Each year the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) puts out a “Call for Papers”. This means they are looking for prospective presenters to submit a proposal for their annual conference. AOTA renamed its annual conference INSPIRE in 2021. This conference is held each spring and proposals are always due in June the year before.

For AOTA INSPIRE 2023, proposals are due June 13nd, 2023, at 11:59 PDT. Typically, they will extend the deadline at the last minute by another week, but you don’t want to count on that. After you submit, the proposals are reviewed by a panel, and then presenters are informed if their proposal was accepted sometime in the fall. So, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear anything for a few months.

Below I’ve outlined some steps to get you started and then continue on to the other courses for how-to videos on submitting your proposal.

Don’t forget that submitting a proposal doesn’t mean you need the presentation ready to go!

You hardly even need a title slide yet.

You just need the idea, and once your proposal is accepted, you can start those pesky slides!

Step 1: Pick a Topic

This is the hard part… what to talk about?? AOTA requires your presentation to be in line with occupation-based practice and professional issues. It’s a good idea to pick a topic you know something about, but you don’t have to know EVERYTHING.

When I submitted my proposal for Section GG, I was familiar with the topic, but I didn’t know enough to give a presentation. But you bet your bottom dollar that I learned alllll about Section GG once the proposal was accepted 😉.

Remember, you don’t have to feel like an expert to be a good speaker. Key word is FEEL. You know more than you think you know! 💪🧐

Here are some questions to get you started

• What topics do you wish you knew more about?
• What is a topic you find interesting?
• What kind of questions do you often get from other practitioners? (they are coming to you because they see you as knowledgeable on the topic area)
• What is something you wish every practitioner knew?
• What is something you wish every student knew (if a student course)?
• What do you wish you had known when you started your career?

Step 2: Who is Presenting

If you’re submitting the proposal, then you’re the primary author. You’ll need your name, credentials, AOTA Member ID, and contact info. You can then name secondary presenters or contributing authors. You’ll need their contact info, Member ID, name, and credentials as well.

Step 3: Start your Draft

I highly recommend utilizing AOTA’s templates for this step. While you can absolutely do it on the proposal website, using the template allows you to edit everything in one location and utilize spell check. Plus it is an easier way to keep track of your word count.

AOTA’s templates can be downloaded HERE under the INSPIRE Call for Papers section as a word document.

I recommend identifying your learning objectives and completing your abstract before you complete your abstract summary.

Step 4: Submit

Hit that submit button and celebrate! Congrats on submitting your proposal! You’ve now done something that most practitioners haven’t done before.

Pro Tips:

• Go for it!!! The worst thing that can happen is they say no. But you won’t ever get a yes if you don’t apply!
• Nervous? Consider working with a friend – but make sure it is a friend willing to do the work (IYKYK).
• Stay Focused! Keep your abstract focused on one singular topic. Remember, you only have an hour for a short course so you won’t have time to cover every topic under the sun. Pick one topic and do an awesome job in that area.
• Mirror their language and ensure you check every box.
• Use research, but it doesn’t have to be the entire presentation. Personally, I prefer a presentation that has more practical advice and information I can use than one that gives me a bunch of journal articles.
• If you like the learning objectives of another course, use that as an example or outline, but obviously, no plagiarizing is endorsed here at Amplify OT.
• If you start your slides early, use a very basic template. AOTA will send you a PowerPoint template you’re required to use for INSPIRE

Good luck and happy proposal writing! You can do it! Head to the next lesson for a video showing you how to do all of the above, with some helpful tidbits thrown in. I’ll also show you one of my previous proposals!

Use the buttons below for more resources, templates, and to submit your proposal.