Submission Guidelines

ARO 2024 CALL FOR PROPOSALS
OPEN – MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2023

The ARO Program Committee welcomes the submission of Symposia, Young Investigator Symposia and Workshop proposals for the MidWinter Meeting. The submission deadline is Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. Late submissions will not be considered.

SYMPOSIA SUBMISSION
Symposia are organized as a series of oral presentations on a theme. Preference will be given to proposals that (i) strive for timely syntheses across or within existing disciplines; (ii) explore novel approaches that will expand research in new directions; (iii) include speakers who are first-time ARO speakers, women, and/or speakers from underrepresented groups. Speakers from outside the usual ARO circle are encouraged insofar as they contribute a novel perspective. Proposals that bridge clinical and basic research are encouraged. Proposals on topics covered by other recent ARO Symposia or Workshops are discouraged (see recent ARO Program books, https://aro.org/meetings/past-midwinter-meetings/).

YOUNG INVESTIGATOR SYMPOSIA SUBMISSION
Young Investigator Symposia should be organized by a young investigator and the majority of participants should also be young investigators.  A young investigator is someone who is within 10 years since receiving a PhD or MD. Symposia are organized as a series of oral presentations on a theme. Preference will be given to proposals that (i) strive for timely syntheses across or within existing disciplines; (ii) explore novel approaches that will expand research in new directions; (iii) include speakers who are first-time ARO speakers, women, and/or speakers from underrepresented groups. Speakers from outside the usual ARO circle are encouraged insofar as they contribute a novel perspective. Proposals that bridge clinical and basic research are encouraged. Proposals on topics covered by other recent ARO Symposia or Workshops are discouraged (see recent ARO Program books https://aro.org/meetings/past-midwinter-meetings/​).

For both symposia types, please note the following information regarding time allocations:

• All Symposia have a maximum duration of 2 hours. Individual presentations may be either 15 or 30 minutes. Combinations of 15/30 minute presentations are welcome.
• A minimum of 4 and up to a maximum of 8 presenters may be named. 
• Symposia must include at least one 30-minute presentation.
• Allocation of presentation times is at the discretion of the organizers. Chairs will be asked to allocate speaking times if the symposium is selected for presentation.

 Available Financial Support:

• A maximum of $3,000.00 USD is provided to the Chair of each Symposium to distribute to non-members only in their session to help offset travel expenses (there is a maximum of $1,500.00 USD per individual speaker), in addition to waived registration, in the form of reimbursement after the meeting based on receipts submitted.
• Non-member speakers who have had prior membership or registration activity in ARO since 2018 are not eligible (within 5 years of speaking engagement).
• Non-members may receive funding from only one session per meeting.
• If your symposium is accepted, the chair will receive instructions regarding the allocation of travel funds to eligible non-member speakers. 
• If you or your speakers are unsure about eligibility for financial support, contact headquarters@aro.org to verify past participation.

Please Note: As Chair, you are responsible for communicating this policy to any speakers you invite. Please see the Non-Member Reimbursement Policy for more information.

All proposals must be submitted through the online submission system. Please access submission via the ARO website. Proposals can be edited until the submission deadline of  May 31, 2023. Notifications of accepted proposals will be emailed no later than late-June. Organizers must provide the following critical pieces of information:

Chair must submit:

• The overall submission title
• Select a category that is applicable to your submission
• Overall session description at a maximum of 300 words
• A brief statement on the speaker diversity (geographic/gender/visible minorities/career status) of your proposal

Each presenter must submit:

• Individual abstract title
• Abstract at a maximum of 400 words
• Co-Authors

WORKSHOP SUBMISSIONS

Workshops are instructional in nature. They may include hands-on work or may simply be an overview of techniques or approaches.  Workshops are typically 1 hour in length. Proposals on topics covered by other recent ARO Symposia or Workshops are discouraged (see recent ARO Program books, https://aro.org/meetings/past-midwinter-meetings/).

• Workshops must be on topics of interest to a focused subgroup of ARO members. For example, they can focus on a particular technical innovation or on an important goal undertaken by an ARO committee.

• A minimum of 4 and up a maximum of 8 presenters may be named. 

