Q. When will I hear if the abstract that I submitted has been accepted?
A. WSN accepts all abstracts that are submitted successfully before the deadline. The confirmation number that you received when you registered and submitted your abstract is the only confirmation that you will receive. Your contributed talk/poster will be scheduled and will appear in the meeting program that will be posted online at least two weeks before the meeting.
Q. What is the format for a WSN talk or poster abstract?
A. Detailed instructions for formatting your abstract are provided as you go through the registration process on the registration website. In terms of length, the title is limited to a maximum of 130 characters (including spaces), and the body of the abstract is limited to 1600 characters (including spaces).
Q. I’m planning to present a poster. Is there a required poster size?
A. The maximum dimension should be 48″ or less. Otherwise, there are no required dimensions, and rectangular posters can use either a portrait or landscape orientation. 48″ x 36″ is a common size used for many WSN posters.
Q. I am a recently-graduated student or a beginning post-doc. Should I register as a Student or Regular member?
A. To register at the Student rate, you must be currently enrolled as a graduate, undergraduate, or high school student, or have graduated or filed your graduate thesis/dissertation during the 12 calendar months preceding the WSN meeting (i.e., you must have completed your academic degree after the previous year’s WSN meeting). All others must register at the Regular rate and are not eligible to apply for student travel awards.
Q. I missed the abstract submission deadline. I realize that the WSN abstract deadline is only 6 weeks before the actual meeting, instead of 5 or 6 months like most national meetings. But can I still submit my abstract after the deadline?
A. No.
Q. I know WSN has a “one presentation rule” like most national meetings. But can I present two talks anyway? How about 1 talk and 1 poster? How about 2 posters?
A. No. You can only be the presenting author on one talk or one poster. You can be a co-author on other talks and posters, as long as you only present one at the meeting.
Q. I am early in my graduate career. Should I give a talk at this year’s WSN meeting?
A.It depends. Due to the recent growth of WSN, we have reached the limit on the number of contributed talks that we can accommodate in the current meeting format. We therefore encourage members to only present findings from mature projects that are in their later stages or are completed. If you only have preliminary data, please consider waiting to present at a future WSN meeting. We request that major advisors continue to review and approve all student abstracts to assure the appropriateness and high quality of the research presented.
Q. I would like to give a talk at WSN, but I can only be at the meeting on Friday. Can I request to have my talk scheduled on a certain day?
A. No, we cannot guarantee that you will be scheduled to talk on a particular day. Talks are organized into sessions by topic, and your talk could be scheduled for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. If you submit an abstract for an oral presentation, you should plan on being available for all three days of the meeting.
Q. When will I know the day and time that my talk is scheduled for?
A. The schedule and program will be announced two weeks before the meeting. Given the late deadline for abstract submission and the large number of abstracts that we receive each year, it is not possible for us to complete a schedule before this time.
Q. I did not follow the abstract guidelines or character limits. As a result, the title I submitted was too long and got cut off in the middle of a word. Can I revise my title/abstract now?
A. No. You can decide to withdraw your talk/poster, but it is too late to revise your abstract.
Q. I submitted an abstract full of typos. I misspelled the name of my study organism and my advisor. Can I correct my abstract and submit a revised one?
A. No. You can decide to withdraw your talk/poster, but it is too late to revise your abstract.
Q. My inexperienced graduate student submitted an abstract without my approval and forgot to include me as a co-author. Can I be added as an author now?
A. No. You can decide to withdraw your talk/poster, but it is too late to revise your abstract. We remind all students to please have their abstracts reviewed and approved by their major advisor (and all co-authors) well in advance of the abstract deadline.
Q. Does WSN have a one-day registration fee?
A. No, registration fees are the same even if you elect to attend only one day of the meeting. The meeting organizers have worked hard to keep registration costs as low as possible, and we regret that we are unable to offer a reduced cost for attendees who decide to not stay for the full meeting.
Q. Can I get my registration fees refunded if I decide to cancel?
A. It depends on how soon you cancel. If you cancel before October 10th (30 days before the meeting), we will refund your entire registration fee minus your Society dues ($35 for Regular members and $5 for Student Members) and any WSN merchandise you may have purchased (t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. will have already been ordered). If you cancel before November 1, we will refund 50% of your registration fee minus your Society dues ($35 for Regular members and $5 for Student Members) and any WSN merchandise you may have purchased. We regret that we cannot issue any refunds to people who cancel after November 1st. By that time, we will have printed name tags, finalized catering orders, etc.
Q. I really loved the design of the T-shirt and other merchandise at the WSN meeting this year. Do you have any left-over merchandise for sale that I can purchase by mail?
A. We regret that we lack the time and personnel to ship special orders for merchandise by mail. There may be limited merchandise from past meetings available at the next annual meeting.
Q. I pre-ordered a T-shirt, glass, etc. but then forgot to pick these items up when I was at the meeting. Can you please ship them to me?
A. We regret that we are unable to ship merchandise by mail. Attendees are responsible for picking up any merchandise orders at the meeting. Please don’t forget to do this! Otherwise, after the meeting has ended, merchandise that you pre-ordered and left at the meeting can be picked up in person at Bodega Marine Laboratory.