ORAL SESSIONS

Oral presentations are expected to advance our state of knowledge by

focusing on new findings, models, approaches, and syntheses of past and

ongoing studies that are relevant to the management or scientific

understanding of the Bay-Delta. Presentations should avoid focusing on

project or program descriptions or summaries of planned studies. Because

we anticipate that requests for oral presentations will exceed the available

time slots, the Program Committee will assign oral presentations based on

technical merits of the abstract, relevance of the topic, and importance of the

findings. Abstracts should provide a clear description of the contribution,

ncluding their relevance to Bay-Delta management and/or policy.   

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Contributed Oral Sessions

• Speakers will be limited to one oral presentation. 

• Oral presentations must be no longer than 20 minutes.  

• Contributed oral presentations will be organized into sessions by the conference’s program chairs.   

• To be considered for a contributed oral presentation, speakers must use the abstract link on the conference website to submit an abstract less than 300 words in length by June 5, 2026. 

The conference planning team will place contributed

oral presentations into sessions with other oral

presentations of a similar theme. Depending on the

number and content of abstracts submitted, the

Program Team may move some of the requested oral

presentations into the poster session. 

Special Oral Sessions

Conference participants may propose special oral sessions focused on topics of particular importance to the Bay-Delta. Special oral session presentations should be well integrated and representative of the current body of research on the topic. Special consideration will be given for session proposals that integrate the theme of “The Opportunity of Change: Building and Being the Future Together.”   

Special Oral Sessions can be proposed in a variety of formats, adhering to the following guidelines: 

• Consist of one or two session blocks. Each session block is 100 minutes. 

• Many sessions typically consist of five 20-minute talks. 

• Proposed panels should inclusively and equitably reflect a diversity of perspectives and participants presenting the discussion topic. 

• Any discussion, Q&A, or other activity must be contained within the 100-minute session block(s). 

• Abstracts must be submitted for the special session and each talk that will be part of the session. 

• We welcome alternative session formats that engage the audience in creative ways. Please describe the session format in the abstract proposal. 

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Special Oral Session Proposals

To propose a special oral session, please submit an abstract describing the session via the online abstract submission link available on the conference website. Abstracts are required to include: 

• A session title,  

• The name of the session chair(s),  

• A short (<300 words) description of the session topics,  

• Statement of relevance to Bay-Delta management and/or policy, and  

• A list of proposed presentation titles and authors.  

Each presentation proposed in the special oral session must also have its own submitted abstract by the abstract deadline. The conference program chairs may also work with the Special Session Organizer (the person submitting the proposal) to develop the final configuration, including the possible addition of related talks from the pool of general submissions. All required abstracts (for the session and for individual presentations) must be received by June 5, 2026.  

Because we anticipate that special session proposals will exceed the available time slots, the Program Team may not accept a special session proposal, and submitted abstracts will be considered for inclusion in other conference sessions based on the technical merits of the abstract, including relevance of the topic, presentation of results, and importance of the findings.