Chair must submit:

• The overall submission title
• Select a category that is applicable to your submission
• Overall session description at a maximum of 300 words
• A brief statement on the speaker diversity (geographic/gender/visible minorities/career status) of your proposal

Each presenter must submit:

• Individual abstract title
• Abstract at a maximum of 400 words

Please note: No financial support or waived registration for nonmember presenters is offered for Workshop submissions.

If you have any additional questions, please contact the Executive Office at headquarters@aro.org.

Poster/Podium Submissions
Opens yearly in August. Late submissions are not considered.

The Association for Research in Otolaryngology is accepting abstracts for the 47^th Annual MidWinter Meeting to be held in-person from February 4-7, 2024, in Anaheim, California. To be considered for presentation, all abstracts must be completed and submitted online no later than 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Friday, September 29th!

All presenters will first update their profile. To update, log in as an existing user with either your institution or personal email address; https://aro.societyconference.com/v2/, select UPDATE PROFILE. If you are new to ARO, you will need to create your account.

Please select ‘Start a New Scientific Submission’ from Actions. The submission type the presenter will select is POSTER/PODIUM. *Important: In Step 2 – Participants, the presenter’s name will be the name to appear, no other names will be listed in this step. If you are a PI creating a submission for a student, please create the submission as if you were the presenter, complete all fields and pay the submission fee. Once the submission is completed, please email headquarters@aro.org to have the submission changed over to the student who will make the presentation at the MidWinter Meeting.

For any presenter changes, please email ARO at headquarters@aro.org.

Within the POSTER/PODIUM submission, presenters will be asked if they wish to apply for a travel award and/or one of the three presentation type offerings:

• Travel Award Application:
  • Applicants will select Yes or No to apply for a travel award. You may not apply for a Travel Award if you are a previous awardee. Application requirements:
    • Upload your current CV in PDF format only. *
    • Rationale Statement (a brief statement (max 1 page)) about why you wish to attend and what you hope to achieve at the ARO MidWinter Meeting; upload text into field. *
    • Enter the name of your PI/Lab.*
    • Enter your self-identification

*required

• Poster Presentation:
  • If the presenter wishes to submit a live poster presentation, nothing more, choose Poster Presentation Only.
  • There is no digital only offering for this meeting. (e.g., pre-recorded talks or livestreams)
  • Poster presenters will be able to upload an e-poster for viewing in the mobile app and e-poster hall, in addition to their physical poster.
  • Presenters will not be allowed to only upload an e-poster as poster presenters must attended the meeting in person.

• Podium Presentation:
  • A Podium Presentation is a live, on-stage, 12-minute oral presentation with 3-minutes of live, audience Q&A. (15-minutes of total presentation time).
  • A PowerPoint or Keynote presentation is required for this presentation type.
  • There is no digital only offering for the meeting. (e.g., pre-recorded talks or livestreams)
  • All submissions are reviewed by the Program Committee, if the presenter is selected to present a podium presentation, no poster presentation is allowed.

• 
  Submission Fees:

*The abstract submission fee is a separate fee from the MidWinter Meeting registration fee.

• ARO Members $30 per submission
• Non-members $120 per submission

*No refunds will be given if a non-member joins ARO after submitting an abstract. Payment must be made at the time of submission for a submission to be considered complete.

 Please read carefully before submitting an abstract for a Poster or Podium Presentation:

• There is no limit on the number of contributed abstract submissions from any one person or lab, fees are charged per
• Abstract submissions are not required to be sponsored by an ARO member.
• There is no additional cost to withdraw an abstract; however, there will be no refund of the fee after the abstract has been successfully submitted.
• When submitting your abstract, you will be asked to identify your abstract’s primary category for review.
• Abstracts will include an overview of the research background, methods, results, and conclusions in text form only, no graphs or images are uploaded.
• Background: Make the specific aim of the presentation clear and relate to current literature.
• Methods: Where relevant, describe the sample including size, variables measured and interventions clearly.
• Results: Should be clear to a broad ARO audience including presenting findings and looping in clinical relevance. Summarize qualitative and/or quantitative changes and note the clinical significance of the outcomes.
• Conclusions: Emphasize new and important aspects of the findings and the conclusions drawn from them. Describe how findings are relevant to the science and practice of Otolaryngology, the need for future research or clinical investigation. Include or mention key “take-away” messages that will be presented.
• The online abstract submission will collect only text. (Figures, graphics and tables will be included in the physical poster).
• The word limit is 450 words maximum per abstract. This word count does not include the title or co-author list.
• In the title text box, enter the abstract title exactly as you wish it to appear in the ARO Program and Abstract books. All information will be displayed and published exactly as it has been submitted. Double-check all spelling and capitalization. No copyediting will be performed, and no embarrassing typos will be corrected. Titles must be in Title Case, which is Initial Caps on All Significant Words. Do NOT type the title in all uppercase. *Example of Title Case: Molecular Basis of Obvious Hearing Loss in the Walking Dead
• The abstract submitter is responsible for ensuring that all information in the abstract is exactly as the authors wish it to appear.
• Following successful submission of an abstract, you can edit any of the fields until the deadline. Edits are not possible after the deadline.

