credit for presenting, and more.

ASHA is committed to making the Convention accessible and working to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Presenters with a disability who anticipate needing special accommodations or equipment to participate should contact papers@asha.org.

Important Dates and Deadlines for Authors/Presenters

This timeline outlines when authors/presenters can expect to receive notifications and the deadlines for critical tasks related to their presentation. You are responsible for being aware of these deadlines and completing all tasks (as applicable) by the due dates.

Author/Presenter Management Center

A personalized link for the Author/Presenter Management Center site was included in the disclosure notification each author (either presenting or non-presenting) received after their proposal was submitted. All authors should be logging into the Author/Presenter Management Center to check for important notifications, critical deadlines, instructions, and required agreements and disclosure forms.

Instructions for In-Person Presenters

Handouts/Advance Materials

Every year, we receive many requests from attendees seeking more information from presenters. To better meet their educational needs, presenters are required to upload 3 pages of supporting material in advance, including a comprehensive outline of the presentation and a list of references related to the final presentation. Presenters who have more than 3 pages of material may include links to additional resources in their handouts. These handouts will be available to all attendees through the Program Planner and mobile app. (Presenters will not upload their final presentation via this process—only advance notes which attendees may download to have accessible during the presentation.)

On September 30, you will receive an e-mail notification that you may upload your 3-page handout, along with instructions and an upload link. The preferred format for this handout is PDF. All materials must be uploaded by November 1.

In-person presenters who wish to share additional handouts (beyond the required 3-page advance materials) at their session are responsible for generating and disseminating the additional handouts themselves. ASHA will not produce or distribute copies of presentation handouts, nor will the association reimburse for these services.

Prepare Your Presentation

Make sure your presentation is in one of the following formats:

  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint (.ppt), (.pptx)
  • Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)

A specially-themed PowerPoint presentation template is also available for presenters to use if they would like. Remember to include slides with your financial and non-financial disclosures at the beginning of the presentation.

Creating an Accessible Presentation

ASHA is committed to providing access to continuing education courses for participants with disabilities and other diverse learners. We encourage presenters to follow these guidelines and suggestions to ensure everyone can learn from your presentation.

Apple Users

Presentations created in PowerPoint on Mac are compatible. Please make sure that all inserted pictures are either JPEG or PNG files. QuickTime (.mov) files for video are also accepted but must be tested in the speaker ready room. Audiovisual staff will be available to ensure your presentation is fully compatible and runs smoothly. If you have created your presentation using Apple Keynote (.key), you will need to bring your files directly to the Speaker Ready Room to have them converted to PowerPoint and uploaded to the network.

Room Setup and Audiovisual Equipment

Oral session rooms are set for maximum participation with basic presentation tools. Each room is set theater-style, with a head table set for 4 people and a standing podium. The podium will have a standing microphone. Sessions with more than 4 presenters should plan accordingly. In large rooms, the head table may be on a low stage and a lavaliere microphone may be provided.

Each room is equipped with:

  • A computer with your uploaded presentation (refer to Speaker Ready Room section below)
  • Projection equipment
  • A screen appropriate to the size of the room
  • One podium microphone and one table microphone
  • Rooms used for panel presentations may have additional table microphones

Though complimentary basic wireless Internet (suitable for checking email or using the mobile app) is available in the public spaces at the convention center, neither wireless nor hard-wired Internet access for presenters is provided in session rooms.

Presentations may not be uploaded directly onto the computers in the session rooms. If your presentation has special requirements that necessitate the use of your own equipment, you must still check in at the Speaker Ready Room and work with the technicians to ensure proper function.

Uploading Your Presentation

All session rooms are networked to the Speaker Ready Room, which allows us to control sessions and easily transmit the audio and slides for at-capacity sessions to overflow rooms. All presentations must be uploaded to our audiovisual provider's system; they may not be uploaded directly onto the computers in the sessions. You will have the option to upload your final presentation in advance before the event, or at the Speaker Ready Room onsite. Directions for uploading your final presentation in advance, along with a login and password, will be sent via email to presenters in November.

