Guidelines for APS Conferences

Submission

Initial idea approval

A preliminary letter of intent that provides an overview of the conference title, format, topics covered is required 2-3 years prior to the conference being held.  Letters may be sent to meetings@physiology.org. This is approved by the APS Conference Committee, and if approved a full proposal will be requested.

Proposal submission

Approximately 2 years prior to the conference, organizers will be required to provide a detailed program outline including any social events. The detailed program should include proposed session chairs and speakers, tentative talk titles, poster sessions; trainee participation (talks and/or co-chairs), and underrepresented populations. The detailed program outline should be sent to meetings@physiology.org.

Organizers are responsible for inviting and confirming all session chairs and approximately one third of the speakers prior to submitting the conference application.

Half of the session chairs and speakers should be new (having not presented at or chaired at the previous conferences). 

Robust representation of women, international participants, junior investigators (assistant professors or below), and participants from underrepresented groups is also expected. Meeting participants should be of all ages, with generous representation of trainees.

In order to make the presentations as timely and cutting edge as possible, it is expected that most of the information presented during the conference program (oral presentations, posters) should be unpublished, and speakers and poster presenters should be made aware of this by organizers.

The conference should include at least one session on “career development” for students, fellows, junior investigators. This workshop should be designed to help prepare young scientists for a variety of career options in the modern workforce.

Organizers should schedule “Meet the Professor” sessions over lunch or other specific times for trainees to meet the experts in the relative research areas.

If this is a recurring APS Conference

Many APS conferences are held every 2-3 years. Evaluations, attendance, and sponsorship of the previous meeting should be taken into consideration when building the new program. Criticisms of previous conference, if the conference is recurring, should be addressed in the new proposal.  In addition, it is suggested that a minimum of 50% of the speakers should not have spoken in the previous meeting.

APS Funding

APS covers in full all logistical and administration costs for the conference, such as abstract submission and processing, audiovisual equipment, poster board rental, registration administration, promotional material, on-site management, etc. Organizers are responsible for funding any off-site events or musical entertainment for the banquet and/or reception. All contracts and agreements with any vendors must be reviewed and approved by the APS.

The APS allocates a maximum of $30,000 for face-to-face conferences to cover registration, travel, housing, and per diem expenses of the invited participants. Invited speakers are required to be present 2 days of the 3 days meeting to be eligible to receive reimbursement. All participants are responsible for making their own housing and travel arrangements.

Two thousand dollars ($2,000) of the administrative budget is allocated towards abstract-based awards for students and/or postdoctoral presenters. In addition, the administrative budget covers two social events at the conference: Opening Reception and Awards Banquet. Any other social activities—such as musical entertainment or an off-site event—must be funded through unrestricted grants from outside sources solicited by the conference organizer(s).

In addition, APS will provide conference organizers with complimentary registration and complimentary hotel rooms for the duration of the conference.

Organizers will be provided with monthly expenditure reports and projected expenses in order for them to understand the budgeting for the conference.

Solicitation of support for the conference

APS’ Development & Strategic Partnerships Manager will work with organizers directly to apply for federally funded conference grants in addition to corporate funding sources. Preparation of federal grant proposal(s) will begin 12-15 months before the conference and require NIH-style biosketches for each of the conference organizers. The Development & Strategic Partnerships Manager will also be responsible for obtaining sponsorships to help defray administrative costs for the conference and will work in concert with organizers so as to not overlap or conflict with their fundraising efforts. If the conference is to be held outside the US, Non-US organizers should also try to obtain sponsorship from their local funding agencies as permitted or from vendors.

Because funds are limited, organizers should not guarantee complete travel reimbursement to the speakers. As noted above, speakers are required to be present at the meeting for 2 days of the 3 days meeting in order to obtain reimbursement. After all grant and/or corporate monies designated for speaker support are received, the organizers will be asked to provide a budget indicating the maximum amount each speaker can receive towards travel reimbursement. APS will then send reimbursement instructions and forms to each speaker.

Organizers will be provided with monthly expenditure reports and projected expenses in order for them to understand the budgeting for the conference.

NIH R13 guidelines – Organizers are required to work with the APS Development office to submit an NIH R13 for funding.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide must be followed with the following additional instructions. The appropriate NIH IC conference award contact should be consulted for guidance regarding any IC-specific budget requirements. Enter the direct costs requested. Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs are not allowed. Provide a narrative justification for each proposed personnel position, including the role of the individual in the conference and the proposed level of effort. Include information regarding efforts to obtain funding for this conference from other sources.

Allowable Costs: Salary (in proportion to the time or effort spent directly on the conference); rental of necessary equipment; travel and per diem or subsistence allowances; supplies needed for conduct of the conference (only if received for use during the budget period); conference services; publication costs; funds to help defray registration costs for some select attendees (for example, women, racial/ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, other individuals who have been traditionally underrepresented in science, graduate students); speakers' fees.

Non-allowable costs: Meals/food and beverages; purchase of equipment; transportation costs exceeding U.S. carrier coach class fares; visas; passports; entertainment and personal expenses (such as tips; bar charges; personal telephone calls; laundry charges) dues; honoraria or other payments for the purpose of conferring distinction or communicating respect, esteem or admiration; patient care; alterations or renovations; local participants' expenses; facilities and administrative costs/indirect costs.

Organizers’ responsibilities

Develop and organize the conference program, including social events other than the opening reception or awards banquet that will be organized by APS staff. Organizers will be responsible for other social events including musical entertainment or off-site events.

It is the responsibility of the organizers to confirm all session chairs and speakers and their presentation titles two months prior to the conference to guarantee the program. Organizers should remind the presenters that the majority of their presentations should be of non-published data.

The APS Publications Committee approved providing an opportunity to conference organizers to request conference proceedings in an APS journal. If the organizers are interested in pursuing this opportunity, the Editor-in-Chief of the journal most closely aligned with the conference topic should be contacted to request permission to publish review articles in that journal. A list of APS journals can be found here: https://www.physiology.org/publications/journals.

APS’ responsibilities

APS will manage all logistics and administration for the conference such as abstract submission and processing, audiovisual equipment, poster board rental, registration administration, promotional material, on-site management, etc. in addition to working in conjunction with organizers to raise funds for travel awards and speaker support.

Marketing

Once the venue and dates are confirmed, a representative from the APS Marketing Department will reach out to the organizers for suggestions of journals, societies and conferences where marketing campaigns can be targeted to help promote the conference. Approximately 2-3 months prior to the conference, the APS Communications Department will develop press releases and may ask for assistance in identifying media-worthy abstracts and presentations.

Values and policies

APS expects all conference organizers to abide by the following policies:

Code of Conduct

APS is committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin or other protected characteristics. View the APS Conference Code of Conduct.

Honors and Awards

APS confers honors and awards, including but not limited to awards and fellowship status; service on committees, Council and other volunteer positions (” honors”). The Society also recognizes individuals for significant contributions to the field or interests of the membership. All honors and awards are conferred at the Society’s discretion, and it retains the right to grant, defer or decline to grant an honor to any person. View the APS Honors and Awards Policy.

Photography/video recording

Photo or video capture of any scientific presentation, whether an oral or poster presentation in whole or in part, is expressly prohibited. Recording or taking photography of another person without their explicit permission is prohibited. The reason for this is that presenters are requested to make the majority of the oral or posters presentation non-published work.

Individuals observed photographing or videotaping any presentation, in whole or in part, will be asked to leave the conference immediately, forfeiting the registration fee. 

View all of APS’ Values and Policies statements.

Submission Deadline Dates

January 15
May 15
September 15

Contact

APS Office of Scientific Meetings