ABSTRACT REVIEW CRITERIA

Abstracts will be reviewed and selected for presentation based on significance, relevance, innovation, appropriate analytic approach, findings, implications for research and practice, and clarity of writing.  Preference will be given to proposals that (i) strive for timely syntheses across or within existing disciplines; (ii) explore novel approaches that will expand research in new directions; (iii) include speakers who are first-time ARO speakers, women, and/or speakers from underrepresented minorities. Speakers from outside the usual ARO circle are encouraged insofar as they contribute a novel perspective. Proposals that bridge clinical and basic research are encouraged.

Questions regarding the submission process or the MidWinter Meeting, please contact the ARO headquarters by email at headquarters@aro.org.

Travel Award Submission
Opens yearly in August. Late submissions are not considered.

The Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) announces that travel awards applications are being accepted to attend the 2024 ARO MidWinter Meeting being held on February 4-7, 2024, in Anaheim, California. The travel award value will be $500 for U.S. based awardees and $750 for internationally located awardees.

Eligible applications will be reviewed and scored by the Travel Awards Committee. The highest scoring applicant from the graduate student category will be awarded a Don Henderson Travel Award of $1,000. Additional funding for applicants' who are medical resident in France is generously provided by the Fondation Pour l’Audition.

The purpose of the travel award program is to support trainees in attending the Midwinter Meeting and becoming active member in the ARO community. The funds for travel awards come from generous donations from various companies and institutions.

The ARO is committed to inclusiveness, as such individuals with a disability (e.g. loss of hearing, vision, or mobility, as well as individuals with a psychiatric or learning disability) and individuals from groups historically under-represented in the biomedical sciences (e.g. African American, Hispanic, Native American, Alaskan native, or Pacific Islander) are highly encouraged to apply

Applications for ARO Audiologist Travel Awards:

Eligibility criteria:

• Applicants must be current ARO members at the time of application, and at the time of the MidWinter Meeting.
• Applicants must be full-time audiology graduate students or audiology postdoctoral research fellows carrying out research pertinent to the interests of ARO.
• Applicants must submit a first-author abstract for review along with their application materials.
• Applicants must attend the MidWinter meeting in person to receive travel award funds.

Application procedure:

• Applicants must complete the electronic application form.
• Applicants must upload a personal statement (1 page limit) describing why they wish to attend and what they hope to achieve at the MidWinter meeting. Information on financial hardship can be included. 
• Self identification *optional*: ARO is committed to inclusiveness. If an applicant is from a historically under-represented group in the biomedical sciences. (max 300 words)
• Applicants must upload a Curriculum Vitae.
• Letters of recommendation are NOT required, however if more than one applicant comes from a group/program, the supervisor/director/chairperson may be asked to prioritize applicants.

Applications for ARO Graduate Student Travel Awards:

Eligibility criteria:

• Applicants must be current ARO members at the time of application, and at the time of the MidWinter Meeting.
• Applicants must be full-time graduate students carrying out research pertinent to the interests of the ARO (Note: Postdoctoral Fellows, Medical students / Residents and Audiologists should NOT apply under this category).
• Applicants must submit a first-author abstract for review along with their application materials.
• Applicants must attend the MidWinter meeting in person to receive travel award funds.

