Submitting a Proposal

General Information

No Theme for the 2020 Annual Meeting

Call for Proposals

Submit a Proposal (online only)

The proposal deadline will be 11:59 p.m. PST, February 15, 2019 (7:59 GMT, February 16, 2019). If you encounter technical difficulties, please e-mail technical support. All data entry issues reported before the deadline will be resolved.

Please Note: The Annual Meeting in New York will take place from Friday, January 3 through Monday, January 6, 2020. Sessions accepted by the Program Committee will be scheduled from Friday afternoon through Monday morning.

Historians from the United States appearing on the program are required to be AHA members. Everyone on the program must register for the meeting when registration opens in the fall of 2019.

Affiliates with questions about submitting affiliate sessions should consult our affiliate page.

Session Proposals

Before submitting a proposal online, session organizers should collect the following information, which will be needed to submit a complete proposal:

  • Session title (of no more than 20 words)
  • Session abstract (up to 500 words)
  • Short session abstract for the meeting app (up to 50 words)
  • Paper or presentation titles (if any)
  • Abstract or description for each presentation (up to 300 words). Descriptions should be included for both roundtables and formal sessions.
  • Short abstract or description for each presentation for the meeting app (up to 50 words)
  • Biographical paragraph or CV summary (up to 250 words) for each participant
  • Correct e-mail address for each participant
  • Affiliation, city, state, and country for each participant
  • Chair (required) and commentator (optional) for the session
  • Audiovisual needs, if any
  • Professional Twitter handle for each participant (optional)
  • Website for each participant (optional)
  • Please note that the Program Committee cannot accept single paper proposals.
  • To assure substantial time for interaction between speakers and audience, panels are typically limited to a maximum of four participants in addition to a chair.

Organizers submitting multi-session workshops will also be required to submit a brief description of the overall purpose and goals of the workshop. Organizers submitting experimental sessions will be asked to submit a 75-word description of the session format. 

Poster Proposals

Organizers submitting poster proposals will need:

  • Poster title
  • Abstract of poster (up to 500 words)
  • Short abstract of poster for the meeting app (up to 50 words)
  • Biographical paragraph or CV summary (up to 250 words)

Additional Information

For detailed instructions and advice about using the online proposal system, consult the Frequently Asked Questions about the Submission of Proposals. See here for advice on crafting an effective panel proposal. Questions about policies, modes of presentation, and the electronic submissions process should be directed to the AHA staff. 

To help members find sessions of interest,  the online program for the 2020 annual meeting will include links to the abstracts for sessions and presentations entered into the electronic proposal system. The annual meeting app will include the short abstracts submitted with the proposal. Abstracts will be published as submitted to the Program Committee; individuals will not have the opportunity to edit abstracts after the proposal deadline. Please enter and review the information with that in mind.