On behalf of our Congress Chairs and our Scientific Program Committee, thank you to all our presenting authors from 62 countries who have submitted abstracts to contribute to the success of our first ISAPS Olympiad World Congress in Athens.   

Our new format program aims to embrace the diversity of our ISAPS community and include a breadth of material in different ways. After an anonymous peer review process, all abstracts have been scored and accepted abstracts have been allocated to one of three presentation formats requiring different presentation styles. Best presentations were awarded in all lecture categories and across all presentation themes during our Awards Ceremony* on Saturday 2nd September at 4.15 pm and submitting authors are encouraged to be present at this session. Thank you for taking the time to review the important information below relating to your presentation. 

1. Conventional oral communication sessions: 

Commencing with one invited keynote lecture, these sessions comprise up to 7 ‘conventional’ oral communication presentations. Presenters are asked to present their material in no more than 7 minutes (we recommend no more than 10 slides – please see our separate speaker guidance).  An additional 3 minutes per presentation has been allowed for each presentation for discussion, and usually, moderators will take all questions at the end of the session.  

2. Rapid fire discussion sessions: 

New for this year, these sessions aim to create discussion within curated topic themes, usually relating to the conventional session immediately prior. No more than 10 speakers are asked to present a snapshot (rapid presentation) of their work (whether a technique/case or update) within themed topic areas in just 3 minutes (we recommend no more than 5 slides – please see our separate speaker guidance).  20 minutes are allowed at the end of the session for a ‘panel style’ rapid-fire discussion with all presenting authors around the key issues arising.  All speakers are asked to be present until the end of the session to participate in these discussions and to familiarize themselves with other presentations in the session in advance, in order to be able to contribute to discussion with your fellow participants around key themes arising.  

3. Poster discussion sessions: 

Posters are presented as PowerPoint slides online on our virtual platform. Also new for this year, all presenters in Athens are invited to give 2-minute overviews of their poster in topic-themed poster sessions within our ‘open stage’ within the exhibit hall – please see our separate poster format guidance.   

4. *Prizes and Awards:

All free paper presentations will be rated by our audience, and scored by our moderators and ISAPS Scientific Program Committee to decide Gold, Silver and Bronze Best paper awards in all topic themes and for each session type as above.   
A special award for the best presentation by an early career surgeon will receive a support stipend towards attendance at our Cartagena meeting. 
Awards will be presented during our Awards ceremony on Saturday September 2^nd and all authors are encouraged to be present at this session.

Please feel free to contact our team if you have any questions about your presentation format.   

We look forward to welcoming you to Athens.