Important Dates

November 15, 2023: Call for Speakers Opens

January 15, 2024: Call for Speakers Closes at 11:59 p.m. CT

March 2024 (anticipated date): Status Notifications Sent

NSGC Annual Conference Session Formats

Pre-conference Symposia

Pre-conference symposia are five hours in length, allowing time for a deeper dive into a specific topic area.  Collaboration with SIGs for this specialty content is encouraged. A minimum of 15 minutes for questions and discussions with the audience is recommended for every 45 minutes of content. A 30-minute break will be built into the schedule, and additional breaks can be added at your discretion. Pre-cons typically host up to 150 attendees each.

Plenary Sessions

Plenary sessions are 30 - 60 minutes in length and held unopposed by other educational activity, allowing for all attendees to be present. These sessions aim to highlight genetic counselor research, best practices, and/or the value our profession brings to a variety of roles. Plenary session content should be applicable to the majority of Annual Conference attendees. Plenary sessions are also broadcast to a virtual audience and should include a method for engaging with these individuals. 

Educational Breakout Sessions

Educational Breakout Sessions (EBS) are concurrent breakout sessions that are generally 90-minutes in length. These sessions cover a variety of topic areas including but not limited to clinical specialties, professional issues and counseling skills. A minimum of 15 minutes for questions and discussions with the audience is recommended for every 45 minutes of content.

Workshops

Workshops present an opportunity for attendees to explore interesting and engaging topics through two hour interactive learning experiences. Workshops employ skill-based, active learning to encourage interaction between session attendees. A minimum of 30 minutes of  hands-on interactive activity is recommended for every 30 minutes of content. Workshop sessions are not recorded and do not require the development of quiz questions. Workshops should be designed to host up to 200 attendees each.

Janus Lecture

The Janus Lecture is an annual honored keynote address named for the ancient Roman god, Janus, who was depicted with two faces, one looking to the past and one to the future. In this spirit, the Janus Lecture features a genetic counselor with expertise in a specific specialty area sharing their expertise on the past, present, and future of their specialty. One genetic counselor will be selected to give a 30-minute lecture based on nominations from the general membership. After the close of the nomination process, NSGC staff will reach out to nominees to request a CV. You are welcome to self-nominate and/or to nominate a colleague.

Sample Session Submissions

View a sample submission here

Review content from the 42nd Annual Conference here

Review content from the 41st Annual Conference here

Submit a session proposal

Session Coordinator Role and Responsibilities

A Session Coordinator submits the proposal for consideration and maintains responsibility for coordination of the session prior to and during the Annual Conference. Session Coordinators may also serve as speakers within a session. Session Coordinators for accepted session proposals receive a $150.00 honorarium in recognition of their role. If multiple Session Coordinators share the role for one session, the $150.00 honorarium is split evenly between them. 

All Session Coordinators are responsible for the following:

• Initial communications to proposed speakers confirming their willingness to participate and reporting of confirmed speaker details to the NSGC staff
• Distributing important information, such as deadlines and required materials, to session participants
• Reviewing promotional materials and final descriptions of the sessions
• Coordinating planning meetings/calls for session participants
• Finalizing learning objectives, quiz questions, and session slides and submitting final materials to NSGC staff

There is an opportunity to designate another individual as the Session Coordinator during the acceptance phase of the process if the submitting individual cannot fulfill the responsibilities of the role.

Session Submitter Mentor Program

The Annual Conference Program Committee is excited to offer a mentor program for novice submitters or those looking for additional assistance. Mentors are past Program Committee members with an in-depth understanding of the submission process and objectives of the NSGC Annual Conference. Working with a mentor is a great way to transform your idea into a proposal. Mentorship does not guarantee acceptance of your proposal for presentation at the conference. Interested in being paired with a mentor? Reach out to speakers@nsgc.org to sign up!

