Page 8 - Mobility Management, January/February 2020

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Presenting at the 2021 ISS
Part 1: University of Pittsburgh Will Be Calling for Abstracts Soon. What Will Your Response Be?
Not long after the 2020 International Seating Symposium (ISS) closes in Vancouver, the University of Pittsburgh will call for abstracts for the next symposium. Beginning in May 2020, presenters can submit abstracts for the 37th ISS, March 18-20, 2021, in Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A.
If you’d like to do a presentation there, you’re not alone. The ISS is one of the premier events in seating and wheeled mobility, and to get accepted to present, you need more than just a great idea.
Richard Schein, Ph.D., MPH, is a Research Scientist in the Department of Rehabilitation Science & Technology at the University of Pittsburgh. He joins Meghan Wander, MPA Ed., Education and Training Manager and ISS Symposium Manager, in the planning and administra- tion of the U.S.-based seating symposiums. Schein and Wander oversee the call for abstracts and offered these tips on making your submission as effective as possible.
What Should You Talk About?
The range of possible topics is large, Wander said. “I don’t think they all need to be clinical, but they all need to have relevancy to the field,” she explained. Don’t forget that this is an international event: “It’s hard for us to accept topics that might only be pertinent to one country or one region of a certain country. Pick a topic that can be applicable to a clinical setting, an educa- tional setting [and/or] an administrative setting.”
“What we’ve seen over the last two ISS’s in the States is growth in anything pediatric,” Schein said. “Evaluations are saying, ‘We want more pediatric mobility and advanced workshops.’ We also want to see funding scenarios like Meghan described, because it is an
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international conference. We want scenarios that involve case-based learning, policy and funding situations, administrative solutions, and seating solutions from indi- viduals’ respective countries and clinics.”
What Presentation Format Should You Choose?
Poster presentations are large printouts displayed for attendees to read. Presenters are available at pre-deter- mined times to discuss their work and answer questions.
“This is usually reserved for students or people who have done research on a topic,” Wander said. “It’s our smallest area right now, but we’d love to grow it as much as we can.”
Papers, the shortest type of presentation formally delivered to an audience, are 15 minutes long, with five more minutes for Q&A. “Your paper should at least be submitted to a professional journal, if it has not yet been accepted,” Wander said. “This is ideal for people who might not want to spend an hour talking. Or this is a very focused research project that you are able to conduct in a 15-minute overview and then further discuss questions that people might have.
“The two other sessions are one-hour and pre-confer- ence sessions. A pre-conference session varies between four and eight hours. Topics are a miniature deep-dive or provide some sort of hands-on element. The majority of courses are clinically focused, because this is an oppor- tunity for people working in clinics to physically show how they’re able to accomplish something. When you want to provide in-depth knowledge on a specific operation or task, this is a good place to do it.”
The one-hour session format “is more of a theoretical overview,” Wander said. “You don’t have as much time to do a demonstration because of time restraints.”
What Level Is Your Presentation?
Except for posters, sessions are rated Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced to indicate the level of content attendees can expect.
“I think what sometimes discourages people from submitting abstracts is they might not think they’re at a certain stature in the field,” Wander said. “What we’re looking for, though, is someone who is passionate about the topic. No one wants to sit in a session and have 25 slides read to them. But if the presenter uses those slides
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