Application procedure:

• Applicants must complete the electronic application form.
• Applicants must upload a personal statement (500 words) describing why they wish to attend and what they hope to achieve at the MidWinter meeting. Information on financial hardship can be included. 
• Self identification *optional*: ARO is committed to inclusiveness. If an applicant is from a historically under-represented group in the biomedical sciences. (max 300 words)
• Applicants must upload a Curriculum Vitae.
• Letters of recommendation are NOT required, however if more than one applicant comes from a group/program, the supervisor/director/chairperson may be asked to prioritize applicants.

Applications for ARO Post-Doctoral Travel Awards:

Eligibility criteria:

• Applicants must be current ARO members at the time of application, and at the time of the MidWinter Meeting.
• Applicants must be post-doctoral fellows carrying out research pertinent to the interests of the ARO, and not have a research-track, or tenure-track faculty appointment.
• Applicants must submit a first-author abstract for review along with their application materials.
• Applicants must attend the MidWinter meeting in person to receive travel award funds.

Application procedure:

• Applicants must complete the electronic application form.
• Applicants must upload a personal statement (500 words), describing why they wish to attend and what they hope to achieve at the MidWinter meeting. Information on financial hardship can be included. 
• Self identification *optional*: ARO is committed to inclusiveness. If an applicant is from a historically under-represented group in the biomedical sciences. (max 300 words)
• Applicants must upload a Curriculum Vitae.
• Letters of recommendation are NOT required, however if more than one applicant comes from a group/program, the supervisor/director/chairperson may be asked to prioritize applicants.

Applications for ARO Resident / Medical Student Travel Awards:

Eligibility criteria:

• Applicants must be current ARO members at the time of application, and at the time of the MidWinter Meeting.
• Applicants must be a Resident in Otolaryngology or a medical student (Note: Post-doctoral clinical or research fellows are not eligible for this award).
• Applicants must submit a first-author abstract for review along with their application materials.
• Applicants must attend the MidWinter meeting in person to receive travel award funds.

Application procedure:

• Applicants must complete the electronic application form.
• Applicants must upload a personal statement (500 words) describing why they wish to attend and what they hope to achieve at the MidWinter meeting. Information on financial hardship can be included. 
• Self identification *optional*: ARO is committed to inclusiveness. If an applicant is from a historically under-represented group in the biomedical sciences. (max 300 words)
• Applicants must upload a Curriculum Vitae.
• Letters of recommendation are NOT required, however if more than one applicant comes from a group/program, the supervisor/director/chairperson may be asked to prioritize applicants.

Childcare grant

Grants of $500 will be disbursed to defray childcare costs related to travel to the ARO midwinter meeting.  Examples of expenses are to pay a caregiver during the conference, and to pay for airfare for children or caregiver.  Up to 20 grants will be awarded; if applicants exceed this number, priority will be given to earlier career stage applicants.  The funds will be disbursed at the midwinter meeting.  

Application deadline:  TBD  

Apply here - https://aro.societyconference.com/?conf_id=10003&m=user&h=event/ev_x7xwd/evt_pjxrg 

Poster Blitz Presentation Competition:

• • If the presenter is submitting multiple abstracts, only ONE (1) POSTER abstract submission will be considered per lab for a Poster Blitz Presentation.
  • All Poster Blitz applications are reviewed by the Poster Blitz Organizers.
  • The Poster Blitz Presentation is open only to Graduate Students and Postdoc Fellows with three years or less of postdoc experience, NO individuals in a Faculty Position are eligible. Within the submission you will be asked to attest you are a Graduate Student or Postdoc Fellow.
  • A Poster Blitz Presentation is a fast-paced, live, on-stage, 5-minute presentation with no audience Q&A.
  • If selected for this presentation type, the presenter WILL ALSO present the poster in one of the assigned, live, poster sessions.
  • There is no digital only offering for this meeting. (e.g., pre-recorded talks or livestreams)
  • You can only be a poster blitz award recipient in the competition only one (1) time, you can participate as often as you are eligible. During the in-person poster blitz competition session, a diverse panel of researchers and clinicians will rank the presenter’s ability to convey the impact of their work, the clarity of the presentation, and the overall impression of the project. The winners of the poster blitz session will be recognized at the beginning of the Award of Merit Lecture.
  • Two categories of experience will be selected for awards: Student and Postdoc. Three winners will be selected as 1st, 2nd and 3rd place under each category. This annual competition is generously funded by ARO and provides two monetary awards for 1st Place ($50.00) for each category, Student and Postdoc.