Our annual meeting just got better!
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report April 2015
A new process allows presenters to extend the reach of their technical content to a global audience.
STLE’s 2015 Annual Meeting includes more than 450 30-minute technical presentations by researchers, practitioners and students from around the world.
STLE’S 2015 ANNUAL MEETING & EXHIBITION KICKS OFF ON MAY 17 IN DALLAS, TEXAS. The technical program includes more than 450 30-minute technical presentations by researchers, practitioners and students from around the world. This is an extraordinary amount of content, and it’s the major reason why more than 1,600 participants are expected to attend the meeting.
During the past two years, we have broken new ground with a content-distribution strategy that benefits presenters, participants and the broader STLE constituency. We now encourage speakers to provide a digital copy of their presentation slides or, alternatively, to submit what is known as an extended abstract (basically a 2-3-page summary of the technical presentation).
This adds value to the annual meeting by addressing the fact that conference rules do not allow speaker handouts or a proceedings book. Participants encountered a number of problems as a result, such as missing a valuable presentation due to schedule conflicts or being unable to share presentation content with colleagues unable to attend the meeting.
The submission system is easy. If you are a presenter, go to
www.stle.org and complete a submission form that asks for presentation title, technical track or category and keywords from your original abstract. Then create a 2-3-page summary of your presentation using a sample template. Digital copies of presentation slides also can be included. As the last step, convert your material to a PDF attachment and email it to a designated mailbox for submissions. Details are at
www.stle.org/annualmeeting.
We suggest speakers submit their extended abstracts or presentation slides no later than April 30 to ensure materials are available to attendees before the meeting. However, we realize speakers might still be working on their presentations before they arrive, so extended abstracts or presentation slides also may be submitted any time after April 30, as well as during and immediately following the meeting to allow attendees to benefit from your presentation.
STLE 2015 presentations will be accessible to download online from the STLE Website. The expectation is that the amount of posted content will surpass 2014, where 195 abstracts or presentations representing 24 different technical categories were contributed. This represented about half of the total presentations made at the 2014 meeting.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the STLE Annual Meeting App also offers a convenient portal for access to all presentation abstracts, as well as those extended abstracts and presentations that have been made available by presenters. This content is available on the meeting app before, during and after the annual meeting.
Individuals who have chosen to share content this way tell us that it provides tremendous additional exposure for their research or their product information following the meeting. An audience that was previously limited to the size of a hotel meeting room now has potentially expanded to thousands of colleagues and customers around the world.
Similarly, STLE constituents realize immediate value in this new source of technical content. It gives individuals who attend the meeting the ability to view presentations they’ve missed or to revisit the presentations they did attend and review or confirm what was presented live at the meeting. For those not able to attend the meeting in person, it’s an opportunity to get a sense of just how valuable STLE’s annual meeting is in terms of their professional development. It’s our expectation that many of these virtual participants will shift from the Website to the session room at a future meeting.
Website delivery of expanded technical content is one more way STLE is delivering on its value proposition: Connect. Learn. Achieve.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.