Themed Discussion Guidelines

The Program Committee identifies themes among the accepted abstracts and selects up to 5 poster abstracts for an hour-long discussion. A discussant (Themed Discussion leader) will provide a 5-minute introduction outlining the state of the field, and then each presenter will give a brief overview of his or her poster (5 minutes) to summarize noteworthy results, conclusions, and discussion points. Discussants will interact with audience members and presenters to create a discussion that synthesizes the relevant information, covers key points of agreement and controversy, and draws comparisons to related work in the scientific field. The discussant will also provide a 5-minute conclusion summarizing key information of the session and posing important questions for future research.

See Also: Important Dates | Abstract Submission | Oral Abstract Guidelines | Poster Presentation Guidelines | Registration | Embargo Policy | FAQs

Optional Slide Template: Download the optional slide template here. Please note, a title slide that includes your name, institution, and financial disclosures will be provide for you when you submit your final slides in the Speaker Ready Room at CROI.

Themed discussion presenters (4 to 5 per themed discussion) will each be allocated 5 minutes to provide a brief overview of their posters. This time should be used to summarize key results, conclusions, and discussion points. If a speaker runs over the time limit, the moderator will interrupt and ask to have the presentation concluded.

Presenters should prepare no more than 5 content slides. The content slides should give an overview of the research with conclusions and future research direction. Do not include overly technical graphs or heavy text. If the presenter is using slides that build content from slide to slide, each additional build is considered as a separate slide and counts towards the strict limit of 5 slides. Animation (for production purposes is defined as a slide with embedded video or other movement within a single slide) is discouraged, but if the presenter thinks that animation is essential to the presentation, the animation must be kept to less than 30 seconds. When submitting slides in the Speaker Ready Room at CROI, speakers should confirm that the animation works correctly. Presenters should share their slides with the Themed Discussion leader in advance of the session.

Please note that corporate logos, QR codes, and bar codes are not permitted on slides for oral presentations at CROI.

CROI will support MS PowerPoint or Apple Keynote only. Please ensure that all presentations are in one of these supported formats. High definition (HD) projectors will be used for all CROI sessions. Please apply widescreen formatting when preparing slides (aspect ratio 16:9; resolution 1920 x 1080).

Speakers must bring their slides on a portable drive to the Speaker Ready Room so slides can be uploaded to the presentation computer. All presenters should bring their slides to the Speaker Ready Room at least 24 hours in advance of their presentation.

Trade Names

Trade names for drugs should not be used in abstracts. Refer to drugs and products by their nonproprietary names.

Statements of Support

Statements of grant support or funding statements may not be included in the abstract text (eg, Study was funded by NIH). Statements of support may be included in the presentation of the abstract at CROI, if accepted.

Sex Stratification and Other Demographic Variables

Abstracts from randomized trials and cohorts should follow the ICMJE guidelines, including reporting of study designs (eg, prospective, observational, randomized, double-blind, STROBE, CONSORT, or others), statistical methods, and outcomes by demographic variables. For human clinical or epidemiological studies, the presentation should provide sex-stratified results or identify who was included if it includes only a single population. Abstracts of preclinical data including the use of cell lines and animal studies should include the sex of the animals or the sex of the source of the cell lines. If data are not available on sex (as assigned at birth) or gender (where gender is relevant to the study results), this should be identified as a limitation in the study.

See: ICMJE Preparing for Submission

Use of Appropriate Terminology

It is important to use  “people first” language such as “people with HIV” rather than “HIV-infected people.” Similarly, do not characterize people by their conditions. “People with diabetes” is preferred over “diabetics”; “patients with cirrhosis” rather than “cirrhotics;” “people who inject drugs” rather than ‘drug abusers.” Out of respect for their contributions to our scientific advances, avoid calling study volunteers “subjects.”

The preferred terms are study “participants” or “volunteers.” Ensure correct use of the terms sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors). Appropriate terminology such as “cisgender” (people whose gender matches the sex assigned at birth) or “transgender” (people whose gender does not match the sex assigned at birth) should be used.

Abstracts Describing New Compounds

Please be sure to include information sufficient to allow for meaningful review of compound data; this can include isolation, activity, chemical structure, mechanism of action, toxic effects, and pharmacologic data. The chemical or molecular structure must be shown in the presentation (it need not be part of the abstract or be published in the abstract eBook).

Case Reports and Systematic Reviews

In general, CROI does not accept abstracts for case reports, meta-analyses, or systematic reviews unless they are of enormous public health significance.

If study data are accepted for publication or presentation after the abstract submission to CROI, and that publication or presentation is expected to take place before CROI, the presenting author must contact CROI at CROIabstracts@iasusa.org to provide details as soon as the presentation is accepted for review, presentation, or publication in another venue or outlet. Please be aware that, although publication in these circumstances will not necessarily prevent presentation of the research at CROI, our strong preference is that any additional publication or presentation happen either simultaneous to or following presentation at CROI. Requests to publish or present research accepted for presentation at CROI prior to its presentation at CROI will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Failure to notify the conference promptly regarding plans to publish or present a CROI-accepted abstract prior to CROI may result in the removal of the study from the conference program.