AMEE

The AMEE Provisional Programme is released in December and participants start to register early in January. If you have attended previous conferences or if you are a member of AMEE, you will be among the first to receive a copy through the mail. If you haven’t previously attended, please look at the programme on the website. The early registration deadline is 25 May, and you can save  on the normal conference registration fee by registering early. Please make sure you register by 1 June at the latest if you have had an abstract accepted for the programme.

Although there is a wide range of preconference workshops, some topics are extremely popular and fill up quickly. Similarly, some of the ESME courses are very popular. Since places are strictly limited on both preconference workshops and courses, in order to maximise the value to participants, please book your place early to avoid disappointment.

Please check carefully the date and time of the preconference sessions you would like to attend. For example, if you select the ESME course this runs for both preconference days so it is not possible to attend any preconference workshops.

There are three abstract deadlines:

• Research papers and Doctoral Reports - 5 December
• Short communication, eposter, conference workshop - 6 February

Submitters of Research and Doctoral abstracts are notified of decisions before end January to allow time to resubmit in another format if the original submission is not accepted.  Submitters of all other abstract types are notified of decisions by end April.

For more information, please visit the Abstracts webpage

We recommend you reserve your hotel as soon as possible and by 31 May in order to get the best choice. All hotels have been selected for convenience in travelling to the Conference Venue and are either within walking distance or close to public transport.

Flights usually become more expensive the closer to the date of departure. Please remember that if you have had an abstract accepted, you will be required to present at any time from Monday morning (1015hrs) to Tuesday Evening (1630hrs), and it will not be possible to tell you the time of your presentation until 6-8 weeks before the start of the conference. Due to the complexities of the programme, it is not possible to accommodate individual requests.

The final programme contains a wealth of information including what’s on, when and where it will take place. Because there are many simultaneous sessions the programme is very complex. The programme overview for each day which is given at the front of the final programme should help you to see all the sessions taking place at the same time so that you can choose what to attend. The overview is themed according to content, to help you to identify topics of particular interest. The final programme will be available in July.

When/where is your presentation scheduled? The final programme will be posted on the website early July and will be fully searchable and you can enter your name to find out when you or your colleagues are scheduled to present.

What is expected of you? Please see the final programme for full details of how the different type of sessions are organised, how long you will have to present and what you should do.

Short communications: Most short communication presenters prepare a PowerPoint presentation, although this is not obligatory. Please bring your PowerPoint with you, saved on USB memory device, and take it to the Speaker Preview room at least 2 hours and preferably the day before the start of your session. The technician will make sure the presentation is loaded onto the computer in the appropriate room.

ePosters: If you have an electronic poster (ePoster) presentation, you will receive instructions in June as to how to prepare and upload your electronic poster online in advance of the Conference. You will also be able to see how to present your electronic poster during the Conference.

If you have a conference workshop a representative from Worldspan will contact you personally to discuss your requirements.

A pdf of the Abstract Book will be on the website in mid July so that you can read and print out some of the presentations you would like to know more about.  Abstracts will also be available on the conference app.

The AMEE 2021 webpages are regularly updated with relevant information which you might find helpful. If there is anything you think we have not covered adequately please let us know.

Your registration pack contains lots of useful items including programme (if requested during registration), name badge, conference bag and a travel ticket which can be used on the local transport network (if being provided).

It sometimes seems that you are just finding your way around the Conference venue and it’s time to go home! Conference centres are huge, and may not appear to be very logically laid out, or the signage may be less than adequate. It’s a good idea to look at the detailed plans in the programme as soon as you arrive, and try to work out the best route between sessions you wish to attend. Please try to arrive promptly for sessions to minimise disruption at the start of the session.

Demographic information reveals that 50% of participants at each AMEE conference are attending for the first time. For several years AMEE has organised an Orientation Session for new attendees and has proved very popular with good feedback. There are short presentations from the President, the General Secretary and the Operations Director on how you can get the most from conference attendance, and you can also find out a little more about what AMEE does and how you can become more involved if you wish. There is also the opportunity to ask any questions, and we end with some refreshments.

Participants frequently tell us there is too much choice and trying to decide what to attend is very difficult. If you are in a group from an institution, why not decide in advance who will attend each session and take notes on behalf of the group? You could then meet after the sessions, or wait until you get home to have further discussions. Some groups have said that this is an excellent faculty development exercise.

Chairpersons of short communication sessions are asked to keep strictly to time so that participants can move between sessions to hear specific presentations on different topics. However, it may be more fruitful to stay in one session and listen to all the presentations including any discussion at the end of the session. It can also be quite stressful moving between sessions since some of the rooms may be quite a distance from each other.

Details on how to sign up for workshops is given in the final programme and on the conference App.  When the maximum number has been reached the door will be closed and there will be no further admission. We do ask for your cooperation in respecting the wishes of the workshop organiser, and not creating embarrassment for the student helper whose task it is to make sure numbers in the room are not exceeded.

We rely on participant feedback to help us select workshops for future conferences. Please complete the feedback form at the end of the workshop as this will help us make future selections.

Participants from over 100 countries attend AMEE conferences, making it a rich cultural mix. There will be many opportunities to meet others with similar interests, and there will also be many participants who don’t know anyone else and would welcome someone to talk with. AMEE conferences are extremely friendly places, and we’re frequently told that discussions over lunch and in the corridors are equally as important as the formal presentations. It is wonderful to see a number of collaborative workshops and manuscript submissions that have resulted from discussions at previous AMEE conferences, so make the most of the networking.

You will hear many good ideas from presenters, some of which might be applicable in your own situation. Take a few minutes at the end of the day to think what you might be able to apply to your own teaching, or maybe things that colleagues at your institution might be interested to hear.

Many presenters have handouts of their presentations, or summaries of their posters that can be very useful, and reduce the necessity to take detailed notes. You might also like to share these with colleagues once you return home. However, handouts tend to disappear rapidly, so get there early to make sure you get a copy.

If you need any help please ask at the registration desk for registration matters, at the accommodation desk for hotel issues, at the tours desk for tours and social events, or at the AMEE exhibition for programme-related issues. The Student Taskforce members wearing polo shirts will be strategically located throughout the venue and would be pleased to help.

Tweeting has been very successful at past AMEE Conference. If you hear a great presentation that gets you thinking, why not let your fellow participants know by tweeting using the official AMEE hashtag.  You can follow AMEE on Twitter @AMEE_Online

Each year we receive a number of complaints from participants whose enjoyment has been spoilt by a few attendees who talk to colleagues or who take phone calls when others are presenting. We ask for your cooperation to keep talking to a minimum, and to wait until the question and discussion time to air your views.

There were a number of comments in the evaluation form from participants who were upset by other participants who took large numbers of photos during the sessions. This can be very distracting, particularly if you have a camera that beeps!

It is perfectly acceptable to move between sessions to hear presenters in other rooms. In this case we ask that you only leave the room at the end of a presentation, and try where possible to sit at the end of a row near the back

We know we don’t always get it right, and your feedback is very important. Each year the Executive Committee spends a lot of time analysing the evaluation forms from the previous year’s conference, and discussing what should be changed for the next year. The conference evaluation form will be online by the end of the Conference. Please take a few minutes to let us know what you thought, what you particularly liked and anything you didn’t. In particular, we welcome your suggestions for speakers and topics for future conferences and really hope to see you again next year. If you have enjoyed the AMEE conference experience, please tell you colleagues about it.