Interactive Workshops

Questions: digitalprograms@ashg.org

An ASHG Interactive Workshop is an educational or instructional event that relates to scientific scholarship, research tools, new technologies, skill development, or public information related to science. Workshops are expected to include interactive components in order to provide relevance and value. Please note: Commercial workshops are not eligible.

Submission for interactive workshops is now closed.

Submission Deadline: February 12, 2024 at 5:00 pm EST

Decision Date: April 2024

Proposer/Primary Instructor: Must be current ASHG member. Renew your 2024 membership. Must also serve as the Primary Instructor for the workshop.

Instructor(s): Up to five (5) instructors (not including Primary Instructor). See criteria/policies below for more information.

Workshop Duration: 120 minutes

Topics Considered: Software, tools, and skills useful to genetics professionals, with lots of opportunity for interactivity.

Format and Review: Workshops are being accepted for both our online learning programs and the in-person Annual Meeting. The proposals will be reviewed by the Digital Learning Committee, and decisions will be made by the committee as to which format the workshop will be assigned if accepted.

Resources for Crafting Proposals

Craft your session to benefit attendees. Write a clear description of the intended workshop with realistic goals to accomplish in 120 minutes. The average workshop participant is relatively unfamiliar with the tool or skill being taught, and the workshop goals should be conceived and communicated accordingly. A good strategy is to cover two to three main concepts and, if in doubt, err on the side of more basic learning outcomes.
- If you want to target a more advanced audience, remember to be explicit about what prior knowledge you will expect of participants, and stay away from words like “introduction” and “primer” in the workshop title to avoid confusion.
Plan for a crowd. It can be challenging to maintain interactivity with up to 200 attendees at your workshop! We recommend you recruit help from knowledgeable colleagues who can either co-present or help participants who are falling behind. Depending on the complexity of the skill or software, up to five workshop instructors should be sufficient.
Think about the format. In-person workshops favor high interactivity like group activities, while online workshops are better for instructor-led demonstrations.
Improve upon past experiences. If you have run a similar workshop before, either through ASHG or elsewhere, be sure to address past challenges and what is new or unique about this workshop proposal. There will be space on the proposal form to include past participant feedback. Of course, new workshop proposers are always welcome and encouraged.

Proposal Guidelines and Instructor Policies

ASHG seeks to promote training in new technologies and may support certain workshops more than once. Workshops chosen in a given year are not guaranteed for acceptance in subsequent years.
Before submitting a proposal, contact all instructors to ensure their availability as well as to obtain their agreement with ASHG policies. It is important to check to make sure a speaker is not being asked to serve on another proposal.
Proposals are due February 12, 2024. The deadline will not be extended as review begins immediately. Review the step-by-step instructions below before entering the submission site.
The proposals will be blindly reviewed and selected by the Digital Learning Committee.
The proposer/primary instructor must be a current ASHG member and must serve as the primary instructor for the workshop. Renew or join.
All instructors will receive a 25% discount on their registration to recognize their special contribution to the Annual Meeting. ASHG does not cover travel expenses for workshop proposers or instructors.

Step-by-Step Submission Instructions

Pre-Submission
- 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. If you cannot remember your ASHG login, please do NOT make a new login; instead, 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” next to the Interactive Workshop text to begin a new submission.
Step 2: Basic Session Information
Enter a title and topic for your workshop. This page MUST be completed first during submission. Saving this page will automatically create a draft to which you can return until the deadline.
Step 3: Detailed Workshop Information
Enter the information described in each step, including:
- Workshop description, written for meeting participants, maximum 1500 characters (including spaces).
- Rationale in proposing the workshop, including the target audience, for Digital Learning Committee review only. Specify how the interactive nature of the workshop will be beneficial to participants, maximum 2500 characters (including spaces).
- Four learning objectives for your session, focusing on the broad outcomes intended for the audience, maximum 150 characters each (including spaces). Use these guidelines for crafting learning objectives.
Step 4: Format Preference
- Workshops are being accepted for both our online learning programs and the in-person Annual Meeting. Indicate whether your workshop would function better as a part of our online learning programs on the ASHG Learning Center, separate from the meeting, or if it would fit better as an in-person workshop at ASHG 2024. There is a standard in-person audio/visual set which consists of a screen, podium, stage with head table for four and a table microphone, projector, one lavaliere microphone, and internet.
- Describe how you will conduct this workshop in a virtual environment if it is selected to be online and include whether you have done this workshop virtually in the past, maximum 2500 characters (including spaces).
  - Workshops with high interactivity (e.g. group activities, hands-on items, etc.) are prioritized for in-person workshops. Workshops with low interactivity – (e.g. instructor led demonstrations) are better suited to online learning.
Step 5: Proposer/Primary Instructor
Use the people lookup function to search for yourself in the ASHG community database and add yourself as the proposer/primary instructor. If you do not intend to present during the workshop, cancel the submission and have one of the instructors submit the proposal as the proposer instead. Please note that the proposer/primary instructor should also act as the primary contact for the workshop group
Step 6: Instructors
Use the people lookup function to search for your additional instructors in the ASHG community database and add them to your proposal. No more than 5 additional instructors can be added. If you cannot find an instructor in the database, you will be given an option to add them after searching. Once you have finished adding all your instructors 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 workshop 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 confirmation if you edit your proposal.
Post-submission: Revise by the deadline
Log into the submission site to revise your proposal by the deadline. Review the submission summary each time you make an edit to ensure that the submission is still complete.
To withdraw a completed proposal, contact programs@ashg.org.

Criteria for Evaluating Proposals

Need for the workshop and value to the audience
Value of this type of interactive workshop over independent learning
Likely impact of the workshop
The number of times ASHG has hosted the workshop (or similar ones)
Balance of topics within the set of workshops to be offered (clinical, basic science, trainee development, etc.)

Commercial Lab Eligibility

Commercial labs are not eligible to submit proposals for interactive workshops. We offer separate paid speaking and demo/workshop opportunities through our Exhibits team to promote your products and services, including our popular CoLab sessions in the Exhibit & Poster Hall. Please visit our Exhibits page or reach out to exhibits@ashg.org with questions.