In some ways, abstract submission is like the perfect storm. If the following situation sounds familiar, don’t worry; you’re not alone.
You sound the clarion call for proposals and patiently await the deluge. Wave after wave of PDF files (and quite a few attachments that didn’t follow the PDF expectations) start to flood your inbox. Presenter questions and requests for revisions blow to-and-fro. The spreadsheets need a constant drip of updates as you blast out friendly reminders to help busy reviewers stay on schedule for final approvals.
With a few lightning-quick last-minute updates, the approved abstracts are finalized—at last. You rain out acceptance notifications and prepare for the sticky-note-flurry of session and agenda building.
It’s a common, yet exhausting, experience. But an excellent abstract management system can make a world of difference. When we built OpenWater, we knew that it was possible to solve the traditionally disjointed, inefficient process of collecting and reviewing abstracts. We wanted to create order from chaos.
Still, choosing the right platform for your organization can be tricky. It’s got to fit with the format and scope of what you do. As you compare abstract submission software, we recommend keeping the following features at the top of your wishlist:
Table of Contents:
1) It Can Be Customized Into the Perfect Fit
2) It Saves You Time and Makes Life Easier
3) It Handles Every Step, From Start to Finish
A system worth your investment will be built for you. It should meet your abstract management process wherever you’re at in terms of conference size, information gathering needs, and industry-specific features. Look for qualities like these:
The abstract collection form is the front gate. Irrelevant fields can turn interested presenters away by overcomplicating the process. On the other hand, if you don’t collect enough details at the door, you’ll be chasing authors down later. Your particular topic or industry might require special characters or certain kinds of file uploads.
A fully customizable abstract submission form can handle all of this with:
If you can write the test yourself, you know you’ll be measuring what you want to measure. Every review process (and round of review) has unique needs. A quality abstract review system can adjust to the scope and style of your needs with features like:
Many years ago—before OpenWater—we worked on custom web development projects for associations and nonprofits in the Washington, DC area. We’ve carried those aesthetic sensibilities into our work on OpenWater’s website integrations; because if the abstract submission system is truly a perfect fit, it should look like one.
Presenters, reviewers, and attendees will all appreciate a cohesive conference website that looks professional and on-brand from top to bottom. Your abstract submission system should fully integrate with your website, and include features like:
As you know, managing conference abstracts is a lot of work. There’s a lot of data coming in, and somehow it’s got to get thoughtfully evaluated, distilled for quality, and puzzle-pieced together into a cohesive agenda. What’s more, your reviewers are most likely not doing this as their day job—they’ll have other priorities elbowing for their limited attention.
Your abstract management system can take a lot of the load off your shoulders and help you bypass hours of manual record-keeping. It won’t make your coffee to order; but with the right features, it can still give you more time and less stress.
A good platform sinks or swims by its user-friendly interface. Your planning staff, presenters, and reviewers all need to interact with it—an intuitive user experience that doesn’t take a single line of code or a computer programmer to set up is nothing less than essential.
It saves countless time for your annual abstract submission kickoff when you can pick up exactly where you left off last year. Convenient program templates can get your abstract submission system set up faster by saving your custom build (submission form, review process—the works) and cloning it every time the annual meeting comes around.
If you manage a few different events each year, you could even save a series of templates. Then you’re ready to go no matter which event is up next.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is already the new standard for professional computer applications. And no wonder—with cloud accessibility, you can continue working from any device, anywhere, and skip the hassle of downloading or updating local installs.
Mobile has overtaken other formats as the dominant way we spend our virtual time. Your users will want the ability to read about, work on, submit, and review abstracts on the go. OpenWater was made with multi-device responsiveness in mind, and comes equipped with:
It’s hard to understate the convenience of using pre-existing credentials to log into a new application or service. Your abstract submission system is no different. We’ve all got too many passwords and usernames and pin codes to remember already in our information-age lives.
Look for a system that seamlessly integrates itself into your website and lets you access everything you need in one place, through a familiar login like your Google account.
Many systems can touch event management for a conference. Are you using a CRM, AMS, LMS, or marketing automation platform? Your abstract submission system should synchronize with all of them so that you never need to duplicate your efforts or log into multiple systems at the same time. You’ll want:
For example, OpenWater integrates with a vast number of external APIs, including mainstream systems like Salesforce, Personify, PayPal, Netforum, iMIS, HubSpot, and much more. We even do client-specific custom integrations and support mobile conference apps. Our team has worked hard to ensure 100% uptime for our system so that every integration with your conference planning process stays smooth.
It’s easier to keep track of threads of questions and conversations when your abstract management software has built-in email functionality. Exchange messages with individual presenters or reviewers without switching channels. From right within the abstract submission system, you’ll be able to blast out invitations, reminders, notifications, confirmations, and anything else to targeted email lists.
If you need a different platform to handle each step—abstract collection, review, and scheduling—then your submission management process will be far from streamlined. Learning each platform, integrating or cross-referencing data, and jumping between logins takes valuable time. Instead, go for an end-to-end abstract management platform that handles everything:
Your first step is to let folks know that abstract submissions are open. With email and CRM integration, you can send out the call for abstracts right from the abstract submission software.
A robust, adaptable form-builder is a must. It makes a big difference if your system sweats the details, too. This way, your system will have the ability to support scientific characters, collect and manage supplementary materials, set eligibility rules, and allow applicants and authors to log in later to edit their abstract submission without your help. That email function comes in handy too, so you can send automated reminders for final paper submissions and keep everyone on track.
If you’ve been piecing together abstract collection data with spreadsheets, you’ll know the old way isn’t fancy but will do in a pinch. Abstract review, however, is something Excel can’t do. There’s no replacement for a system that can set up multiple rounds of review with unique scoring criteria. OpenWater’s administrative portal lets your reviewers access abstract submissions online, anytime, anywhere, and on any device.
Agenda creation doesn’t need to be a pain. The traditional process involves whiteboards, spreadsheets, sticky notes, and a lot of mixing and matching. For a large conference, though, this might call to mind an overwhelming game of pin the tail on the donkey.
The best abstract management systems let you group approved abstracts into sessions, then feed them directly into a schedule builder. OpenWater’s agenda creation system makes everything easy. It’s got:
You’re running a whole event—not just collecting abstracts. It helps when your abstract submission system can contribute to the broader event with custom-printed abstract booklets (useful both for physical review and as conference handouts).
OpenWater’s system goes even further, with several event management integrations, such as the ability to host secure payment gateways for attendee registration or to feed your agenda to conference mobile apps.
Next year’s conference will improve upon lessons learned this year. Your abstract submission system can add valuable insights if it tracks the behavior of its users—the same way some associations do with live attendees at their meetings.
OpenWater exports flexible reports on gathered data into all standard formats (Excel, CSV, Text files) so you can monitor presenter and reviewer progress in real-time, identify dropoff points, and improve the process for next time.
An abstract submission system gathers your abstracts, sure, but a great one can do so much more. We built OpenWater to change the game. It was important to us that our system be flexible, easy to use, and provide a beginning-to-end solution to abstract management. If you’re interested in learning more, reach out and book a demo—we’d be happy to show you the ropes.