Presentation Formats

Format: Workshop (Educational Session)

Duration: 60 minutes

Number of speakers: Maximum of two plus one moderator

Room set: Crescent rounds

AV package: Standard   

• One LCD projector and stand
• One laptop computer
• One large screen (16:9 screen size)
• Lectern with microphone
• Head table with microphones.

Learning Experience: Experiential and interactive.

Scope: The speakers guide participants to solve problems, share ideas, role play or generate answers to “how-to” questions.

Audience Interaction: Speakers are expected to launch activities with minimal lecturing and presentation. A maximum of 10 minutes is dedicated to wrap-up and participant Q&A.

Rubric: ADEA Education Sessions Rubric (PDF)

Format: Small Group Discussion (Educational Session)

Duration: 45 minutes

Number of speakers: One

Room set: Living Room Set

AV package: None. Small group discussion presenters should NOT prepare a PowerPoint presentation.

Learning Experience: Less structured yet informative.

Scope: The session is centered on a single specific and timely topic, question or issue facing dental education today.

Audience Interaction: The small group (approximately 10 to 15 people) discussion session is held in a less traditional educational setting to help create a comfortable environment that encourages all participants to freely discuss their ideas, ask questions and contribute.

Rubric: ADEA Education Sessions Rubric (PDF)

Format: Seminar (Educational Session)

Duration: 60 minutes

Number of speakers: Maximum of two plus one moderator

Room set: Theater style

AV package: Standard

• One LCD projector and stand
• One laptop computer
• One large screen (16:9 screen size)
• Lectern with microphone
• Head table with microphones.

Learning Experience: The session addresses one critical issue, technique, or model in a clear and concise manner that is easy for the audience to understand.

Scope: This seminar may present the topic with a broad overview or focus on no more than three aspects of the topic. It should not attempt to cover “A to Z” for any subject.

Audience Interaction: At least 15 minutes, interspersed during the program, are dedicated to interacting with the participants through activities such as think-pair-share, audience polling and Q&A.

Rubric: ADEA Education Sessions Rubric (PDF)

Format: Seminar (Educational Session)

Duration: 60 minutes

Number of speakers: A 60 minute seminar should include no more than 10 Short Talks.

Room set: Theater style

AV package: Standard

• One LCD projector and stand
• One laptop computer
• One large screen (16:9 screen size)
• Lectern with microphone
• Head table with microphones.

Scope: The traditional Short Talks Session provides a format for sharing ideas in five-minute segments during a session centered on a particular educational theme. The Short Talks format supports the ADEA Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) by providing ADEA members an opportunity to share teaching and learning innovations with a national audience—sparking further conversation, networking and development of teaching innovations.

Submitting Short Talks: The time allotted for presentations—one hour—can be divided however the presenters choose. But keep in mind that no more than 10 short talk presenters can speak during one session and that sessions, in general, should be balanced to present ideas from a variety of speakers.

Submit your Short Talk session as a “’60-Minute Short Talk” and add “Short Talk” to your session title. Provide a few specific examples of five-minute sessions that you plan to present. You do not need to include all individual Short Talk titles or names of possible presenters at this point.

Notification emails will be sent to educational session submitters in late August. If your Short Talks session is accepted by the ADEA Annual Session Program Committee, you will need to finalize your speakers and individual presentation titles by Dec 1. All presenters must be sent via email to Program Submissions at programsubmissions@adea.org before Dec. 1, 2026, if not entered by June 1, 2026. Instructions will be provided to all accepted Short Talk session submitters.

Short Talk Submission and Presentation Guidelines (PDF)

Rubric: Education Sessions Rubric (PDF)

Format: New Idea Session (Educational Session)

Duration: 20 minutes

Number of speakers: One

Room set: In Exhibit Hall

AV package: Standard

• One LCD projector and stand
• One laptop computer
• One large screen (16:9 screen size)
• Lectern with microphone
• Head table with microphones.

Learning Experience: Piques participants’ interest and introduces unique, unusual or innovative ideas.

Scope: Presenter explores a newly formed idea with the audience. The selection committee seeks ideas and concepts that elicit a “wow factor” from the audience.

Audience Interaction: These sessions will be held in the Exhibit Hall so that participants can enjoy one or two short sessions.

Rubric: New Idea Sessions Rubric (PDF)

Preparing Corporate Council submissions:

All submissions must comply with ADA CERP guidelines to avoid promotional or commercial conflicts of interest. When preparing your submission, please keep the following requirements in mind:

• The educational session should promote improvements in dental care, dental education or research and not a specific drug, device, service or technique of a commercial entity.
• The educational session must not include any logos or promotional materials for any company and/or any products.
• Use generic, nonbranded names when referring to services or products (e.g., tablet instead of iPad, fluoride varnish instead of XYZ Brand).
• You may not engage in sales or promotional activities while conducting this educational session or in the educational space within 30 minutes before or after the session.

Below are more details about the presentation format provided at the conference:

Format: Seminar (Educational Session)

Duration: 60 minutes

Number of speakers: Maximum of two plus one moderator

Room set: Theater style

AV package: Standard

• One LCD projector and stand;
• One laptop computer;
• One large screen (16:9 screen size);
• Lectern with microphone; and
• Head table with microphones.

Learning Experience: The session addresses one critical issue, technique or model in a clear and concise manner that is easy for the audience to understand. The educational session should promote improvements in dental care or dental education and not a specific drug, device, service or technique of a commercial entity.

Scope: This seminar may present the topic with a broad overview or focus on no more than three aspects of the topic. It should not attempt to cover “A to Z” for any subject.

Audience Interaction: At least 15 minutes, interspersed during the program, are dedicated to interaction with the participants such as think-pair-share, audience polling and Q&A.

