Program Scheduling Requests

Confex program access closes to all organizers after that time.

Important Scheduling Dates:
June 17 - Early abstract submission deadline
July 8 - Final abstract submission deadline
July 10 - Scheduling webinar at 1:00pm Central Time
July 23 - Scheduling deadline (no Confex access after this date)
Late-August - Program finalized by Annual Meetings Planning Committee
Early-September - Speaker notification letters emailed to all authors

Helpful Scheduling Documents:
Step-By-Step Instructions PDF
Helpful Tips PDF

Helpful Scheduling Links:
Confex Gateway Link
Online Preliminary Program - refreshes nightly, so you may not see your edits right away.
Room Scheduling Conversation - "Why didn't I get my requested scheduling exactly the way I wanted it?"

Extra Tips for This Year:
Lunch Breaks
The Wednesday lunch break is no longer protected. Although the Monday/Tuesday 12-1:30pm lunch breaks remain protected, feel free to schedule sessions over the Wednesday lunch break as needed.

Virtual Sessions
Although you will need to schedule the in-person sessions in your program, there is no need to schedule "Virtual Sessions". The prerecorded presentations housed within Virtual Sessions are on-demand content. For this reason, a date and time for the overall Virtual Session would be meaningless (and rather confusing for attendees). Please do not schedule any Virtual Sessions you might have in your program - You will only need to accept the abstracts within those sessions.

Scheduling Step
Before you begin the “Schedule” dialogue box step, click on the “Session Setup” link in the left control panel to fill in the fields for Room Setup, Catering Requests, and Presentation Equipment. Once those are entered (or “n/a” if nothing is needed), you can then click on your “Schedule” link. You will otherwise receive an error message if the Room Setup, Catering Requests, and Presentation Equipment fields are not complete.

Competition Participants
You can view which presenters have chosen to participate in your competition sessions when looking at the “Arrange” view of your session. Those who have opted into your session’s competition will have a checkmark next to their name:

If you feel someone in your session is listed incorrectly, please feel free to contact the presenting author directly. Authors can access their submissions by logging into the “edit your existing abstract” link via the Submission Sites, and then correct their competition entry setting within the “Title” step of their submissions.

Scheduling Training Webinar
The Salt Lake City scheduling webinar for all Community, Section, and Division Chairs will be held on July 10th, 2025. The webinar will review the above Step-By-Step scheduling instructions and Helpful Tips document containing important scheduling concepts, dates, and times. Below is the 2024 San Antonio recording of this training for reference.

Scheduling:
The scheduling you do now will not be made public until after the program is finalized in August.

To Begin:
Login with your Society credentials through the Confex Gateway.

Once inside the Confex Gateway:

• You can check and uncheck your various program/role views within the "Roles in Meeting" section.
• Your programs, sessions, and/or presentations will dynamically appear and disappear below your checkbox options.
• Click the desired Section/Division/Session title link to see your program’s sessions (opens in a new browser tab).
• Please utilize this site to keep an eye on your volunteer session submissions.
• If you do not see one of your program/session/presentation titles, please email the Technical Program Manager.

Delegation:
As Community/Section/Division Chair, you can either complete the scheduling yourself or share the Gateway link and instructional documents with your session organizers. Organizers will only have access to sessions they’re listed on as “organizer”. If you share the Gateway link with organizers, please proof their scheduling to make sure they do not schedule over any blocked times or similar topics.

Session Promotion:
There are a couple ways to promote sessions to potential authors and/or attendees.

• Community/Section/Division Circles—session organizers can develop an announcement to be broadcasted to members via Circles communications. Circles entries must focus on Community/Section/Division activities and business. Sending job announcements and promoting other Societies’ meetings is prohibited. You can receive your Circles communication information by emailing Membership.
• CSA News magazine—highlight the topic(s), day, and time of the session to promote. Email your promotional text to Send Message and consider including a photo if possible. There is no charge for this service. When writing the call for papers, make sure to mention the lead Section, Division, or Community and the full title so authors can choose it when submitting their abstract. Email Send Message for further details.