For those presenting a paper at the 2025 conference, attending the Zoom meetings listed below is mandatory.

AZVT Program Committee Chairs
contact
Kimberly Aubuchon, RVT
Editor-in-Chief

Amy Gallagher, CVT
RACE Program Administrator

Dianna Lydick, LVT, VTS (Zoo)
Program Organizer

2025 Conference Presentation Deadlines

Mandatory Zoom meeting for Prospective Authors: February 2025, date TBA
Friday, March 28th: Submissions forms due
Friday, April 28th: First draft of abstract due
Friday, May 25th: Full-paper 1st draft / Final draft if abstract only
Friday, June 30th: Final draft of full-paper due
Friday, July 19th: Topic questions due
Mandatory Zoom meeting for Presenters: August 2025, date TBA

Are You Ready To Present?

If you are not sure of what to present, here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Do you have a new and innovative procedure that you have been perfecting at your institution?
• Have you been conducting novel research and have important results? Have you discovered what NOT to do (just as important as what TO do)?
• Have you solved a problem (in animal care, medicine, hospital organization, etc.) at your institution that might help others?
• Have you participated in an exciting project over the last year? Keep in mind if you are the recipient of an AZVT Grant, you must present at the annual conference as part of the Grant agreement.
• Is it time to update a topic you or someone else has shared in the past? Are there new developments that should be shared?
• Is there a neglected topic you feel should be shared or expanded on?

Perhaps you have some expertise/knowledge about one of these topics requested by the membership at past conferences:

• Parasitology (techniques and ID review)
• Cytology
• Metabolic bone disease in amphibians
• Hydrotherapy on wound/limb swelling
• Cardiac health in great apes
• How to / Tips: Consistency with sample collection and processing
• Venipuncture sites on a variety of species (poster)
• Avian medicine
• Penguin malaria protocol and jugular blood draws
• How to get involved with research and field work
• In-house avian/reptilian hematology
• Advanced anesthesia
• EEHV
• 3D printing for medical application
• IATA training (from certified instructor)
• Anatomy/necropsy
• Zoo animal nutrition
• Compassion fatigue
• Rehab/rescue
• Abnormal hematology review
• Aquatic/fish medicine

Maybe you are worried about your idea as a potential topic or about writing a full paper? Connect with a proceedings committee mentor to get suggestions and discuss your topic, contact Anne Gilewski. Mentors are here to help hone your ideas and calm your nerves!

Conflict of Interest

An area of growing concern in publications is conflict of interest. From the RACE standards (November 2018):

"While Programs may reference specific products or services and be promotional in nature, they must not be or appear to be primarily for generating sales of a product or service" (Section 6.02, p.10)

"Disclosure/Conflict of Interest information shall be made available to the participants at the onset of the program." (Section 6.02, Box, p.10)

However, certain programs that address particular companies, products, or services may be approved if they meet certain qualifications. From the RACE standards (November 2018):

"There is a clear delineation between marketing and education... There is sufficient scientific or clinical content related to the product and it is presented in a manner such that the program is useful to attendees who do not use the specific product or service" (Section 6.01, p.9)

In addition:

"There is clear indication to participants at the beginning of the presentation of the relationships among provider, presenter, and content of the program... Presenters giving the presentation on behalf of a commercial organization that also employs the presenter must provide a conflict of interest form in the application and disclosure must be made to the program attendees... The presenter must be qualified in the subject matter, so they can answer questions and direct the discussion in an appropriate fashion to achieve CE credit." (Section 6.01, p.9)

Please indicate any conflict of interest you might have.
Not sure if your presentation presents a conflict of interest? Please contact the RACE Program Administrator to find out more.

Presentation Time Requirements

As a RACE-approved provider, AZVT must follow the presentation time requirements. The minimum time permitted for a presentation is 30 minutes. Please keep this in mind as you are preparing your talk. The 30 minutes does not include time
for questions. There will be time built into the schedule for questions and the switching of presenters.

If you will need more than 30 minutes, notify one the of the Program Committee Chairs as soon as possible.

FORMS by Category: A Guide