Lightning Talks


VCTC invites all registered participants to submit abstracts, Lightning Talks, and posters as described below. In light of COVID-19's impact on the academic job market and on speaking and sharing opportunities in general, VCTC seeks to highlight the achievements of early career assistant professors, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students. In order to disseminate these individuals' impressive accomplishments and to showcase their work to current faculty, VCTC especially encourages submissions from those groups.

  • To prepare an abstract, please include the title, authors, and your email address above no more than one page of text in 12 point Arial font. Do not include figures, tables, or pictures. Save the single page as an MS Word document and title the saved document with the letters "ABS" and your name, e.g., "ABSLinManuelMiranda.docx". Upload as described below.
  • To prepare a Lightning Talk, record up to three minutes of narration accompanying three to five slides. A Lightning Talk is similar to ACS LiveSlides. You may use any software which captures both audio narration and video of your slides. Save or convert the recording of your Lightning Talk into mp4 format and title it with the letters "LT" and your name, e.g,. "LTLinManuelMiranda.mp4". Compress the mp4 into a zip file and upload as described below. Further instructions and tips regarding Lightning Talks can be found here. Several recording options are described here. And, a sample Lightning Talk can be found here.
  • To prepare a poster, expand on the slides and ideas you presented in your Lightning Talk. If you wish to submit slides instead of a traditional poster, please assemble them (up to five) in a single, narrow image which scrolls vertically. Title your poster (or slides) with the letters "POS" and your name and save it in pdf or jpg format., e.g., "POSLinManuelMiranda.pdf". Upload as described below.
  • To submit your three files--abstract docx, Lightning Talk zip, and poster pdf or jpg--return to the registration page and reenter your email address and password. The system will automatically populate with your previously entered registration information. Click through to the upload portal. Choose a single topic and a status from the drop-down menus and upload each file as indicated. To be eligible for an Outstanding designation as described below, submit your materials by June 20. The deadline for all other submissions is July 12. Materials submitted between June 20 and July 12 will not be judged but will be listed and linked in the conference program.

Evaluation of Lightning Talks.

  1. A panel of judges will separately evaluate submissions from early career assistant professors and postdoctoral scholars. Early career assistant professors are those individuals who started or are starting their faculty positions in the years 2018, 2019, or 2020, and specifically includes those who plan to start new positions in the fall of 2020. For this purpose, the category of early career assistant professors also includes similarly situated staff scientists at national labs. Between ten and fifteen Lightning Talks from that group will be designated as Outstanding. Each presenter of an Outstanding Lightning Talk will be invited to give a 20-minute talk in the main conference agenda. The results of this competition will be announced in early July.
  2. Lightning Talks prepared by graduate students and submitted by June 20 will be evaluated on a separate track. Although graduate students are not eligible to give a talk in the main conference, judges will designate exceptional submissions as Outstanding Graduate Student Lightning Talks.

All Lightning Talk submissions will be uploaded with an unlisted privacy setting onto our YouTube channel. Links to abstracts, Lightning Talks, and posters will be made available to registrants shortly before the conference begins.

Prior to the start date of the conference, all presenters will receive further instructions. Please check your email for communications. It is anticipated that the VCTC will attract a large number of participants; therefore, we cannot guarantee that all submissions will be accommodated.