Call for Abstracts & Workshops
Abstract Submissions have now closed
The Continence Foundation of Australia is accepting Podium, ePoster and Workshop presentation submissions for the National Conference on Incontinence 2024 to be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from 22-25 May 2024.
The National Conference on Incontinence poses a wonderful professional development, networking and learning opportunity for health professionals across Australia and overseas working in bladder, bowel and pelvic health.We invite you to be part of this conference by applying to present.
Accessing the portal
If this is your first time submitting an abstract for the Conference, you must click on the blue ‘Create New Account’ button before being able to create your submission.
This will prompt you to enter your email address and create a password for your account. Once complete click on the ‘create’ button. You will then need to create a profile which is completed on the Contact Information tab. After creating a contact, additional tabs will appear that will enable you to submit, edit and withdraw any of your submission(s).
Note. If you have already created a profile, you will only need to enter your email address and password and click ‘Sign in’
Guidelines and submission instructions
Please read the following instructions on how to prepare and submit your abstract for the National Conference on Incontinence 2024.
Submissions will be returned if the guidelines are not adhered to. Accepted abstracts will be published exactly as they are submitted.
PLEASE NOTE:
* Abstracts submitted in hard copy will not be accepted. Only abstracts submitted via the online portal will be accepted and reviewed.
*All abstracts must be prepared in English.
*Applications for multiple workshop proposals will be accepted. However, speakers and workshop chairs can only participate in a maximum of two workshops.
All accepted abstracts will be:
- published exactly as they are submitted
- published in the Australian and New Zealand Continence Journal (podium presentations only)
- appear in the Conference app
- made available to the conference delegates
Please remember to proof read the abstract submission before pressing submit.
Key Dates
| Submissions Close | 12 Dec 2023 |
| Registrations Open | 1 Dec 2023 |
| Preliminary Program Released | 31 Jan 2024 |
| Notification to Authors | 5 Feb 2024 |
| Presenter Registration Deadline | 19 Feb 2024 |
| NCOI 2024 | 22-25 May 2024 |
Presentations
Podium- Podium presentations are scheduled for Thursday 23, Friday 24, Saturday 25 May.
- The confirmed time of accepted podium presentations will be announced in the Conference Program once made available.
- Podium presentations are scheduled for 5 minutes of oral presentation of the accepted abstract followed by 2 minutes of question & answer. These times must be strictly adhered to. You will be alerted at the 4 minute mark that you have 1 minute remaining to complete your presentation before question time.
- Your presentation must be no longer than 5 slides.
- ePosters are poster presentations to be displayed in a dedicated area of the Conference venue near the Exhibition and catering.
- Authors will have the opportunity to present their work to delegates during scheduled timeslots at lunchtime on Thursday 23, Friday 24 May.
- The presentation will be facilitated with the use of an electronic poster board. The system will allow ePoster presenters to move around and zoom in on any section (just like a large iPad).
- ePoster presentations are scheduled for 3 minutes of oral presentation of the ePoster followed by 2 minutes of question & answer hosted by the chairperson.
Workshop
- Workshops are scheduled for Wednesday 22 May at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, unless offsite facilities are approved and available
- Workshop duration:
- ½ day – 9.00am to 12.30pm or 1.30pm to 5.00pm with ½ hour coffee break
- Full day – 9.00am to 5.00pm (includes 2 x ½ coffee breaks and 1-hour lunch break)
- The confirmed time of accepted workshops will be announced in the Conference Program once made available.
- Workshops are scientific activities proposed and delivered by members and non-members.
- The workshop format options may include Seminars, Debates, Discussion groups, Forums.
Submitting your abstract
- There are no restrictions on the number of submission you may submit or the number of submissions you may present
- The deadline for electronic submissions for abstracts is 12 December 2023 at 11:59pm, AEST.
Submitting an abstract is a multi-step process:
- Ensure that you have a copy of your abstract file on hand so that you can copy/paste the information easily into the text-based submission form fields.
- Your abstract body is to be no more than 500 words (excluding your title)
- One image, figure, graph OR table to your submission. Figures and tables will appear at the end of your abstract, both on the proof and for publication. Figures and tables cannot be placed within the text of the submission.
- Maximum three (3) references to be cited. Number reference in the text.
STEP 1: Abstract title (max. 15 words) - your title should be brief but long enough to clearly indicate the nature of the abstract. If you wish to include a subtitle, it must be included in the abstract body.
- Please make sure you double-check your title, as it will be published as submitted.
- Use mixed case for title – do not use all caps or all lowercase. Do not put your title in quotation marks
- Do not include trial group name in title of abstract.
Presentation - select your preferred type of presentaiton in the drop down field.
