All sessions are 60 minutes in length and must allow for at least 25% interactivity. These sessions will take place concurrently throughout the two-day program. They can address any CanMEDS role relevant to geriatric practice. Sessions do not have to be solely clinical/medical in nature and can focus on education, research, communication skills, collaboration, advocacy, professionalism, etc.

Workshop: A workshop is highly interactive (> 50% of the session time), making for a lively and informative session.

Symposium: A symposium is a presentation that consists of three to five separate talks around a similar theme with a question period or other form of interactivity.

Debate: A debate is a discussion about a specific topic among a select group of panelists who share differing perspectives. It should be facilitated by the Chair of the session. A question period or other form of interactivity with the audience needs to be included.

All proposals must include:

• Overall session title

• Chair (name, institution, email)
  This person is the point of contact for the session and is responsible for communicating with speakers.

• List of speakers (names, affiliations, email)
  Only speakers who have been contacted and have committed to the session should be listed. If you are submitting a proposal for a symposium or debate, please list the title of each speaker’s talk.

• Session description (< 400 words)
  The description should focus on the theme of the session. This may include background information, goals, objectives, importance, etc. The background rationale/importance should describe how the proposed session meets the learning needs for one or more CanMEDS roles. The description should avoid overly specialized language and be easily understood by all attendees.

• Session justification (< 250 words)
  The justification should focus on how the review criteria specified below are met by the proposal. It should not simply repeat the description.

• Session summary (< 50 words)
  This is a very short version of the session description. Please limit to one sentence in length.

• Learning objectives
  All submissions require three learning objectives in the format “After this session, participants will be able to…” Key information about Royal College expectations for learning objectives can be found here. Please avoid verbs that are often used but are open to many interpretations (e.g., appreciate, have faith in, know, learn, understand, believe). Click here for a link to suggested verbs. Ideally, the learning objectives should relate back to the learning needs.

• CanMEDS role(s) addressed within the session
  Each learning objective should be linked to at least one CanMEDS role: Collaborator, Communicator, Family Medicine Expert, Health Advocate, Leader, Professional, Scholar

• Session topic
  Session topics are used to assign reviewers. Please provide a minimum of one topic.

• Session field
  The program is organized around these different fields: Behavioural and Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Health Sciences/Geriatric Medicine, Social Research and Interdisciplinary Policy and Practice. When you submit a session proposal, it must be applicable to one of these five fields.

• Planned Interactivity
  Regardless of format, the SPC asks that you incorporate a higher percentage of interactivity than the minimum 25% to encourage audience engagement. Please indicate in your proposal how you intend to incorporate interactivity.

All proposals will be peer reviewed and scored by reviewers selected by the SPC. The SPC may accept or decline proposals, or suggest an opportunity to present the proposed work in a more appropriate format.

The deadline for submitting a proposal for the 2026 CGS ASM is November 2, 2025.

Session organizers will be notified of decisions no later than November 28, 2025.

Proposals will be assessed using the following criteria. The weighting of criteria may vary depending on the nature of proposals.

A strong proposal will have the following characteristics:

Scientific Merit

• Offer significant contributions to align with the 2026 ASM theme of Reimagining Geriatrics: Science, Practice, Impact.

• Present innovative or interdisciplinary approaches.

• Have broad enough appeal to generate large audiences at the meeting.

• Meet perceived needs (identified by similar learners through surveys, needs assessments, etc.) or unperceived learning needs of the participants (identified indirectly as areas new to practice, controversial areas, or where practice/care patterns are suboptimal).

Structure and Organization

Symposia:

• provide strong overall synthesis or overview and are not simply a set of related case studies;

• provide differing perspectives on the session topic (organizers should carefully avoid the appearance of biases toward their own perspectives and allow participants to evaluate differing views);

• build a well-integrated whole (each talk should have clear relevance to the overall synthesis provided by the symposium); and

• include a specific title for every speaker’s talk.

Workshops:

• are highly interactive with ASM participants and contain minimal didactic content;

• may involve role play, discussions among subgroups of participants who then share their views with the whole group, audience response systems/voting, pre-tests/post-tests, etc.; and

• use novel teaching techniques, such as the flipped classroom technique.

Debates:

• are preferentially centered around novel and/or controversial/contentious topics or a unique perspective on existing practice;

• involve a panel of two or more highly dynamic and engaging speakers to lead the debate and engage the audience;

• incorporate interactivity via audience voting, question periods, etc.; and

• involve the Chair of the session, who should join one or more sides of the debate by making supportive statements.

Speakers

• List the CONFIRMED speakers/facilitators who have been contacted and have committed to the session.

• All speakers must complete a conflict of interest form. These forms must be submitted with the proposal. Click here to access the COI form.

We recognize that AI assisted writing has become more common as the technology becomes more accessible. AI tools that make suggestions to improve or enhance your own work, such as tools to improve language, grammar or structure, are considered assistive AI tools and do not require disclosure by authors or reviewers. However, authors are responsible for ensuring their submission is accurate, original, and complies with copyright law.

Authors should cite original sources, rather than Generative AI tools as primary sources within the references. If your submission content was primarily or partially generated using AI, this must be disclosed upon submission.

After acceptance decisions have been made and the scheduling for the meeting is underway, any cancellations and schedule changes are very disruptive. Therefore, it is very important that session organizers obtain firm commitments from their invited speakers before submitting their proposal. We are unable to guarantee that scheduling requests will be granted. We cannot schedule or move a session to accommodate the availability of speakers.

All speakers are required to register for the conference. Registration will not be waived or reduced for speakers. The CGS is not able to provide any financial assistance, stipends, waived or reduced registration, travel assistance, or paid lodging to speakers. Organizers are responsible for making this clear to their speakers before submitting a proposal.

Once a symposium has been accepted and listed online, cancellation imposes a serious burden. Do not submit a proposal if you are uncertain that you will be able to fulfill your obligation to organize and conduct the session.

You must submit your proposal by filling out the Proposal Submission Form. Please complete the submission form and email to events@secretariatcentral.com. You will receive confirmation of receipt of your proposal within 1 business day.

Questions about the proposal format or process can be directed to the Secretariat Central Events team (events@secretariatcentral.com) and will then be forwarded to the appropriate resource.

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