Washington State Public Health Association
16th Annual Joint Conference on Health

Instructions for Entering Abstracts 
for the 16^th Annual Joint Conference on Health 

"Healthy People in Healthy Places: A New Path to Health"
(A Call to Action for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Equity)

October 5 - 6, 2009 · Yakima Convention Center · Yakima Washington

Please read this information before entering your abstract.  Only the oral abstracts submissions is open at this time. Poster submissions will be accepted at a later date.  

Abstracts for Oral Presentations: Abstracts are reviewed and accepted on the basis of seven criteria: 1.) Clarity and quality of writing; 2.) Participation by multi-disciplinary public health partners; 3.) Novel/innovative/timely; 4.) Usefulness of  topic/continuing education potential; 5.) Description of the process used in project or program; 6.) The overall description of the background/purpose, methods, results/outcomes, and conclusions/implications; and 7.) Relevance to conference theme.  For roundtable sessions, #5 and #6 will not apply. The deadline for oral abstract submissions has been extended to Friday, May 15, 2009.

Registration for Presenters: The Primary Presenter for each oral presentation is required to register for the conference (either for the day they present or the entire conference). Panelists will not be required to register if they are only coming to present and are not attending other concurrent sessions, plenary sessions, meals, or pre or post conference sessions.

Abstracts for Poster Presentations: Poster abstracts will be able to be submitted through this site soon. Please check back. The deadline for submittal is Friday, September 4, 2009.

All presenter information will be printed in the final program distributed at the conference.  In the past, many contributors to posters did not have complete name or contact information entered in the submittal form.  If complete information is not provided on presenters their names will not be in the final program nor will they be contacted to register for the conference.  Only four names can to put into the abstract submittal form.  If more than four people contributed to the poster please list the other names in the "Acknowledgment" field.  Your must indicate to the Conference Coordinator who will be attending the Joint Conference to represent your poster.  This information can be entered into the "Comment" field.

A/V Equipment: A/V equipment will be provided.  LCD projectors and laptops will only be provided if you submit your presentation to the A/V Coordinator, Richard Pedlar no later than September 14, 2009.  Richard will load your presentation onto the laptop so it is ready for the conference.  Instructions will be provided to you with your confirmation letter if your abstract is selected for presentation at the conference.  If you do not provide the presentation to Richard by September 14th then you will need to bring your own laptop and LCD projector to the conference.  Laptops and LCD projectors are also available for rent at the convention center if you provide at least one weeks notice to them.

Instructions for Filling Out Abstract Forms: Please do not enter your abstract information in all caps.

Format Presentation: (Chose only one.  Not required for submitting poster abstracts).

Single is one presenter doing the entire presentation (no panelists), theater-style seating.

Panel is 1 primary presenter and up to 3 panelists, theater-style seating.

Workshop can have up to 3 panelists as well with 1 primary presenter; set-up is classroom style with a head table for presenter/panelists. Attendees are expected to participate doing some writing assignment.  

Roundtable is a format for discussion and workgroups.  These are 90 minute sessions only, Room set-up has roundtables, no head table, and no A/V equipment.  Standing podium and microphone is provided for presenter/facilitator.

Public Health Disciplines: Presentations are organized into tracks for each session held at the conference.  Your abstract (if accepted) will need to be categorized into a track. in the on-line submittal form you fill find several categories in which to choose from.  Please select the one that best fits the content of your abstract.

DOH Recommended Categories: DOH's recommended abstract categories for 2009 JCH.  These categories relate to the chronic disease prevention theme but may also capture other topics.  We ask that you please categorize your abstract using these categories along with the displinary choices traditionally used above under "Public Health Disciplines." 

Please keep in mind that if there are not enough presentations accepted in a discipline that the discipline may be merged with other disciplines to complete a track. Merging of tracks will be noted on the registration brochure.  

Presentation Time Requested: There will be 45 and 90 minute presentations, and only 90 minutes for the roundtables.  A very limited number of 90 minute presentations and roundtables are being accepted. All concurrent sessions are 90 minutes, so if you submit an abstract for 45 minutes, you will be paired with another 45 minutes presentation to fill the 90 concurrent session time slot.

