GUIDANCE FOR PRESENTERS
Thank you for your participation – we are no longer accepting abstract and workshop proposal submissions!
The deadline for abstract submission was April 30th, 2019. We will not accept submissions beyond the deadline.
The word limit for the abstract is 300 words. Your abstract will appear in the abstract book exactly as you enter it online. You are welcome to submit a tweet of 280 characters to accompany your abstract.
An individual may be primary author on only one abstract and primary authors should submit their own abstracts.
You will need to identify a theme for the abstract submission. Each theme is accompanied by a brief description to help you decide which is most relevant for your submission. There are 16 themes to choose from:
- Acoustics and Communication
- Anatomy and Morphology
- Behavioural Ecology
- Conservation
- Education and Outreach
- Fisheries Interaction
- Foraging Ecology
- Habitat and Distribution
- Health
- New Technology
- Physiology
- Phylogeny, Systematics and Genetics
- Polar Ecology
- Policy and Management
- Population Biology and Abundance
- Toxicology
Presentation Formats
There are three presentation formats to choose from:
Oral Presentations
Oral presentations are each allotted 15 minutes: 12 minutes for your presentation, two minutes for questions and one minute for transition.
Speed Talk
A speed talk is a four-minute presentation during which you may present key-ideas, results and their meaning/implication. As a guide, three slides should be sufficient to allow you to get your point across.
Poster Presentations
Posters are an extended abstract with easily readable text and graphics. Posters typically include a title, authors, background, methods, 1-3 results, conclusions and acknowledgements.
Instructions on specifications can be found HERE.
Abstract Review
Each submitted abstract is reviewed and scored by at least two independent reviewers who have expertise in the specific subject area. The abstract review process is conducted blind; all authors’ names will be removed from the abstract before the reviewer gains access to the abstract. After adjusting for differences in scoring among individual reviewers, abstracts are ranked on the basis of their overall score, and available slots for oral, speed talk or poster presentations are allocated according to merit considering all submissions combined across all themes, taking into account presentation preferences.
Reviewers use the following four criteria to judge abstract submissions:
Originality (1 to 5)
Abstracts containing significant new findings or presenting new approaches will be given higher scores than those that describe updates, modifications to older findings, or routine applications of well-established research methods.
Quality (1 to 5)
Abstracts should demonstrate that robust and appropriate research methods were used, and include a scientifically robust study design. The outcome of the research should provide clear answers to the main research questions posed. The methods and results should be described in sufficient detail and the conclusions supported by the data.
Importance (1 to 5)
This criterion addresses the importance of the research in terms of advancing the field of marine mammal science, or the conservation and management of marine mammals.
Presentation (1 to 5)
Abstracts that are clearly written and concise will receive higher scores. This criterion addresses how well the specific research question(s) and objectives, methods used, primary results, etc are explained, rather than the quality of the study itself. A clearly written abstract follows a logical order (e.g. aims, methods, results, followed by a clear interpretation of the results and any conservation management implications).
I can no longer attend the conference. Can a co-author present in my place?
Yes – a co-author may present in your place under the following conditions:
- A registered co-author may present in your place if they are not already presenting at the Conference.
- The first author MUST be registered for the Conference before the early-bird registration deadline September 4.
- Therefore, the first author must be registered even if he/she is not attending or the co-author/presenter must become the first author and register.
- The original first author must request all changes.
- You can only have one research as first author in the abstract book
Speaker and Presentation Privacy Policy
- Members of public panels supported by both Societies understand that their participation in such panels is public and can expect that panel products may be made publicly available after the event.
- Images of conference posters images may be made available to conference participants online and may also be viewable to the public following the conference.
- Conference abstracts which have been accepted for presentation may be made available online and also may be viewable to the public following the conference.
Conference Logo
Click to download the appropriate hi-res WMMC’19 logo for your presentation:
PNG Logo
JPEG Logo
If you questions regarding abstracts, submission or review, please contact abstracts@wmmconference.org