Your support changes lives. Thank you!
Learn More
05.05.2022
Strategies and Tips for Writing a Successful Conference Submission
Lynne Siqueland, PhD
Boost Search Results
Off
Post date
May 5, 2022
Strategies and Tips for Writing a Successful Conference Submission
ADAA is my go-to conference as a therapist in a specialty private practice. I know I will experience useful and engaging clinical workshops that give me ideas for complex cases or exposures to new ideas. I can also obtain up to date reviews of the field and researching findings that are relevant to my practice. And especially, when in person, but even pretty good virtually, I can connect with colleagues or meet new ones.
So definitely submit to present. You do have something to offer either as primarily a therapist or a researcher or both. Do not doubt, just submit and see what happens. Conference submissions are not weighted based on presenters in the review process, so you have just as good a chance at acceptance as more senior submitters if you have an interesting and well written proposal.
It is helpful to have a catchy engaging title to help stand out among all the presentations. This will aid you in both the review process and in standing out in the conference program. Those colons help to not only be clever, but to tell people what topic you are going to address. Engage people, but be honest and clear about what you are going to cover. This can be covered better and more thoroughly in your abstract. Make sure to describe what you are presenting.
Invite and engage colleagues who will bring diversity and an exchange of ideas. It can be helpful to pair with people you may not know well (rather than just your friends) to provide a diversity of viewpoints and experience.
Your fellow ADAA members reviewing your proposals are looking for a few things. Does your proposal address the theme of the conference? It does not have to directly relate to it if you have a really good proposal, but it helps if it does. Does your proposal contain enough detail to evaluate what you and your colleagues are going to address? Are your intervention and ideas routed in the empirical literature or have you made the case for innovation? Lastly, those evaluating are looking for topics that have not been presented before at the conference. For example, in my area, child anxiety and OCD, there are multiple proposals each year on this topic. The ones more likely to be accepted look at comorbid diagnoses and interventions that target, for example, autism spectrum or behavioral issues. Also, this year, in addition to others, ADAA is looking to highlight proposals that are geared for an advanced or experienced audience. This means not going over diagnoses or the relevance of CBT approaches. Instead, it is diving into complexity and nuance.
It is really important that your proposal is well written. Make sure to review your proposal to look for errors and typos. These limitations have an impact on reviewers' impressions. There are helpful videos available to describe the types of submissions.
To summarize - steps for submitting to the conference
- Create an engaging topic, title, and abstract
- Make sure it is well written and checked for errors
- Try to cover a topic or create an angle of your own, compared to the usual topics frequently covered
- Invite colleagues that will bring diversity of interventions or opinions
- Try to address the theme of the conference (Common Psychopathology: What Can the Past Tell Us About the Future?)
- Don't doubt yourself, just submit and see what happens
Lynne Siqueland, PhD
ADAA Blog Content and Blog Comments Policy
ADAA provides this Website blogs for the benefit of its members and the public. The content, view and opinions published in Blogs written by our personnel or contributors – or from links or posts on the Website from other sources - belong solely to their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ADAA, its members, management or employees. Any comments or opinions expressed are those of their respective contributors only. Please remember that the open and real-time nature of the comments posted to these venues makes it is impossible for ADAA to confirm the validity of any content posted, and though we reserve the right to review and edit or delete any such comment, we do not guarantee that we will monitor or review it. As such, we are not responsible for any messages posted or the consequences of following any advice offered within such posts. If you find any posts in these posts/comments to be offensive, inaccurate or objectionable, please contact us via email at [email protected] and reference the relevant content. If we determine that removal of a post or posts is necessary, we will make reasonable efforts to do so in a timely manner.
ADAA expressly disclaims responsibility for and liabilities resulting from, any information or communications from and between users of ADAA’s blog post commenting features. Users acknowledge and agree that they may be individually liable for anything they communicate using ADAA’s blogs, including but not limited to defamatory, discriminatory, false or unauthorized information. Users are cautioned that they are responsible for complying with the requirements of applicable copyright and trademark laws and regulations. By submitting a response, comment or content, you agree that such submission is non-confidential for all purposes. Any submission to this Website will be deemed and remain the property of ADAA.
The ADAA blogs are forums for individuals to share their opinions, experiences and thoughts related to mental illness. ADAA wants to ensure the integrity of this service and therefore, use of this service is limited to participants who agree to adhere to the following guidelines:
1. Refrain from transmitting any message, information, data, or text that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, that may be invasive of another 's privacy, hateful, or bashing communications - especially those aimed at gender, race, color, sexual orientation, national origin, religious views or disability.
Please note that there is a review process whereby all comments posted to blog posts and webinars are reviewed by ADAA staff to determine appropriateness before comments are posted. ADAA reserves the right to remove or edit a post containing offensive material as defined by ADAA.
ADAA reserves the right to remove or edit posts that contain explicit, obscene, offensive, or vulgar language. Similarly, posts that contain any graphic files will be removed immediately upon notice.
2. Refrain from posting or transmitting any unsolicited, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain mail," "pyramid schemes" or any other form of solicitation. ADAA reserves the right to delete these posts immediately upon notice.
3. ADAA invites and encourages a healthy exchange of opinions. If you disagree with a participant 's post or opinion and wish to challenge it, do so with respect. The real objective of the ADAA blog post commenting function is to promote discussion and understanding, not to convince others that your opinion is "right." Name calling, insults, and personal attacks are not appropriate and will not be tolerated. ADAA will remove these posts immediately upon notice.
4. ADAA promotes privacy and encourages participants to keep personal information such as address and telephone number from being posted. Similarly, do not ask for personal information from other participants. Any comments that ask for telephone, address, e-mail, surveys and research studies will not be approved for posting.
5. Participants should be aware that the opinions, beliefs and statements on blog posts do not necessarily represent the opinions and beliefs of ADAA. Participants also agree that ADAA is not to be held liable for any loss or injury caused, in whole or in part, by sponsorship of blog post commenting. Participants also agree that ADAA reserves the right to report any suspicions of harm to self or others as evidenced by participant posts.