Presentation Title: Capitalize all words over 3 letters in length. Use action words to describe your program or project in no more than 80 characters including spaces.

Moderator: Please indicate whether there is a moderator on your abstract, the name of the moderator, and whether or not that person is the primary contact for the abstract.  We will notify one contact person for each abstract (either the primary presenter or moderator). 

Moderators are primarily used by JCH to introduce the presenters for each of the presentations only when there are two 45-minute presentations assigned in a room for a 90 minute session. If you do not have a moderator and have a 45 minute presentation you are submitting, JCH will assign a moderator for you.

Abstract: In paragraph format, describe the purpose or research question and objectives your presentation addresses. Provide a brief summary of your project or research, including methods or intervention, and process evaluation or outcomes if the project has been completed. Finish with your findings, conclusions or implications. The abstract text is limited to 1,500 characters (approximately 300 words) and will be printed in the final program exactly as submitted, so proof carefully! Do not include the names of any presenter or panelists in the text of the abstract; abstracts must be generic.  If you wish to acknowledge anyone who has provided input on your presentation but will not actually be presenting can be indicated in the Acknowledgement field.

Behavioral (Learner) Objectives:  Provide three statements in complete sentence format using action verbs that state what the attendees will learn from participating in the session.  Each objective is limited to 100 characters including spaces and punctuation.  Objectives are essential to the conference because CEUs cannot be obtained with many CEU institutions if the objectives are not submitted along with the application.  In cases where presenters submitted their abstract for the conference and did not include the objectives, they were not considered for a slot in the conference. 

Media Coverage: It is possible that media will be present at the conference.  So that the registration team is aware of where to direct the media, please indicate whether or not media is allowed to sit in on your presentation/workshops.

Presenter and Panelist Information:  (Do not include this information in the abstract). Indicate who is the primary  presenter and panelists, if any in the designated fields. Complete ALL of the information requested for each person. No more than 3 panelists plus the primary presenter will be allowed for any presentation.  JCH Coordinator only works with the primary presenter unless a moderator is appointed the contact person instead.  It is the responsibility of the primary presenter or moderator to make sure information is provided to the rest of the panel.  The primary presenter or moderator must also be responsible for providing the JCH Coordinator with any and all changes to the format, panel, and content of the presentation.  Failure to do so may result in incorrect room set-up, A/V equipment, and marketing information of presentation and presenters involved. Furthermore, all presenters and panelists must submit a completed registration form regardless of whether or not they are staying for the entire conference or just their own.  This is a confirmation that the panelist will be there.

Bios must be completed for each primary presenter and panelist so that this conference can be eligible for CEU credits.  Bios should include 1.) Degrees including institution, city and state, major area of study, and year degree awarded; 2.) Present employment position and description; 3.) Brief description of professional experience or areas of expertise that prepared you for this presentation.  Bios must not be more than 800 characters (approximately 125 words). Bios are not required for submission of poster abstracts.

Acknowledgements: Please indicate in this field (in paragraph format)  any other people you would like to recognize as participants in developing your presentation.  Do not list anyone who is already a presenter/panelist for the presentation.

Comments: In this field be sure to include any information you feel needs to be provided to the JCH Coordinator.  Information such as specific dates and times you are unable to present, or requests for pairing with another presentation should all be noted in this field.  We cannot guarantee your request will be granted but we will make every effort to do so.  If information such this is not provided upfront changes will not be allowed after the abstract has been accepted and assigned its time slot in the conference.

Verification of Submission:  The way your information is entered (especially the abstract) is exactly how the reviewers will see it. Please check over your work and print a copy for your records. If you wish to verify that your abstract was received, please email conference@wspha.org with VERIFICATION OF ABSTRACT RECEIPT in the subject line.

Notification of Abstract Review:  The JCH Coordinator is tentatively scheduled to email the results to the Primary Presenter (or Moderator if a Moderator was noted as the primary contact) around mid-June.  It is advised that you check the website regularly as the dates get closer to June for updates to the process.  It is the responsibility of the main contact person on the abstract to notify any panelists of the results.