Abstract submission is necessary for both the poster competition and the speaker competition. Competition for the plenary speaker award is voluntary as indicated on the meeting registration form. These abstracts will be judged using the "Abstract Criteria" for selection for the speaker competition. The plenary platform talks will be judged at the meeting using the "Platform Talk Criteria". All selected speakers are required to also bring a poster and are eligible for the poster competition as well. Posters will be judged based on the "Poster Criteria". The competition guidelines were developed by the Education Committee. The judging is done on a point basis as indicated below. All judging is done independently by multiple committee members. Please note that judging of the abstracts gets you into the platform speaker competition. At that point, all speakers start on equal footing for competition for the award.

A $150 plenary speaker award will be presented to the technician, student or post-doctoral fellow giving the best platform talk. Plenary platform speakers will be selected from the submitted abstracts according the "Abstract Criteria" below. Abstracts must be submitted by the August 15 deadline to be eligible for this award. If selected, the author will be notified prior to the meeting so that they will have time to prepare slides or overheads. All selected speakers are required to bring a poster as well. They are also eligible for the poster competition. The platform talks will be 10 minutes in length including questions and discussion. The talks will be judged independently from the abstracts - in other words, all speakers start with zero points at that start of their talk. The "Platform Talk Criteria" is detailed below.

Abstract Criteria: (33 points possible)

1. Abstract form - 3 points each for the following for a potential total of 18:

a. Proper title, authors and affiliation noted.

b. State the reason for the study and/or importance

c. State the objectives

d. State methods

e. State results

f. State conclusion

2. Clarity of abstract - is it easy to read?

10 points = crystal clear

5 points = it needed to be read 2-3 times

1 point = it needed to be read 5-6 times

0 points = I never got the point

3. General abstract rules - including grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

1 point will be subtracted for each error found.

4. Overall quality of the science - this will be judged on a scale of 1-5.

Platform Talk Criteria: (25 points possible)

1. Quality of overheads or slides (can they be read and understood) = up to 3 points

2. Clarity - ease of understanding = up to 5 points

3. Form - purpose, results, discussion, significance and conclusion = up to 5 points (1 point each) (Methods are not emphasized here as they can be discussed at the poster.)

4. Please indicate the end of the talk - "thank you for your attention", etc. =2 points. Do not ask for questions as that is the job of the chairperson, if time allows.

6. Penalized if talk exceeds allotted time = 0.5 penalty point per minute

7. Preparedness = up to 5 points

8. Ability to field questions, even if you do not know the answer = up to 5 points

A $100 poster award will be presented to the technician, student or post-doctoral fellow giving the best on-site presentation of their poster. Posters will be displayed for the duration of the meeting, but will be assigned a specific time slot to stand near their poster to answer questions. Judging includes both the poster itself and the oral presentation of the research. The award will be determined using a "point" system. The poster will be removed from the competition if the author does not appear at the time assigned for their poster.

Criteria: (34 points possible)

1. Title = 2 pts

2. Abstract= up to 5 pts

3. Introduction= up to 5 pts

4. Methods=up to 5 pts

5. Results=up to 5 pts

6. Conclusions= up to 5 pts

7. Physical layout=2 pts

For above criteria: 1 point given if it is present

1 point given for grammatical correctness

3-5 points given for clarity and completeness

8. Oral discussion and questions=1-5pts