Proposals Mini-symposia

Apart from abstracts for oral or poster presentation, it is also possible to submit a proposal for a Mini-symposium. Mini-symposia consist of several linked oral presentations.

A mini-symposium should be organised in accordance with the general abstract guidelines as mentioned above on the congress website and with the symposium guidelines. Symposium organisers are requested to follow these guidelines as closely as possible.

Symposium Guidelines

Structure of the symposium; Duration, number of abstracts

• The symposia will be scheduled in the programme as one time block. The duration of a mini-symposium is similar to the duration of a session, 1,5 hour.
• A symposium organiser may choose the number of abstract for his/her symposium. The maximum is 6 orals of 15 minutes.
• It is important to note that symposium organisers have full scientific responsibi­lity for the programme.
• A mini-symposium will only be programmed, if all the presenters have confirmed their status as a presenter in a mini-symposium.
• The abstract of a mini-symposium must be consist of
1. Programme
• An introduction
• The name and details of the mini-symposium organiser
• Name and details of the authors of the different abstracts
• Abstract information / text
2. All abstracts as separates files
• For an abstract of a mini-symposium you are allowed to use 200 words for the introduction and 200 word for each (joining) abstract.

Financial Considerations
The responsibility of raising adequate funds for the mini-symposium rests with the mini-symposium organiser. Funding will likely be required to cover hotel, travel, meal­/conference dinner and registration expenses of the organiser and co-organisers, invited speakers and discussants. It is entirely up to each symposium organiser how many speakers, if any, to invite and whether or not to pay part or all of their expenses.
The symposium organiser is not permitted to sell exhibition space to his sponsor.

How to submit

• Send the abstract(s) of the mini-symposium as an attachment to the conference email address euroepi2006@fbu.uu.nl. Only abstracts for mini-symposia submitted via this e-mail address will be processed. (Symposia submitted via the abstract submission site will not be processed).
• Mention in the e-mail text the name of the attached file, your name, email address and telephone number.
• After submitting you will receive a confirmation email.
• The deadline for receipt of abstracts for a mini-symposium is December 1, 2005

General abstract guidelines
Please read these instructions thoroughly before preparing your abstract:

1. You may submit more than one abstract.
   
2. The instructions applying to abstracts and abstract submission must be followed carefully.
   
3. Abstracts should be structured: background (and relevance), objectives (and question), design and methods, results, conclusion and discussion.
   
4. Abstracts should not include any references or any graphical work.
   
5. The abstract should be prepared as follows:
• Font: Arial, at 10 pitch.
• Do not insert blank lines between the title and text, or between paragraphs.
• Only standard abbreviations may be used in the text. The first time that an abbreviation is used, first the full word or phrase must be mentioned and this is followed by the abbreviation which is placed in parentheses.
• Numbers should be used except at the beginning a sentence, then the number is spelled out.
  
6. The reviewers will use the following evaluation criteria:
• ABSTRACT: Abstract well structured and clearly written: criterion weight=1
• BACKGROUND : Clear and brief outline of importance or relevance of the topic: criterion weight=1
• OBJECTIVES: Clearly specified question and attainable objectives: criterion weight=1
• DESIGN & METHODS: Adequate and well described design and methodology according to the objectives: criterion weight=3
• RESULTS: Clear presentation of results: criterion weight=2
• ORIGINALITY: Originality: criterion weight=2
  
  Rating scale for the above evaluation criteria are: Poor (=1) adequate (=2) good (=3). Evaluation criteria are summed according to their weight. The reviewers will also give a final rating for your abstract on a 0-10 scale.
  
7. Presenters (oral, poster and mini-symposia) are supposed to register and pay conference fee for the IEA EEF European Congress of Epidemiology 2006.