• Choose the right topic. Proposals that do well have a cohesive, overarching theme that has not been presented at recent meetings. Topics should have broad appeal to ASHG meeting attendees.
• Choose the right speakers. Competitive proposals involve presenters who push the field forward while offering unique perspectives on the topic of focus.
• Craft clear descriptions. Successful proposals have clear, detailed descriptions of each speaker’s talk. These should relate to the overall session theme and include recent data when possible.

• Proposals are due January 25, 2023. The deadline will not be extended as review begins immediately. Before submitting a proposal, contact all speakers to ensure their availability as well as to obtain their agreement with ASHG policies. Review the step-by-step instructions below before entering the submission site.
• ASHG believes in the importance of diverse representation in speakers and moderators, including gender, ethnicity, career stage, and balance of institution representation. Proposers are required to include diverse speakers when crafting a session. Diversity in speakers as well as diversity of genetic data are some of the criteria used by the Program Committee to evaluate proposals.
• Proposals that are proposed, moderated, and presented by trainees are encouraged. At least one slot will be allocated as a trainee session.
• Proposers/Moderators: The proposer and co-moderator must be current 2023 ASHG members. Proposers must serve as one of the session moderators. Renew or join here.
• Speakers:
  • There should be no more than four speakers within a given session.
  • It is important to check to make sure a speaker is not being asked to serve in more than one session.
  • There is a limit of two non-member speakers per session and only one non-member from outside of North America.
  • A member speaker is defined as a person who is/was a member of ASHG during any of these three years (2023, 2022, 2021). Non-member speakers are also offered funds to offset travel costs.
  • All speakers are provided complimentary registration to recognize their special contribution to the Annual Meeting.
• Speakers and moderators can only be in one accepted proposal. If you are the moderator and/or speaker in two accepted proposals, a replacement must be found for one of the proposals.
• Program Committee members are not permitted to speak in or moderate Invited Sessions during their tenure.

• Pre-submission: Update ASHG Membership Information
  Before logging in to submit your proposal, confirm that your name and contact information are correct in your ASHG membership account. The email address on your account will be used for all communications regarding your proposal and cannot be edited once you begin. The proposer must be a current 2023 ASHG member and must serve as one of the session moderators.
  • If you cannot remember your ASHG login please do NOT make a new login, contact membership@ashg.org.

We recommend you draft your proposal in a separate document first so that you can cut and paste details into the submission form. You may save a partially completed submission and return to it at a future date.

• Step 1: Beginning a New Submission
  Sign into the ASHG website to arrive at the submission portal. Select “Add New” to begin a new submission.
• Step 2: Basic Session Information
  Enter a title, topic area, track, primary audience, and session type for your session. This page MUST be completed first. Saving this page will automatically create a draft to which you can return at any time until the deadline.
• Step 3: Detailed Session Information
  Enter the information described in each step, including:
  • Your session description, written for meeting participants, maximum 2500 characters including spaces
  • Whether you propose to include a panel discussion and, if yes, what you hope to accomplish during that time and some examples of questions you might discuss
  • Your rationale in proposing the session, including the target audience, for Program Committee review only. Specify what participants will gain from attending.
  • How your session attends to diversity and inclusion
  • Four learning objectives for your session, focusing on the broad outcomes intended for the audience
• Step 4: Proposer/Moderator
  Use the people lookup function to search for yourself in the ASHG community database and add yourself as the proposer/moderator. If you do not intend to moderate the session, cancel the submission and ask someone who is interested in moderating a session to submit the proposal.
• Step 5: Co-moderator
  Please add a co-moderator to your session, use the people lookup function to search for them in the ASHG community database. Reminder: Your co-moderator must be an ASHG member. If your co-moderator is also a speaker, they need to be added as both a speaker and as a co-moderator.
• Step 6:  Speaker
  Use the people lookup function to search for each of your four speakers in the ASHG community database and add them to your proposal. If you cannot find a speaker in the database, you will be given an option to add them after searching. If a speaker is also a moderator, they need to be added as both a speaker and as a moderator. After adding each speaker, enter their talk title and description and save the entry. The description is for meeting participants and should include specific results that the speaker will discuss, not a general overview of their qualifications (maximum 2500 characters, including spaces). Your speakers should conform to the speaker selection policies above. Proposals that do not follow these policies will not be accepted. After adding your speakers, you will have the option to reorder them using “Sort Order” or further edit their information. Once you have finished adding all your speakers and click ‘Continue,’ your proposal will be submitted (if you have completed the rest of the submission properly). There is no separate “submit” button.
• Step 7: Review Summary and Complete Submission
  Review the full session information under the “Summary” tab. If you have missed any required information, there will be a notice at the top. You can also create a printer-friendly version of the submission on this page. A successful submission will prompt a confirmation email. You will not receive additional confirmations if you edit your proposal.
• To withdraw a completed proposal, contact programs@ashg.org.

• After the deadline, proposals go under immediate review. The first step of this review is blinded.
• All proposals are reviewed by the Program Committee (PC), who are not permitted to speak in or moderate sessions during their tenure.
• Final decisions will be sent to all proposers in Spring 2023.
• During the review period, proposers may be contacted by a member of the PC and may be asked to provide additional details, as explained below.
  • The review of proposals is a multi-stage process. The following steps are taken in a genuine effort to ensure the best possible scientific program containing high-quality sessions.
  • The PC first shortlists proposals and determines which of the shortlisted proposals need to be revised.
  • PC representatives reach out to a subset of proposers with recommendations for revisions, which may include speaker substitutions or merging two or more similar proposals. Proposers contacted by the PC are given a short window to address requests and submit revisions. The PC reevaluates the revised proposals and selects the final list of accepted proposals.
  • Although every effort may be taken by a proposer to make the requested alterations, the PC will invariably need to reduce shortlisted proposals further to achieve a final collection of sessions with sufficient breadth for the meeting. This may mean that, even with suggested changes, a proposal may not be accepted.
• Proposers should share a copy of these instructions with every potential speaker to make them aware of ASHG policies and how the proposals are evaluated and selected.

• All interested groups are eligible to submit an invited session proposal, regardless of status as a commercial lab. Any proposals from commercial labs accepted for programming would be slotted into a non-CME eligible session. Submissions are welcome from all labs.
• Proposals should contain novel findings and not be primarily promotional for a product or service. We also offer separate paid speaking opportunities through our Exhibits team, including our popular CoLab sessions in the Exhibit & Poster Hall. Please visit our Exhibits page or reach out to exhibits@ashg.org with questions.