Rubric: Corporate Council Session Rubric

Format: Poster (See poster format descriptions below)

Duration: Time assigned (usually 2 hours)

Number of presenters: One presenter is recommended; all presenters must be registered attendees. There is no limit on the number of poster authors.

Room set: Four feet tall x eight feet wide poster board in the Exhibit Hall

AV package: Poster board easels and thumbtacks or pushpins are provided; no AV equipment is provided.

Educational Research Posters: Presentations address problems or issues in dental or allied dental education. Topics accepted for this category typically include admissions, alumni/student demographics, clinical research, educational research, teaching methodologies, new technologies, instructional systems, evaluation, clinic administration, information systems, communication systems, health services, quality assurance and faculty development.

Rubric: Educational Poster Rubric (PDF)

Student Poster Competition: ADEA holds a competition for student posters at each ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition. To be eligible, a student must be the primary author and presenter. Students must be full-time in a predoctoral or allied dental program and cannot be enrolled in a specialty program and may not hold any faculty position. Student posters are evaluated by volunteer faculty judges using a standardized grading rubric. Posters should summarize original scholarly work undertaken by the student doctor. Narrative, scoping, &nbvand systematic reviews are not qualified for consideration in this competition.

Each student may only enter ONE submission into the student poster competition per year. Posters accepted for the Student Poster Competition MUST be led and presented by the student listed as first author. In case of an emergency, another co-author may present, however the poster will not be judged for the student poster competition. Posters not led by a student as described above will be disqualified. During the competition, the presenter is required to stay near his/her/their poster for the duration of the presentation time. Failure to do so will result in the poster not being judged.

Preparing poster abstracts

In addition to the guidance provided on our Call for Programs page, please keep the following guidelines in mind: 

• Authors: One author should be identified as the poster presenter.
• Abstract Text: All poster abstracts should be 300 words or less. If the abstract is based on research that was funded entirely or partially by an outside source, please be sure to list the funding agency and grant number at the end of the text. 
• Abstract Content: All abstracts MUST contain the following section headings:
1. Objectives
2. Methods
3. Results
4. Conclusion
• Learning Domain: Each poster proposal must include an ADEA Annual Session Learning Domain based on the abstract’s content. An abstract’s Learning Domain determines the group of peer reviewers who will evaluate it, as well as the grouping of posters onsite at Annual Session. Authors must select one of the 10 Learning Domains listed on our Call for Programs page

• Institutional Review Board (IRB): When prompted, the authors should identify IRB status by listing if their submission involves human subject research and therefore needs IRB approval, or if their submission is purely conceptual and does not need IRB approval. Submissions for research projects involving human subjects that are not IRB-approved or carry a status of “pending” shall be deemed ineligible for consideration.

To ensure poster and education session submissions comply with federal regulations requiring that research projects involving human subjects be reviewed by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), ADEA requires that all such submissions carry an IRB-approved or IRB-exempt status. ADEA requires IRB numbers to be provided for applicable poster submissions. For IRB-exempt submissions, authors are required to affirm that their submission meets their institution’s requirements for IRB-exemption. Submissions for research projects involving human subjects that are not IRB-approved or carry a status of “pending” shall be deemed ineligible for consideration. IRB-approved submissions that fail to include the IRB number or IRB-exempt submissions without affirmation of meeting institutional policies on IRB-exemption will not be reviewed or accepted by ADEA.

For details on IRB requirements, please consult your institution’s guidelines.

Format: ADEA TechExpo

Duration: Time assigned (usually 2 hours)

Number of speakers: One or more

Room set: Individual table spaces (2' x 4') in the Exhibit Hall; each table area will have a sign listing the title of the presentation.

AV package: Electrical outlets, monitor, computer and Internet connectivity.

Learning Experience: Interactive.

Scope: Tabletop demonstrations or presentations of software and hardware; the ADEA TechExpo format does not support poster presentations.

Audience Interaction: ADEA TechExpos take place in one-on-one or small group settings that promote open exchange of ideas between presenters and participants.

Rubric: ADEA TechExpo Rubric (PDF)

The American Dental Education Association is an ADA CERP recognized provider.

ADA CERP is a service of the American Dental Association to assist dental professionals in identifying quality providers of continuing dental education. ADA CERP does not approve or endorse individual courses or instructors, nor does it imply acceptance of credit hours by boards of dentistry. Concerns or complaints about a continuing education (CE) provider may be directed to the provider or to the Commission for Continuing Education Provider Recognition at CCEPR.ada.org.

ADEA will announce the maximum number of continuing education credit available by early January 2027.

ADEA promotes peer-reviewed content supported by scientific principles or methods that can be substantiated with scientific literature that is current, relevant and part of the curriculum of an accredited U.S. or Canadian dental education program. Such literature should also employ components of evidence-based dentistry. ADEA also mandates that educational content present a balanced view of therapeutic options and that generic names—not specific drugs, devices, services, commercial entities and logos, or a commercial entity’s techniques—be used. Content and images and other media within this presentation must be used with permission, comply with applicable copyright and trademark law, have not been falsified and do not mispresent the outcome of any treatment provided and all images must comply with HIPAA, OSHA, PPE and other relevant regulations and standards.

The viewpoints expressed by guest(s), speaker(s), facilitator(s) and presenter(s) are purely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their employer or any organization or group with whom they may be affiliated. Expressed viewpoints and opinions by speaker(s), presenter(s), guest(s) and facilitator(s) are also not those of ADEA, ADEA staff or the ADEA Board of Directors. The mention of any product, service, organization, activity or therapy should not be construed as an endorsement by ADEA.