MEETING:
2010 Veterinary Symposium, October 21-23, at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, Seattle, WA.

SECTIONS:

• Residents Forum Small Animal (ACVS and ECVS residents only)
• Residents Forum Large Animal (ACVS and ECVS residents only)
• Small and Large Animal scientific abstracts will be presented throughout the meeting during the seminar sessions
• Poster Session:  Thursday, October 21 – Saturday, October 23

SPEAKER FORMAT:

• Residents Forum presentations will be 15 minutes: 2 minutes for set-up, 10 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes for questions and discussion.
• Scientific presentations will be 15 minutes: 10 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for questions and discussion.

POSTER FORMAT:
4’ x 4’ posters; Set-up: 5:00–8:00pm, Wednesday, October 20; Presentation and Judging: 5:30-7:00pm, Friday, October 22; Tear-down: 4:30-6:00pm, Saturday, October 23.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION:
Abstracts must be submitted on-line using the official abstract template for receipt on or before 12:00 midnight (ET), March 1, 2010.  To register as an abstract author and begin submitting your abstract, please go to:

http://acvs2010.abstractcentral.com

If a resident is selected to present in the Resident's Forum, he or she may not also have a poster for consideration in the Resident's Poster competition.

PRESENTER NOTIFICATION:
The presenting author will be notified of acceptance or rejection by May 31, 2010.  Individuals submitting the scientific abstract on behalf of the presenting author will not be notified of the results.

REQUIREMENT:
All presenters of scientific presentations in the seminar sessions, except residents, are required to agree to be a discussant for one of the other scientific papers.  The Scientific Presentations Chair will get in touch with you prior to the Symposium and supply you with a copy of the long abstract with which you will need to be familiar in order to be an effective discussant.

SCORING AND EVALUATION PROCESS:
The long abstracts (blinded) are scored on a 100-point system: Title (5 points), Introduction (5 points), Hypothesis (10 points), Methods (20 points), Results (20 points),  Discussion (20 points), Scientific value or Clinical relevance (20 points).  The long (blinded) abstracts are reviewed in the following sequential steps:

Step 1: All abstracts to be considered for the Residents Forum are reviewed and ranked by the Residents Forum Committee.  The top 15 abstracts in small and the top 15 abstracts in large animal are placed on the final Residents Forum program. 

Step 2: All remaining abstracts (including those submitted but not selected for presentation in the Residents Forum, but determined by the Resident Forum Committee to be of appropriate scientific content) are reviewed and ranked by committees in each of the categories (Small Animal Orthopedic/Neurological, Small Animal General, Large Animal Orthopedic/Neurological, Large Animal General and Poster Session).  Abstracts considered to be of appropriate scientific quality will be assigned to either the Poster Session or for podium presentation during the appropriate seminar session depending on content and relevance to veterinary surgery.  Please note that a scientific abstract can be submitted for poster presentation only or potential poster or podium presentation, but submitting an abstract exclusively for podium presentation is not an option.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ABSTRACT PREPARATION:

• Abstract Deadline: Submitted by midnight (ET) Friday, March 1, 2010.
• Two abstracts are required: a short abstract for publication in the Symposium Proceedings and the on-line version of Veterinary Surgery, and a long abstract for evaluation. 
• All abstracts should be designated as a research or clinical projects.  Research is defined as all in vitro studies and investigative protocols that involve the use of experimental laboratory animals or bench-top research methods.  Clinical is defined as investigative protocols that involve clinical patients.
• You can copy and paste your abstracts from your own Word files into the submission system.  If your abstract requires superscript or subscript, you will need to include the HTLM codes within your document.  For superscript, ^{in front of the text and} behind your text.  For subscript, _{in front of the text and} behind your text.
• There are five sections of the online submission process:
  • Title: The title should be brief and accurately reflect the content of the abstract.  Do not use abbreviations in the title.
  • Abbreviated Title: This title will be used in the printed program.  The title should reflect the content of the abstract but must be limited to 45 characters including spaces.  Limited use of commonly accepted abbreviations or acronyms is acceptable.  Please note, if you abstract is accepted for either poster or oral presentation, your abbreviated title will be used in all Symposium published promotional material.
  • Short Abstract: Should be typed single-spaced and cannot exceed 250 words.  Do not include the title, authors’ names or authors’ affiliations.  The preferred sequence is introduction and hypothesis, materials and methods, results and discussion/conclusions.  However, do not use these subheadings (e.g., Introduction, Materials) in the short abstract.  If this text sequence is not appropriate, flowing text and other modifications are acceptable.  Do not underline, italicize, capitalize or bold for emphasis within the text.  Indent 1/8” for each paragraph or section within the body.  Do not insert a blank line between paragraphs or sections.
  • Long Abstract: Should be approximately 800 words.  Use the same format as for the short abstract, but expand the text to more completely describe the material.  Figures, photos and graphs can not be embedded in the text but should be referenced within the text.  These images will appear at the end of your abstract.  No names, institutions, or source of support should appear within the text of the long abstract.  References can be included, if necessary.
  • Figures, Photos & Graphs: Each image must be uploaded separately and identified using the same references within your abstract.  This is for your long abstract only, there are no figures, photos or graphs permitted within the short abstract.
• The College will only accept abstracts that comply with the statement on Humane Care and Use of Animals, as described in the ACVS Information Brochure on the ACVS website (www.acvs.org/members/infobroch)
• During the on-line submission process, you will be required to select your session choices.  The two options are: 1) only poster presentation, or 2) podium or poster presentation.  It is not possible to submit an abstract for podium presentation only. 
• Residents Forum: In order to qualify for the Residents Forum, residents must be actively enrolled in an ACVS or ECVS residency program at the time of abstract submission.  Each resident may submit only one abstract for the Residents Forum. Residents are encouraged to submit abstracts for clinical projects.  Residents may submit other abstracts for the seminar sessions/poster session. 
• Residents Poster Competition: In order to qualify for the residents’ competition within the Poster Session, residents must be actively enrolled in an ACVS or ECVS residency program at the time of abstract submission.