Welcome to the 32nd ICM Virtual Triennial Congress

Selected poster authors do not need to be present during a designated time – all posters will be available during the entire Congress and until the end of September 2021. Special attention will be given to posters during all programme breaks.

The Congress delegates will be able to get in touch with the poster presenters within the virtual platform.

• Between 21 April and 12 May
  • Apart from the PDF poster, a three-minute video can be prepared, but this step is not mandatory – such video content would be displayed with the poster.
  • Upload your PDF poster and three-minute video via the Congress Portal. Both need to be submitted at the same time. Format specification below.
  • When uploading your presentation, you can also update or change your biography.
• During the Congress and by the end of September
  • Please check the online platform/ your email inbox regularly.

Presentation Format

Poster (mandatory)

​Video presentation (optional)

Present numerical data in the form of graphs, rather than tables (graphs make trends in the data much more evident).

If data must be presented in table form, keep it simple.

Avoid acronyms and extensive mathematical notations as much as possible.

Posters should have a maximum of 600 words. Avoid submitting compactly packed, high word-count posters.

Please remember that you are not writing an article.

Use the 20-40-40 rule. 20% text, 40% graphics, 40% white space

Organize your poster into subdivisions:

• For research posters: e.g. Introduction (aims/objectives), Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, and only key references (two or three maximum).
• For practice/commentary posters: Introduction/background (rationale), describe the project/patient initiative/practice issue, describe the implementation, results, implications, plans for sustainability

Be sure that your poster attracts attention, emphasizes important points, reads easily, and stimulates interest. Use, but don’t overuse bold fonts and colors.

Facts should be printed in single phrases or words, using bullets.

Use a consistent font throughout.

Avoid the use of abbreviations and acronyms.

Free poster templates can be found online. For example:

https://www.genigraphics.com/templates
https://www.template.net/business/presentation/poster-presentation/
https://www.postersession.com/poster-templates.php

Example of a well-designed practice initiative (non-research) poster presented at ICM Congress in Toronto by Yoana Stancheva, winner of the Marie Goubran Agent of Change Award 2016:

Note: All symposia contact authors were recently contacted and asked to specify who the symposia presenters will be. Any personal changes should be communicated by 12 April via email to abstracts@icmvirtualcongress.org. Also, all symposia presenters are expected to register to the Virtual Congress by Wednesday, 28 April.

All symposia will be presented live which means you will be expected to connect to the live session at least 20 minutes before its start.

In case you will not be able join live, you can request to pre-record your session with our technicians.

If a symposium presentation is pre-recorded, the symposium chair is still expected to show up live to introduce the speakers and to manage the session discussion.

However, the number of pre-recording slots is limited and offered primarily to those who:

• Can not secure a strong internet connection for the presentation (5 Mbps)
• Have a presentation scheduled at a very inconvenient time in their respective timezone

 If You Wish to Pre-record

• By 12 April 2021:
  • If you wish to pre-record the whole symposium at once, please contact us at abstracts@icmvirtualcongress.org.
  • If you are the only presenter that wishes to pre-record, please fill in the pre-recording request form (please state the Abstract Number of the symposium).
• By 21 April 2021
  ICM Committee will either confirm or decline your request based on the aforementioned criteria
• After 21 April 2021
  Those selected for pre-recording sessions will receive a booking form and will reserve a particular time slot with our technician.
  • Based on the date your talk/ session is scheduled in the online programme, you will be offered a booking slot as follows:
  • Presenters of 2 and 9 June → pre-recording slots: 3-7 May
  • Presenters of 16 June → pre-record slots: 10 – 14 May.
  • Presenters of 23 June → pre-record slots: 18 – 21 May.
  • Presenters of 30 June → pre-record slots: 24 – 28 May.
• At least 48 hours before your scheduled pre-recording
  Upload your PowerPoint presentation via the Congress Portal (upload center will be open from 21 April). Presentation specification below.
• On the day of pre-recording
  Join our technician in Zoom via link you will receive. The technicians will guide you through the whole process.
• On the day your session is live
  You are most welcome to join the session Zoom meeting 20 minutes before the session start in order to participate in the Q&A section.