Speaker Ready Room

Hours
Wednesday, December 4
11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, December 5
7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Friday, December 6
7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, December 7
7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Seattle Convention Center, Summit Building, Level 2, Flex A

All in-person/live Oral Session presentations will be managed through our Speaker Ready Room. All presenters are required to check in with the Speaker Ready Room at least 4 hours in advance of their scheduled session. The Speaker Ready Room process ensures that presentations are problem-free onsite and ensures we are able to overflow at-capacity sessions. Your participation is critical to our success.

At the Speaker Ready Room, you must either:

  1. confirm that your pre-loaded final presentation is accurate and complete and that your Disclosure slide is included, or
  2. upload your final presentation and create a Disclosure slide to include.

When you check in at the Speaker Ready Room, file testing is recommended to make sure all fonts, images, and animations appear as expected, that audio or video clips play properly, and that everything runs smoothly. If the files do not work properly in the Speaker Ready Room, they will not work in the session room. Our Speaker Ready Room team will work with you to make sure your presentation is error-free.

Presenters must use the equipment provided in the session rooms. Exceptions may be made for specialized hardware or software demonstrations, but special arrangements must be made with the Speaker Ready Room technicians in advance. Please allow extra time to discuss your needs.

Once you have reviewed and approved your final presentation, it will be transmitted to the computer in the scheduled presentation room by the Speaker Ready Room technicians.

Every speaker must check in with the Speaker Ready Room, so all presenters should plan their schedule accordingly. If a session has multiple presenters using different presentation files, each presenter must check in at the Speaker Ready Room as well.

Moderator Responsibilities

A moderator is considered a presenting author. As active participants in the session, moderators must complete all author agreements and disclosures. Moderators' responsibilities are to:

  1. Be the timekeeper. In-person sessions must begin and end on time to allow for the next session to be set up and ready for the published start time. Therefore, it is important to keep the presenters on time and ensure there is adequate time at the end of the session for questions from the audience.
  2. Introduce the session and each presenter. We encourage you to contact the presenters directly for more information so you are able to provide a brief introduction. 
  3. Stimulate discussion. Please be prepared to encourage discussion with pre-planned questions or statements if the audience is reluctant to ask questions or offer comments.

Registration 

Per the Presenting Author Agreement, all presenters (the individuals who are actually speaking or presenting the session) are required to register for the ASHA Convention. Presenters of in-person sessions must register for the in-person event in Seattle. Registration and housing will open on August 1, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., Eastern time. Presenters are responsible for arranging their own travel and accommodations, even if they have special circumstances.

You have two registration options:

  • Full in-person registration, or
  • One-day in-person registration.

If you opt for one-day registration, you must choose the day on which your presentation is scheduled. If you have multiple presentations, this option only applies if they are scheduled on the same day, otherwise you will need to register for the full three-day event.

Invited Speakers

Invited speakers will receive their contract letter with special registration instructions via email from papers@asha.org on August 1. If you are an invited speaker and do not receive this email, please contact us immediately.

Non-Members and Students

Non-member presenters (who are not speech-language pathologists or audiologists and therefore ineligible to join ASHA) should e-mail registration@asha.org for special instructions on how to register for the ASHA Convention.

Presenters who are students in the field of audiology or speech-language pathology must be national NSSLHA members to register at the NSSLHA/ASHA graduate student rate. Students who are not NSSLHA members will need to join NSSHLA before registering or pay the non-member registration fee.

Withdrawals

All sessions are final as accepted. We are unable to honor requests for switches to an in-person or a virtual format, changes to session format, or date and time changes for in-person sessions once the schedule has been finalized. If, for some reason, you must withdraw your presentation, please send written notification to papers@asha.org as soon as possible.

Contact Us

If you need any assistance, please email papers@asha.org.

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About ASHA

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology assistants; and students.

About the Convention

The ASHA Convention is one of the largest professional development events for audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; and speech-language pathology and audiology assistants. Bringing together approximately 15,000 attendees, the annual Convention offers more than 2,500 sessions eligible for ASHA continuing education credit covering the latest research, clinical skills, and techniques in communication sciences and disorders.

Contact Us

For inquiries about the ASHA Convention: convention@asha.org

The ASHA Action Center welcomes questions and requests for information from members and non-members.

Available 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. ET
Monday–Friday

Members: 800-498-2071
Non-Member: 800-638-8255

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