How to Submit

You must submit your proposal using the online submission form. Proposals sent by email will not be considered. Proposals that are incomplete will not be considered.

All ESA Annual Meeting proposal and abstract deadlines are 5:00 PM Eastern so that technical support and ESA staff assistance will be immediately available when submitters need it. If you begin your submission very close to the deadline, you are choosing to take a risk, and we will not make an exception if you are unable to complete your submission in time. The form automatically closes at 5:00 EST / 2:00 PST whether you have completed your submission or not.

We have a new submission system this year. Unlike previous years, you will not receive an automatic email when you start a new submission. You will receive an automatic email when you complete your submission. You will be able to return to the proposal to edit it until the submission deadline has passed.

To submit a proposal, you will need to log in using an ESA account. If you have been an ESA member or registered for an ESA meeting in recent years, or use ECOLOG-L, you should already have an ESA account; if not, you can create an account.

Your username and password to log in for the meeting are the same as for your ESA account. You do not need to pay membership dues to create an ESA account or submit for the meeting.

Important Note

ESA meetings, open to everyone interested in ecology, are among the most respected meetings of ecologists in the science community. ESA is committed to providing a safe, productive and welcoming environment. All participants including, but not limited to, attendees, speakers, volunteers, exhibitors, ESA staff, service providers and others are expected to abide by the ESA Meetings Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct applies to all ESA meeting-related events including those sponsored by organizations other than ESA but held in conjunction with ESA events, in public or private facilities. In addition, ESA members and authors of ESA publications must adhere to the ESA Code of Ethics and the ESA Diversity Statement.

About Short Courses

We invite proposals for in person short courses for the 2024 ESA Annual Meeting. Short courses offer participants an opportunity to learn new skills through interactive instruction and hands-on training in a long format (3 or 6 hours). These sessions are not appropriate for the presentation of formal research talks and do not include presentation abstracts. Short courses are more interactive and informal than formal paper sessions, and they can involve extended discussion as well as hands-on training. A strong short course proposal will make clear what knowledge, skills, tools, or insights participants might expect to gain from the session. You can browse examples of short courses from the 2023 meeting here.

All short courses require advance registration and an additional fee. Short courses that do not meet the minimum of 10 registrants by July will be cancelled. This decision will be communicated to the session organizer, so it is critical that we have accurate contact information for the lead organizer. If a short course meets minimum registration, it is expected to proceed.

To propose a shorter session (90 minutes), please see our call for workshops.

Accepted short courses will be scheduled for Sunday, August 4th or Friday, August 9th to minimize topic overlap and as meeting space and logistics allow. 3 hour short courses can be scheduled for either day, and 6 hour short courses can be scheduled for Sunday only. Short courses are not scheduled concurrently with oral or poster sessions. Short courses will be cancelled if they do not reach a minimum of 10 registrants by July.

About In Person Short Courses

The standard A/V setup is a screen, LCD projector, and laptop (with sound). Flip charts and power strips for participant laptops can be requested in the proposal. Wireless internet will not be available in all session rooms this year. Please let us know in the Equipment Notes if internet connectivity is important for this session. Any additional equipment requested in the proposal may incur costs and can only be provided if the organizer provides funding to cover the costs.

Food and beverage service can be requested but is not required for short courses. Unless the course organizer provides funding to cover the associated costs, any requests for food and beverage will increase the fee attendees must pay to sign up for the course. Please note all food and beverage is charged a service charge fee and applicable taxes.

About Virtual Short Courses

Each virtual short course will be run as a Zoom meeting managed by ESA staff with closed captioning available. Short course organizers will be able to assign attendees to breakout groups, either randomly or as pre-assigned groups. Virtual short courses will not be recorded.

Proposal Format

The information listed below must be submitted through the online submission form. It is provided here to assist you in planning your submission. The form may differ slightly from the version listed here. You may begin a submission and then return to edit it up until the deadline.