Live Presenters

• Between 21 April and 12 May
  • Upload your PowerPoint presentation via the Congress Portal. Presentation specification below. We will run the presentation you upload on our local computers and you will operate the presentation remotely – for that reason, please make sure you upload a final version of your presentation as this will be the one actually used during the Virtual Congress.
  • Together with your presentation upload you can also update or change your biography.
• The week before your presentation day
  • Test your Zoom connection and audio/video here.
  • Await Zoom meeting link for your session.
  • The symposium chair will also receive a link to the live session discussion tool together with details on how to manage it.
• On the day of the presentation
  • 20 minutes before the start of your session, join our technician, your session chair and other presenters in the Zoom meeting room. You will present your talk within this meeting and the meeting will be streamed live to the Congress participants.

Presentation Format

All symposia are scheduled for 90 minutes.

Note: All workshop contact authors were recently contacted and asked to specify who the workshop facilitators will be. Any personal changes should be communicated by 12 April via email to abstracts@icmvirtualcongress.org. Also, all workshop facilitators are expected to register to the Virtual Congress by Wednesday, 28 April.

All workshops will be presented live, meaning that workshop facilitators will be expected to connect to the live session and to present and contribute and interact with the workshop attendees in a way that corresponds to the workshop delivery form selected by the main facilitator (possibilities are listed below).

Options to hold a workshop​​

1. To deliver the workshop as a usual session

​Usual session platform description

Presenters/ facilitators will be expected to connect to the live session (a Zoom meeting) at least 20 minutes before its start.

​The meeting will be streamed live to the Congress participants. Access to the Zoom meeting will be provided to facilitators the week before their session day.

​The workshop main facilitator will be provided an additional link with which they will be able to see the live questions from audience members and engage accordingly.

Pros and cons:

+ Any interested attendees can watch your session live as you present,

+ The session will be automatically recorded and available for future viewing by the Congress attendees.

– No attendee can post a question verbally, they can only write it down using an integrated discussion tool – these questions will then be displayed to you in real time, allowing you to respond directly in the live stream.

2. You can deliver the workshop as a ;usual session’, with some attendees joining the session live (see Usual session platform description above for details)

A limited number of participants will be present in the Zoom meeting, together with the workshop facilitators.

Pros and cons:

+ Any attendees can see your session live as you present,

+ The session will be automatically recorded and available for future viewing by Congress attendees,

+ Some attendees can join you within the Zoom meeting and therefore actively participate/ ask questions face-to-face,

– These active participants will be pre-selected/ pre-registered,

– We also suggest the number of active participants is no larger than 10 to ensure a manageable conversation within this format.

3. You can deliver the workshop as a Zoom session using breakout rooms which will allow you to work in groups with the participants

Pros and cons:

+ You can work in groups,

– Participants need to pre-register / or they can enter the meeting without any pre-registration – in that case, those who come first will secure a spot,

– This session cannot be live-streamed but a recording of it can be made available afterwards. The recording of the joint parts will be done by the Congress Secretariat technician but the recordings of the respective breakout rooms would have to be done by the workshop facilitators,

– You would need a number of facilitators corresponding to the number of breakout rooms in order to record the breakout sessions,

– We suggest the number of workshop participants is limited to 30 to ensure it is manageable within this format. Other attendees will be able to see the recording of the session.

Preparation timeline

• Between 21 April and 12 May
  • Upload your PowerPoint presentation via the Congress Portal. Presentation specification below. We will run the presentation you upload on our local computers and you will be operating it remotely – for that reason, please make sure you upload a final version of your presentation as this will be the one used during the Virtual Congress.
  • Together with your presentation upload you can also update or change your biography.
• During the week before your presentation day
  • Test your Zoom connection and audio/video here.
  • Await Zoom meeting link for your session.
  • The main (contact) facilitator will also receive a link to the live session discussion tool together with details on how to manage it, if option 1 or 2 was selected.
• On the day of the workshop
  • 20 minutes before the start of your session, join our technician and other facilitators in the Zoom meeting room. You will present/ contribute within this meeting and the meeting will be streamed live to the Congress participants (if option 1 or 2 was selected).

Presentation Format

All workshops are scheduled for 90 minutes. The information below is applicable for options 1 and 2.