How To: Abstracts - Stage 1: Submission Setup

Task

Our platform does not currently have a purpose-built Abstract submission feature, however, what we do is manipulate the Talk function to suit.

It works, but in comparison, dedicated Abstract Submission Portals provide fields to gather a lot of specific information such as Aim, Methods, Conclusions etc. More detail is able to be gathered clearly and easily, and there is a clear review process.

One important thing to note that on our platform, people must create a User Account first, in order to complete the submission process (but then they may not necessarily ever need to use the platform again).

Pre-requisites

• Created Event
• Created Tenant 

Instructions

Steps: 1 - 5

Stage 1: Submission Setup 

Step 1: Setting Up Theme/s, Theme Organisers & Enabling Event Features

Set up a "Theme" within the "Agenda Setup" function which is found via the blue navigational bar on the left hand side of the platform. Themes can be set up as a "generic" Theme, which can be the event name or you can set up specific Themes to reflect your event streams/categories

• • Themes form the means with which we sort, rate and review the Abstracts.

  • You can add Themes, and then within specific Themes, add “Theme Organisers”.

    • The users assigned as Theme Organisers, will have the ability to rate and review talks submitted within that Theme.

    • You can add multiple Users as Theme Organisers.

    • Ensure "Theme Organisers Can Rate Their Theme's Talks" is enabled within the event features.
    • Ensure "Theme Organisers Can Review Their Theme's Talks" is enabled within the event features.
  • Please note: using Themes is currently the only way to organise the rating and reviewing of abstracts

Event Features:

• You will need to enable the following Event Features:
  • Talk Types in Talk Applications
    • This allows Talk Types to display on the Talk Submission page.
  • Users Can Submit Talk Applications
    • This allows anyone who isn’t an Admin User to upload a Talk
  • Users Can Edit Talks optional
    • This allows Users to edit their Abstract (Talk) once submitted (they’d go to My Account > My Dashboard > My Talks)

Additional Notes:

1. If everyone doing the rating and reviewing of the Talks has Admin rights, then adding them as Theme Organisers is not required, as they already have access to the backend (via Agenda > Talk Ratings/Talk Reviews).
2. You can see the Speaker/Authors when rating and reviewing via the backend. You cannot see the Speaker/Authors when reviewing via the Dashboard on the frontend (unless you have Admin rights, then you can). This is important, as it is common practice that Abstracts should be able to be submitted anonymously so as to avoid any bias.

Step 2: Talk Types (this is optional)

The next thing to complete/review, is the setup of the Talk Types, for example;

• Oral Presentation
• Poster Presentation
• Workshop

Under Talk Types, you can add Additional Fields (additional questions) for submitters to complete – not recommended by the Dev team.

Step 3: Create a Custom Page & Menu Button

The first step in the Abstract process, is a "Call for Abstracts". This is where people can submit their Abstract for consideration to be a part of the conference.

To facilitate this first step of the submission process, the first thing we do is set up a Custom Page, and a Menu Button that links to it.

The Custom Page will host all the information and/or instructions the client wants to communicate to those submitting their Abstracts.

Here is a screenshot from a platform of a Custom Page (when the page was live, they had a “Call for Abstracts” button on the Top Menu Bar, to the left of the “Register Now” button):

The points covered on this page are typically:

• Overview of the conference
• Themes
• Key Dates
• T&Cs
• Submission Instructions (i.e. what information they must include)

Then down the bottom of the page, you can create a button or hyperlink that links to /talks/new. You can create this button via a html section within the custom page.

Some helpful platforms you may wish to refer to are:

• https://chsp.delegateconnect.co/pages/let-it-shine-2021-chsp-conference/
• https://www.appcc.com.au/pages/submit-your-abstract/

Step 4: Talks New Page

From the link on the previous page, the user navigates to the /talks/new page.

Here, they are basically submitting a Talk.

There is typically a lot of information clients wish to gather, so unfortunately, a lot of it has to be put into the Description/Overview field – therefore, you need to ensure there are clear instructions in the "Submission Instructions" section on the prior page as to what they need to include in that box;

• Then the client will need to carefully review all of the submissions coming through to ensure they’re receiving the information they need – and then contact the submitter if not to follow up (which could be incredibly time-consuming if they’re receiving hundreds of submissions).

Additional Notes:

• To submit a Talk, the person submitting it must create a User Account.
• The person that submits the Abstract, is automatically assigned as the Speaker. This is something to keep in mind because:
  • They will appear on the Speaker page (even though their Abstract may not be approved yet, or at all)
  • The person who submits the Abstract may be doing it on someone else’s behalf (i.e. an assistant), or they may be an Author, but not actually presenting when live (if successful in applying to the conference)
• When adding an Author the platform will prompt you for an email address – not sure why it asks for an email address as it doesn’t appear to pull anywhere. But is required to set up as an Author

• We can hide fields, but we can’t edit or rearrange them. You can however add Additional Fields under each Talk Type – not recommended by the Dev team.

• Terms and Conditions Acceptance – underneath this section, there is a “Terms and Conditions” hyperlink:
  

  If T&Cs have been added to the platform, when you click that hyperlink, a little box will pop up with them for you to read.

   

  The text can be input under the Event settings, within the “Conflict of Interest Policy” section:

  

Step 5: Trigger Email

When a user submits an abstract for review, the following Trigger Email will be sent if set to True: talk_submission_notifier

So you’ll need to ensure you update the content accordingly and set this Trigger Email to True.

Outcome

After you have completed these 6 steps, your Abstracts Submission Page, menu icon and any other functionality you choose to have for this should now be setup to now move onto Abstracts - Stage 2: Ratings Setup + 3: Review Process.

Further Reading

• Abstracts - Stage 2: Ratings Setup + Stage 3: Review Process