Components of a Proposal

For In Person and Hybrid Short Courses

• Session title (75 words max.) A strong session title is short and descriptive.
• One lead organizer (Required; name, institution, and email).
• Co-organizer(s) (Optional; name, institution, and email).
• Session description (Required; 200 words max.). Describe the theme and purpose of this session. The session description should avoid overly specialized language. Any ecologist attending the meeting should be able to understand it. It could include background information, goals, objectives, importance, and interest to the membership of ESA.
• Topical track (Optional; select up to 2): Would you like this session to be considered for inclusion in any of the following tracks? Please only select a track if you think it’s a good fit for this proposal.
  • Career Exploration
  • Education
  • Justice, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI)
  • Data Skills Training
  • Traditional Ecological Knowledge
  • Communication and Engagement
• Preferred scheduling option(s): Please select all timeslots that you would prefer (at least one). The 6 hour timeslot on Sunday includes a one hour break in the middle of the 6 hour course for a 7 hour total time.
  • Sunday, August 4th 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (3 hours)
  • Sunday, August 4th 1:00 – 4:00 PM (3 hours)
  • Sunday, August 4th 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (6 hours)
  • Friday, August 9th 8:00 – 11:00 AM (3 hours)
• Flip charts: How many flip charts will this session need? (0-3). Please help us minimize costs and only request as many charts as you require. You can tear off pages to share one chart with multiple groups. We pay more than $100 to rent each flip chart per session.
• Equipment notes (Optional; 200 words max.): We will provide a laptop (with sound for videos), screen, and LCD projector. Do you need wireless internet? Is there anything else you anticipate you will need for this session? Please keep in mind that additional equipment requested will incur a cost that will need to be covered by the session organizer.
• Maximum number of participants: What is the maximum number of participants you could manage for this short course?
• Session leader mobile phone: During the planning stages leading up to the meeting, we will communicate with you by email. Once we are on site at the meeting, we may need to check in by phone. Please provide your mobile phone number that we can use to text or call you on the day of the course.
• Room setup (choose one):
  • No preference
  • Classroom: Rows of rectangular tables with chairs arranged so that all participants are facing towards the front of the room.
  • Rounds: Round tables arranged throughout the room with participants seated around the table.
  • Crescent (half) rounds: Round tables arranged throughout the room with participants seated around half of the table so that they are all facing the front of the room.
• Power strips: Does this session need power strips for participant laptops? Please help us minimize costs and only request power strips if they are needed. (Yes/No)
• Food and beverage: Please note all food and beverage is charged a service charge fee and applicable taxes. Bringing in outside food or beverages is strictly prohibited. We do not yet know the catering costs for this year’s convention center. With rising prices in recent months, we expect that the cost for coffee will exceed $15 per person, and the cost for a typical boxed lunch will exceed $50 per person. Up to date menus with pricing will be sent to you in the spring for you to make your final food selections. In the meantime, you can look over the catering options that are available from the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center’s website as of October 2023. Please check all that apply.
  • No Food and Beverage Service
  • Coffee Service
  • Soft Drinks and Bottle Water
  • Snack Service (you will select from the menu options in the Spring)
  • Breakfast (you will select from the menu options in the Spring)
• Covering Costs (only if requesting food and beverages). Food and beverage service is not required for short courses. Unless the course organizer provides funding to cover the associated costs, any requests for food and beverage will increase the fee attendees must pay to sign up for the course. If you are requesting food and beverage service and are planning to use outside funding to cover the costs, please specify the following:
  • Your budget to cover these costs.
  • Your source of funding.
  • If there is someone we should invoice for these costs, please provide their name and email address.
• Scheduling notes (Optional; up to 200 words): Is the session intended to be linked to another session or social event? Are there any other sessions proposed for the meeting you are aware of that should not be scheduled at the same time as this one? Are there any other considerations we should know about when scheduling this session? Please note we cannot honor requests to schedule for a specific date or time. These sessions may be scheduled Monday through Thursday. We will do our best to avoid known scheduling conflicts. This will only be seen by peer reviewers and the committee. It will not appear in the meeting program.

For Hybrid Short Courses

• Virtual session setup notes: If there are any specific needs for this session beyond a typical Zoom meeting, please describe them here.

Demographic Questions about the Session Organizer

The submission form asks a few questions about the session organizer to help ESA improve our services and monitor our efforts towards diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. You will be asked to answer the following questions about the lead session organizer for this proposal.  All information will be shared only in the aggregate to help us assess the diversity of our submissions. Proposal reviewers and the committee will not see this information for individual proposals. It is required that you answer each question, but you can select “Prefer not to answer”.

What best describes your race and/or ethnicity? You can select multiple answers.

• Asian/Asian American
• Black/African American
• Native American / Alaskan Native
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander
• Middle Eastern or North African
• Hispanic/Latinx
• White
• Bi/Multiracial
• Other
• Prefer to self describe (free response option)
• Prefer not to answer

Where are you currently in your career? You can only select one.

• Student (undergraduate or graduate, including PhD students)
• Early Career (1-8 years since final degree, including post docs)
• Mid-Career (within 25 years since final degree)
• Senior Professional (more than 25 years since final degree)
• Prefer not to answer

What best describes your gender? You can only select one.

• Female
• Male
• Non-binary
• Prefer to self-describe (free response option)
• Prefer not to answer

Session and Presentation Rules

Short courses are required to have one organizer who will be the point of contact for correspondence with ESA and will be asked to make decisions regarding the session during planning. Co-organizers may also be listed, but the lead organizer is the point of contact.

To promote diversity of sessions and topics, no person will be permitted to serve as the lead organizer for more than two workshops, short courses, and/or special sessions at the 2024 Annual Meeting. A group of organizers may propose multiple linked sessions. Each session should be submitted separately, and it should be made clear which other proposals it is linked to, as well as its intended order in the sequence of the events.

Note that the One Presentation Rule does not apply to workshops, short courses, and special sessions. Anyone presenting in one of these sessions may also present in a scientific session (a formal talk or poster).

Other Important Information to Consider

Acceptance of your proposal does not obligate ESA beyond providing a meeting space and including the short course in the program. All organizers and participants must register for the conference at the one day or full week rate. Organizers are responsible for making this clear to anyone they recruit to help with the session. ESA will not reimburse short course organizers for expenses.

Evaluation Process and Criteria

The Program Committee reviews all proposals for short courses and makes acceptance decisions. Proposals may be from any area of science related to ecology, but those that pertain to the overall theme, “Supporting Ecologists Throughout Their Careers”, are especially encouraged. We also welcome proposals that explore connections with the social or natural sciences or that are directed to ecological education at any level.

The primary criteria for acceptance include scientific merit, probable interest by meeting attendees, and a clearly written and compelling description. Limits of space and time may make it impossible to accommodate all worthy submissions. The Program Committee has final authority for acceptance and scheduling for any proposed short course.

If Your Proposal is Accepted

All submitters will be notified of acceptance decisions in February. At that time, organizers will be provided with instructions to begin preparing the session for the online program in the spring.

Finalized information for all accepted short courses will be available in the online program when registration opens.

Cancellation Policy

Once a short course has been accepted and listed online, cancellation imposes a serious burden. Do not submit a proposal if you are uncertain that you will be able to fulfill your obligation to organize and conduct the session. Once a session is accepted by the Program Committee, cancellation by the session organizer may preclude the acceptance of any sessions proposed by the organizer for the 2025 ESA Annual Meeting.