STEP 2: Authors & affiliations – Your details as the main contact will automatically appear as an affiliation and author. You will need to begin by checking your details are correct and ticking if you are a presenter. Once it has been completed, you can add any additional authors and affiliations.
Please enter all authors in the order they should appear in the head of the abstract. If you (the Contact Author) are not the Presenter on a submission, you will need to provide contact information on the Presenter.
Note:
* Please enter the affiliation number in the corresponding box for the abstract author.
* Please ensure the spelling of their names and affiliations (if applicable) is correct.
* Please consult with your co-authors on how they would like their names to appear.
Biography of Presenting Author (max 100. words) - Provide a biography of the Presenting Author exactly as it should be published on the website and conference app. The biography is limited to 100 words and preferably written in third person.
STEP 3: Abstract (max. 500 words)
Podium / ePoster Abstracts
- Enter the abstract text, by either copy/pasting from your word file or typing in the information. Click here for abstract writing tips
- Omit all names and geographical references in the body of the abstract.
- Organise content in sections as follows:
- Objective: describes the research objective
- Methods: decribes research methodology used
- Results/findings/outcomes: summarises evaluation, including outcome data
- Conclusions: states the conclusions drawn from results
- References: Maximum three (3) references to be cited. Number reference in the text.
- Once your submission is complete, please read your abstract in full to ensure all details are correct.
Workshop Abstracts
- Enter the abstract text, by either copy/pasting from your word file or typing in the information. Click here for abstract writing tips
- In submitting this application, the workshop chair is agreeing to coordinate this workshop and understands and agrees to the following:
- Applicants must:
- Specify the format and topic of workshop.
- Include the workshop chair's related experience and qualifications as well as relevant publications.
- Describe the workshop program's aims and objectives in 100 words or less.
- Describe the workshop program's educational value in 150 words or less.
- Prepare an outline of the proposed workshop program.
- Identify any requests for financial support for workshop speakers. This cannot be requested after the workshop has been approved.
- Propose a budget for any additional expected costs.
- Workshop chairs and their speakers will NOT be paid an honorarium. However, individuals whose areas of expertise are outside member organisation disciplines, and who would not normally attend the annual meeting, and are not members of the Continence Foundation of Australia may be reimbursed for expenses incurred to facilitate the workshop, excluding airfares / accommodation / conference registration.
- Expenses need to be approved by the Scientific Committee and therefore must be noted in the application form with the estimated value and reasons why expenses should be covered. Request for expenses will not be considered after approval of the workshop.
- Any special requirements (e.g. additional computers, and anything required for practical demonstrations), must be outlined in the application form. Requests not specifically detailed on the application may not be approved and therefore may reduce the overall educational quality of the workshop.
- A workshop chair must specify if the workshop should have a limited number of attendees due to limited space, equipment, or cost.
- Each workshop is allowed only ONE chair person.o It is the responsibility of the chair to invite and organise all speakers in the workshop. The availability of each speaker should be confirmed prior to inclusion on the application to minimise late changes.
- It is the responsibility of the workshop chair to keep the speakers and the Scientific Committee updated of any changes or updates to the workshop, once accepted.
- Handouts (syllabus material) are encouraged for each workshop. It is the responsibility of the workshop chair to inform the speakers that syllabus material for each presentation must be prepared. The chair must collect all handouts and submit them to Continence Foundation of Australia National Office, prior to the conference, for printing.
- It is important that the workshop chair does not underestimate the amount of time and the responsibility required to develop and chair a workshop.
Abstracts that do not comply will be rejected
STEP 4: Confirm the following items for your submission
- Ethics approval number or indicate "Not required"
- Any project funding
- Conflict of interest – If any of the author(s) have any commercial interests or associations that might pose a conflict of interest regarding this submission, they must be delared at time of submission
- If not - indicate "I have no actual or potential delarations to make"
- If yes - indicate "I have a competing financial relationship/s affilitation/s that could be perceived as having a bearing on my presentation. I have listed all current competing interests or affiliations below:
- Competing Interest or Affiliation
- Name of Person/Organisation
- Permission to publish - You are required to provide permission on behalf of all authors and affiliations associated with the abstract submission, for the abstract to appear on the conference website, app and in printed material if it is accepted for presentation.
STEP 5: Once complete you will be taken to a summary page to review all the details you have entered. Please ensure you click ‘Submit’ in order for your submission to be entered. You will be sent a confirmation email.
Abstract acceptance/rejection notifications
- You will be notified electronically of the acceptance/rejection of your abstract week commencing Monday 5 February
- Only the corresponding author will be notified. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to notify all co-authors
- If you do not receive your notification by Friday 16 February, you should contact eventscontinence@theassociationspecialists.com.au
Submitting more than one abstract
If you are submitting more than one abstract, complete the first submission then click on ‘Abstract submission’ at the top of the screen to submit a new abstract. Please follow the same steps as above to complete the submission.Eligibility
Work submitted for presentation at this conference must not have been previously published or presented at another conference (for example International Continence Society). Please do not submit case reports as they are not permitted and will not be reviewed.Language
All abstracts must be prepared in English.