Writing Learning Objectives

Learning objectives should:

• Provide a framework for session planning. 
• Serve as the basis for selection of content, instructional strategies, and appropriate speakers.
• Describe to learners exactly what knowledge and/or skills they are expected to accomplish/demonstrate as a result of the session. 
• Serve as the basis for providing periodic feedback, measuring progress, and assessing learning. 
• Be clear, concise, and measurable. 
• Be written using behavioral verbs (each objective should not contain more than 1 behavioral verb). Note: “understand” is not a recognized continuing education behavioral verb. View a list of behavioral verbs.

Looking for help writing your learning objectives? Check out this quick, 5-minute tutorial.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this process, please email speakers@nsgc.org.

What are the Program Committee looking for in submissions?

The Program Committee are looking for proposals that include: 

• Clearly defined vision and purpose
• Clearly defined, measurable learning objectives
• Clear, descriptive outline of how time will be utilized and why
• Incorporation of evidenced-based research
• Justice, equity, diversity and inclusion principles and action items interwoven throughout session content
• Diversity of speakers, including diversity of practice setting, experience level, and institutional affiliation, and rationale for their inclusion
• Plan for audience engagement, including but not limited to discussion and Q&A
• Innovative session delivery models
• Submissions that highlight research, science, counseling skills, clinical practice models, and/or new technologies
   

​How are proposals reviewed?

• Program Committee members are assigned proposals to review and score electronically. Committee members' topic area(s) of expertise and potential conflicts of interest are considered in the assignment process. 

• The Program Committee meets to review proposal scores to develop a tentative list of accepted sessions and feedback for declined proposals, including potential other avenues for their presentation.

What should I expect after submitting?

In March 2024, Program Committee members may reach out to Session Coordinators with the following:

• Questions about the proposals
• Suggested edits or adjustments to the proposal, including possible speaker changes
• Requests to consider combining a presentation with another group

Speaker Honoraria

Honoraria is provided to session speakers. The honorarium per session is listed below. This value is split among all presenters in the session, with the division at the discretion of the Session Coordinator. Both genetic counselors and non-genetic counselors are eligible for honoraria.

• Pre-Conference Symposium: $1,750
• Plenary Session: $500 per hour of presentation
  • 30 minute plenary =$250
  • 60 minute plenary = $500
• Educational Breakout Session: $300 per hour of presentation
  • 60 minute breakout: $300
  • 90 minute breakout: $450
• Workshop: $750

Speaker Travel Coverage

Non-genetic counselor speakers are eligible for reimbursement of travel costs, as outlined below. To verify whether a speaker is eligible for coverage of travel costs, please email speakers@nsgc.org.

• Airfare up to $500
• Meals on the day(s) of presentation up to $70/day
• Ground transportation up to $150
• 1 hotel night in NSGC room block or reimbursement equal to one night at NSGC's room block rate

Sessions are scored the same regardless of the number of individuals that would require travel coverage within a session. Sessions will be evaluated based on the content of their proposal.

Speaker Conflict of Interest

All sessions must be educational in nature and not include any sales, product or marketing information.

If selected for presentation, all participants are required to submit conflict of interest disclosures (see disclosure statement below) in writing to NSGC staff by the stated deadline. Presenters are also required to include any disclosures in a slide at the beginning of their presentation or state that they have no relationships to disclose.

Conflict of Interest Statement

I understand that I must indicate below that either (a) I have NO financial interest in any commercial entity whose products or services are described, reviewed, evaluated or compared in the Presentation; or (b) I have a financial interest in a commercial entity whose products or services are described, reviewed, evaluated or compared in the Presentation. I must disclose any financial interest I may have in any commercial entity whose products or services are described, reviewed, evaluated or compared in the Presentation. For example, I must disclose if I (i) have an ownership interest in such a commercial entity; (ii) have a financial interest in any product or service discussed in the Presentation; (iii) am employed (whether full or part-time) by such a commercial entity; (iv) own all or part of any patent licensed to such a commercial entity; (v) have an ongoing relationship (e.g., as a consultant, agent, representative, speaker, etc.) with such a commercial entity; or (vi) have received financial compensation for my Presentation.