SESSION FORMAT

Annual Meeting INSTITUTES are conducted in a “flipped” format to promote active learner engagement, wherein the majority of didactic content is prerecorded and viewed separately from a live Q&A session designed as a more interactive experience with course faculty.

Following this model, INSTITUTES will be divided into prerecorded lectures that will be available on demand to attendees for a period before and after the Annual Meeting, and a scheduled live session with program faculty during the meeting week.

Submissions should be created with this format in mind.

GUIDELINES

An INSTITUTE should follow these guidelines in order to be considered by the Program Committee for the 2025 Annual Meeting program: 

• Submission should focus on a review of a topic in addition to supplying new research information relevant to the topic.
• Submission should be a comprehensive and expert overview of a topic area, focusing on “how to do it” with respect to clinical problems, academic areas, or a blending of the two.
• Submission should include enough content for five (5) hours of prerecorded content that can include up to seven (7) independent presentations of 35-50 minutes each.
  • Each individual presentation can include up to two (2) presenters MAXIMUM.
• Submission should carefully describe how the live, in-person, two (2) hour time block will be organized and emphasize ways in which the audience will be actively engaged, keeping in mind that there will be both an in-person and a virtual audience.
• The live component might include time for Q&A based on questions submitted by viewers of on-line content, as well as questions posed in real-time. Creativity with how this time is used is encouraged but submission must clearly outline the plan.

STANDARD ROOM SETUP & AUDIO/VISUAL EQUIPMENT PROVIDED

An INSTITUTE will be in a room set up with theatre style seating. A head table will be provided for presenters. If accepted, AACAP will provide a screen and a projector for this session type. Microphones are provided based on room size and number of speakers. A laptop will be provided to facilitate the audience Q&A, as all questions from the virtual audience will be submitted online.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Each submission for an INSTITUTE should include the following items:

• The title of the overall submission
• The chair’s organization and email address
• At least two (2) Educational Learning Objectives
• Presentation Schedule describing the order of presenters as well as time allotted per person for the prerecorded didactic component.
• Well-outlined proposal for how the live component will be organized.
• Overall Review Abstract for the INSTITUTE, describing the reasons why the individual components belong in the same INSTITUTE and providing a description of each person’s participation
• Overall Proceedings Abstract for the INSTITUTE
• Each co-presenter's, discussant's, and co-author’s name, organization, contact information, email address, disclosure of affiliations, and recording permission
• Individual Proceedings Abstracts and keywords for each presentation

REQUIRED CONTENT ADDRESSING DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

AACAP has a strong commitment to promoting mental health equity and combating health disparities. We support cultural competency efforts that enable practitioners to care effectively for patients from diverse cultures, groups, and communities. Each presentation MUST include relevant information on differences in prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment pertaining to diverse racial and ethnic populations and/or consider other ways of infusing diversity, equity and inclusion principles into the proposal. This may include selecting diverse presenters, including participants with lived experience, using the backdrop of Chicago to the benefit of the program, or many other ways that reflect AACAP’s values. If information is not available or if the presenters’ research does not include this information, speakers should address limitations of current research data in addressing needs of minoritized groups.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

INSTITUTE chairs are required to submit notebooks with each lecturer's slides, talk outlines, annotated bibliographies, and multiple-choice self-assessment questions in late June 2025. Program faculty will need to be available to prerecord lectures in late August or early September prior to the October meeting. AACAP staff will provide training and technical support in recording these videos. Additional information and guidance will be provided if the INSTITUTE is accepted by the Program Committee. If any speaker for the INSTITUTE cannot submit materials by the end of June, it is the chair's responsibility to replace them.

It is the Program Committee’s expectation that an INSTITUTE will have broad interest to a wide variety of members.

The CME Committee will choose up to three (3) INSTITUTES to participate in an outcomes measurement evaluation system, where a set of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up self-assessment questions will be required. More information will be provided if your INSTITUTE is selected.

The chair or a co-chair of an INSTITUTE must be an AACAP member. INSTITUTES are largely didactic in nature, use a maximum of seven (7) presenters (including the chair), and provide interaction/discussion between the presenters and in-person and virtual participants. Case examples are helpful. Submissions about clinical techniques should include a brief description of or reference to the scientific evidence for and limitations of the treatment technique.

While chairs are required to attend the meeting in person, presenters can participate in the Q&A virtually. Travel funding is not available. All accepted submissions must display full disclosure slides to the audience. The Program Committee will accept approximately 8-9 INSTITUTE spaces in 2025.

Pending acceptance, the Chair will receive Guidelines for INSTITUTE Presenters, and it is agreed that INSTITUTE chairs and presenters will follow these guidelines. The Chair should have all presenters submit the INSTITUTE notebook materials formatted for publication in June 2025. All materials will be then reviewed and approved by our INSTITUTES Subcommittee before pre-recordings take place.

START YOUR SUBMISSION

Questions regarding INSTITUTES can be directed to meetings@aacap.org.