Product Name Usage
- For purposes of blind scoring, institutional names must be omitted whenever possible in the title and body of the abstract.
- Authors are requested to avoid the use of commercially branded names.
- If a specific device is only identifiable by its trade name, then this should appear in brackets after a generic description of the device.
- Should it be necessary to use a trade name, then the trade names of all similar products or those within a class must be used.
Responsibilities of the Corresponding Author
The first author listed for each abstract serves as the corresponding author and as the primary contact for all correspondence regarding the abstract. The corresponding author is responsible for the following:
- Ensuring that all authors have read the abstract and agreed to be authors
- Notifying all co-authors of any additions, deletions and chages to the program, as may be communicated by the Continence Foundation of Australia
- Obtaining all the conflict of interest disclosures
- Reviewing all presentation material prior to the commencement of the workshop to ensure all material meets the guidelines as outlined in this document.
- The workshop chair must confirm if there is an intent for equipment to be used or promoted at the workshop. If yes, full details must be provided in the submission
- The workshop chair must confirm if there is any agreement or intent to request equipment from an identified sponsor for the workshop. If yes, full details must be provided in the submission. Please note that the Continence Foundation of Australia remains the sole contact for all workshop sponsorship.
Revisions
- Carefully check the proof of your abstract. Make sure all special characters and formatting are displaying properly in your proof.
- If you find errors, return to the appropriate page by clicking on the page name in the left-hand menu to make your corrections.
- You may return to the online submission site to revise your abstract until 12 December 2023 at 11:59pm AEST.
- After this date/time, the submission site will close, and no additional changes/edits can be made.
- If your abstract contains errors, you may opt to withdraw the abstract.
- If you have not completed all required sections and details, you will not be able to submit.
- When all required information is entered, the "Conclude Submission" button will appear at the bottom of the "Confirmation" step.
Scientific Program Committee Abstract Review
- After the submission site closes, completed abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Program Committee before inclusion in the relevant program stream.
- All abstracts will be blinded for review, meaning the abstracts will be reviewed without knowledge of the author/s, institution/s or disclosure information.
- The Scientific Program Committee will make final decision as to the format of your presentation i.e. podium or ePoster presentation
- Abstracts will be accepted on any subject concerned with continence issues across the ages.
Abstract Review Scoring Criteria
All abstracts will be scored using the following scoring criteria:
- Originality/ Topicality – New knowledge or new reserchon known topic and/or Topic relevance to cotemporary practice
- Methods / Results – quality of the research methodology (quantitative/qualitative) and data analysis/findings
- Clinical Relevance – application of research outcomes to continence practice/issues
Withdrawals
- After 12 December, corresponding authors may submit a request to have an abstract withdrawn.
- To withdraw a submitted abstract after the deadline, written notification must be sent to eventscontinence@theassociationspecialists.com.au
- This notification must include the title, authors and affiliations (as submitted), name affiliation, phone, and email of the submitter.
- We recommend using the summary page as part of this notification.
- For an accepted abstract to be withdrawn and not appear in publications, notification must be received by Monday 5 February 2024
- After this date, withdrawals are still accepted but abstracts may still appear in the conference materials.
Abstract writing tips
What is the abstract for?- Read the instructions on the abstract template provided to ensure that you meet word count and layout/font requirements.
- Consider your potential audience and ensure that you use clear language.
- Decide on what content to include - what is the main aim or objective of what you are intending to present? Does it suit the conference theme? Will you be presenting the findings of a single study or change of practice in your facility, or a compilation of studies?
- Briefly explain things in a logical order - a suggested order is a objective, methods, results and then outcome. The main focus should be on the results (they are the most interesting part after all) with the other areas briefly covered.
- Pick on a clear title for your abstract topic - if it can be catchy, that is a bonus!
- Get some feedback from your supervisor or your colleagues to check for any errors and ensure that the abstract is easy to understand.
- If your presentation will involve work/contribution from others - make sure you name them on the abstract and have their permission to present it before you submit the abstract.
Need help?
For technical assistance, regarding the abstract submission site, contact the Conference Managers of the Continence Foundation of Australia at +61 2 9431 8600 Monday through Friday, or by email eventscontinence@theassociationspecialists.com.au
For general abstract enquiries, email eventscontinence@theassociationspecialists.com.au
CONTACT US
NCOI24 Conference Managers
C/- The Association Specialists
P: +61 2 9431 8600
E: eventscontinence@theassociationspecialists.com.au