The ASHA Convention will take place November 18–20, 2021 in Washington, D.C.
The Schedule at a Glance provides an overview of each day's events.
The ASHA Convention is the strongest educational program for audiologists, speech-language pathologists, speech and hearing scientists, and related professionals. The 2021 ASHA Convention is a hybrid event. Between the in-person ASHA Convention in Washington, D.C. and the online component, the Virtual Library, more than 2,400 sessions eligible for ASHA Continuing Education Credit or professional development hours will be offered.
We have modified the in-person session offerings this year. Nearly 700 live, in-person sessions—2-hour Master Classes and 1-hour Oral Seminars—will be offered over the 3 days of our in-person event. Master Classes all feature presenters who have been invited by the Convention Program Committee. Some 1-hour Oral Seminars also feature invited presenters and will be part of a series of 2–4 sessions, providing a deeper dive on topics.
Anyone who is registered for the full in-person event will also receive access to the ASHA Convention Virtual Library. We will have some designated “study hall” areas on-site equipped with tablets where you may log into the Virtual Library to view posters and participate in the live, virtual Q&A sessions that accompany them.
The ASHA Convention Virtual Library will be open from November 15–22. It features over 1,700 pre-recorded sessions that you may watch at any time during the extended 8-day open period. These sessions are all new content, selected by the Convention Program Committee through the Call for Papers this year. You will find 2-hour Master Classes, 1-hour Oral Seminars, 30-minute Technical Research and Technical Clinical Sessions, and Posters. All Master Classes and some Oral Seminars will feature presenters invited by the Convention Program Committee. Posters will also have a scheduled 90-minute live, virtual Q&A period during which presenters will be available to discuss their work in real-time.
Sessions offered at the in-person event will not be recorded or live-streamed for the Virtual Library.
The Program Planner and mobile app are the tools you will use to preview the entire ASHA Convention program—both the in-person sessions offered at the ASHA Convention in Washington, D.C. and the pre-recorded virtual sessions offered through the Virtual Library. The planner and the app allow you to browse sessions, read session descriptions and author bios, and view presenter disclosures. Use the planner and app to save sessions you want to attend to your personal schedule. Session materials, such as handouts, are also accessed through the Program Planner and mobile app.
The online Program Planner will be available in mid-August. The ASHA Convention mobile app will be available for downloading from the Apple Store or Google Play in early November.
To simplify planning amidst all the changes this year, as well as to reduce contact/crowding points onsite, we are not producing a printed program book.
The education program covers 31 topic areas related to the professions.
Education sessions are presented in a variety of formats:
Read the full description of each session format offered at the 2021 ASHA Convention.
As you browse the program, you will notice that some sessions feature presenters who have been specially invited to present on a topic by the Convention Program Committee, a Special Interest Group (SIG), or a Specialty Certification Board. Some Invited Sessions are a collaborative effort and are jointly developed by a combination of those entities.
The presenters of these sessions hold expertise on the topic or subject area of the session. Sessions featuring invited presenters are noted in the session descriptions. There is no special sign up or ticket required for these sessions and everyone is encouraged to attend them. SIG affiliates may be particularly interested in SIG-sponsored sessions.
Kickstart your experience at the in-person ASHA Convention with pre-convention workshops—sponsored by the District of Columbia Speech-Language-Hearing Association (DCSHA)—that will take place on Wednesday, November 17, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Choose from one of two workshops: Implicit Bias: How Did We Get Here? Where Do We Go Now? or Navigating the Challenges of Auditory Processing Disorders During the COVID Pandemic. Purchase tickets for these courses through registration.
The Research Symposium is an annual event at ASHA's Convention where clinicians and researchers discuss current research in communication sciences and disorders. The 2021 Symposium will be part of the ASHA Convention Virtual Library. This year's theme is Health and Health Care Equity in Communication Disorders.
Notifications of acceptance/non-acceptance for the 2021 Call for Papers were sent via e-mail to all authors listed on proposals on July 15, 2021. The 2022 ASHA Convention Call for Papers will open on February 22, 2022. Please e-mail papers@asha.org if you have any questions.
The 2023 Call for Co-Chairs has closed. ASHA seeks qualified and enthusiastic individuals to share responsibility for the development and management of the education program for the ASHA Convention. The Call for Co-Chairs for the 2024 ASHA Convention in Dallas, Texas will open in January 2022.