IMPORTANT DATES & DEADLINES

Abstract/summary submission deadline: April 26 (11:59 p.m. EST)
Confirmation of acceptance and time slot(s): May 7
Poster submission/video upload deadline: May 21 (11:59 p.m. EST)
Virtual Symposium: May 26 (11:00 a.m. EST)
Submit your abstract/summary

This page details the ways in which you can showcase your work at our event. Two options are available:

On May 26, patients, families, trainees, staff, and faculty are invited to attend the 2021 CHILD-BRIGHT Virtual Symposium: Let’s Dream Together as we Look Forward with Project Updates, Posters, and Questions. 

In addition to featuring active work being done by CHILD-BRIGHT’s research groups, we welcome submissions from external groups focused on childhood brain-based developmental disabilities. This is an ideal venue for all health professionals, researchers, and patients/families to share project updates in an interdisciplinary setting to highlight the extensive, ongoing, and innovative activities in patient-oriented research. Further, it is a great space in which to share patient-oriented research questions within the community and receive input.

How can I become a presenter?

All participants interested in presenting a poster featuring their work are asked to submit an abstract/summary by April 26 (11:59 p.m. EST). Following review of the submissions, applicants will be notified of acceptance by May 7. 

If you are interested in presenting more than one poster, please submit separate applications through our application form.

Who can present a poster?

All project representatives (including PIs, patient-partners/families, research staff, and trainees) can showcase their ongoing patient-oriented research activities and/or pose questions to the community. CHILD-BRIGHT affiliation is not required to attend or present in this event!

What content can I present in my poster?

We strongly recommend that the abstracts/summaries and posters be adapted to provide more broadly accessible knowledge. Consider providing an overview of your work, building layers of information that guide the audience to the question(s) you seek to answer and helping the audience understand why this project matters to the big picture.  

If you are representing a patient-oriented research project, consider this an opportunity to present your ongoing work and to stimulate conversations that build connections over lessons learned amongst your peers. Further, a focus on future steps and directions for the project is encouraged, as one of our goals with this session is to look forward.

We suggest that you address the following in your poster:

• Introduction/background of your project detailing the aim/objective of your study as well as the methods being employed

• Status update on your project’s progress

  • What major milestones have been hit
    (e.g., # recruited, # of sites operational, etc.)?

  • Recruitment strategies

• Results (even if preliminary) & conclusions (if any)

• What challenges have you experienced throughout the process?

  • Are there any particular challenges that you would like to invite input on from your peers?

• To date, what valuable lessons have you and your team learned through involvement on your POR project?

  • Strategies used to engage patient-partners

  • How are you addressing different populations?

• Knowledge translation products

  • Ways in which you have spread the word about your project (feel free to present sample KT products that you would like to showcase such as recruitment pamphlets, samples of social media posts published, blog entries written, newsletters, news clippings, briefs, articles where your work has been featured, etc.).

• Note any policy implications and future directions of your research efforts

If these guidelines and recommendations don’t apply to what you were hoping to present or share, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always looking to hear and share new perspectives and would love to hear from you!

We highly encourage patient-partners to become involved in our session and share their perspectives and experiences in patient-oriented research! Outlined below are some suggested options that you can consider presenting:

1. Highlight patient-oriented research gaps and/or articulate ways to address those

With this option, the intention is to tap into your experience as a patient-partner and the knowledge that you can bring in terms of identifying gaps in patient engagement efforts while being involved in patient-oriented research. You are asked to select gaps in the process and elaborate on possible solutions on how these can best be addressed.

With this option, you also have the opportunity to pose a POR-related question to the community and receive real-time feedback. During our planned virtual event, you will be allotted a time slot during which you (or a CHILD-BRIGHT member if you would prefer) will host a brainstorming session that will aim to tackle the question you pose. Using a “white-board” format in which ideas are put forward and discussed as a group, the goal is to capture insight from other attendees in a way that will help answer the question you bring to the table.

2. Capture and relay your experience as part of a research project

Want to share your impressions of being part of a research team? This option provides an opportunity for patient-partners to provide some insight into their experience being involved in patient-oriented research.

3. Co-present a traditional project update

Patient-partners are invited to collaborate with researchers in presenting updates on their projects. If desired, patient-partners are asked to connect with the researchers with whom they have worked to coordinate the design and presentation.

If these guidelines and recommendations do not apply to what you were hoping to present or share, or you had additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are always looking to hear and share new perspectives and would love to hear from you!

Please let us know about any additional accommodations that may be needed.

Abstract/summary submission guidelines

• The abstract/summary should be a maximum of 350 words and must use the Submission Template.

• Use lay/plain language and avoid abbreviations as much as possible.

• Highlight the question(s) you seek to answer, how you address them, or what you want your audience to learn.

• Emphasize how your work or project relates to the community and population of interest.

• Submit your completed Abstract/Summary Submission Template as a PDF via the web submission form (please save the file as “Lastname_2021”).

Please keep in mind that the work you present should be accessible to all audiences attending the meeting, from seasoned researchers to knowledgeable caregivers and family members.

Submission deadline is April 26 (11:59 p.m. EST). Please contact pierre.zwiegers@child-bright.ca for further details or questions about submitting an abstract/summary.

Following review of the submissions, presenters will be notified of acceptance by May 7. By this date, presentation time slots will also be finalized and communicated to presenters.

Poster formatting guide

• At the 2021 Virtual Symposium, we hope to make posters more accessible to everyone and to maximize the information shared with all attendees. To this end we want to encourage you to rethink how you present information and consider using a non-traditional poster format. Known as the Morrison Method, this poster design aims to streamline the information communicated to attendees by keeping the content focused on the big picture and specifically on what participants need to know. For a research project, that might mean your main question or most prominent finding. For a general presentation, that might just be the main message you are trying to convey.

To orient you to this format, we have designed a full-sized poster template for download (in PowerPoint format) that can be customized along with a how-to guide that you can refer to. Alternatively, a template for a more traditional-style poster can be found here.

• Please remember to identify your funding sources on the poster (where applicable). You can include the CHILD-BRIGHT Network logo available for download here.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about any of the information listed above. We look forward to hearing from you!download here

The 13 CHILD-BRIGHT research projects are asked to submit a short video that briefly introduces the work being done and reflects on future goals and aspirations. The idea is to convey the potential impact of the project: let’s dream together!

Considerations:

• Recordings must be approximately 3-minutes long

• Presenters can use 1 slide as a visual aid, but sharing your face/likeness is preferred!

• Videos must be uploaded and Q&A facilitators identified through our submission form by May 21.

At our virtual event on May 26, investigators or project representatives will facilitate a short Q&A session following the video viewings during which session participants can ask clarifying questions regarding each research project. Logistical details will be communicated to projects in early April.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions. We look forward to hearing from you!