The meeting is open to all persons; every author (talks or posters) must submit an abstract by the posted deadline. We solicit your help in calling this meeting to the attention of colleagues and students who are not members but are interested in attending and presenting their research.

ANAS members receive a discount on their registration fee for the annual meeting. Please view our membership information if you are interested in joining. There are many other benefits of membership as well.

Pre-registration includes morning coffee break, luncheon, and printed copy of Proceedings and free admission to the museum for the day.

A printed schedule of events will also be available at check-in.

Downloadable .pdf abbreviated schedule.

A title and abstract must be submitted for each talk or poster to be presented at the meeting. Abstracts will be published in the Proceedings issue of the Journal of the Arizona-Nevada of Science exactly in the form and condition submitted by the author. Please read the following instructions carefully before preparing your abstracts. Refer to the Sample Abstract for the proper format.

A good poster is uncluttered and clear in design. It has legible text and logical organization. The main tenet of a good poster design is simplification. Use a crisp, clean design and a strong title. Do not tell the entire research history; present only enough data to support your conclusions and show the originality of the work.

The text material should be reduced to convey your points quickly and clearly. Remember “a picture is worth a thousand words” -- use graphs and figures instead of text to display information where possible. People will only be able to spend a few minutes with you so make sure the “take home message’ comes across. The most successful posters display a succinct statement of major conclusions at the beginning, followed by supporting text in later segments, and a brief summary at the end.

1. Most people lay their poster out in Powerpoint, Google slides or Photoshop. Final dimensions of the poster should be no more than 4 feet wide x 3 feet in height (landscape layout). You may want to look at examples presented at other meetings. Allow plenty of time so your poster (and the research on which it is based) is something you are proud of.
2. Print your poster. Most retail copy centers can do large format printing. You will need to check with them as to the lead time required. You may apply for reimbursement of poster printing costs (up to $ 50 max). Deadline for that application is April 13th. Receipts may be submitted after the meeting.
3. The top of the poster should consist of an easy-to-read title along with the author(s) name(s) and affiliated institution . The title lettering should be about 2" to 3" (5 cm to 7.5 cm) with subheadings 1/2" to 1" high (1.25 cm to 2.5 cm).
4. All lettering should be legible from 5 feet (1.5m) away. The minimum type size for text should be no less than 18 points, but 24 points (1/4", 0.625 cm) is preferable.
5. The component parts should be organized in a way that leads the viewer through the display.
6. Leave some open space in the design.
7. Use elements of different sizes and proportions. Convert tabular material to graphic display, if possible.
8. A larger and bright center of interest can draw the eye to the most important aspect of the poster. Use color to add emphasis and clarity.
9. Make illustrations simple and bold. Choose clear photos that print well. Enlarge them sufficiently to show pertinent details clearly.
10. Displayed materials should be self-explanatory, freeing you for discussion with interested attendees.
11. No demonstration experiments or three-dimensional displays are allowed in a poster session.
12. Plan to dress professionally. Bring mounting supplies (see below).

Details are being finalized and will be available soon. Please check back. A printed schedule of events will also be available at check-in.

A good presentation concisely summarizes your research by discussing your hypothesis and methods, presenting your findings and data analysis, and presenting your conclusions relative to your hypothesis. The talk should provide some context for the study in terms of the broader discipline, working assumptions and/or literature review. Remember that your audience is made of scientists with a wide variety of backgrounds. Try to explain the work in such a way that it is understandable to this more general sort of audience. For example, don’t assume that “lingo” commonly used in your specialty is understood by all.

1. Please use Power Point or Google slides for your presentation. Bring them with you to the meeting on a jump/thumb drive. Be sure you have some sort of a back-up copy with you.
2. Your presentation will be allotted 15 minutes in the schedule ( ~ 13 minutes for your talk with 2 minutes for questions from the audience). Typically talks of this length have about 10-12 slides.
3. As a general rule, you should have a title slide (listing co-authors and your institutional affiliations), 2-3 slides providing some context for your research and describing its experimental design, 5-6 slides of results and data analysis, and then 2-3 slides of wrap up and acknowledgements.
4. Each slide should be clear with words kept to a minimum and should be legible without being busy. Don’t try to cram too much on a single slide. Make sure someone sitting at the back of a classroom can see them easily.
5. Don’t memorize your presentation. Use your slides to prompt your speaking, but don’t simply read the slides to your audience. You have an exciting “story” to tell, so convey that to the audience.
6. Practice your talk. Make sure it fits within the time allotted. Get feedback from others. You will likely still be nervous at the meeting, but preparation will help make the presentation go more smoothly.
7. Plan to dress professionally.

Details are being finalized and will be available soon. Please check back. A printed schedule of events will also be available at check-in.

Awards are presented to those student talks and posters judged to be most effective. If you are a student first author and the presenter, please be sure your abstract's title is marked with a leading asterisk so your work is considered in this competition.

Undergraduate or gradate students wishing to participate in the Best Student Presentation competition must follow all the directions above for "Instructions to Authors" as well as meet the requirements below:

1. Place an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the title of the abstract.
2. Abstracts to be considered for this award may be co-authored by the student and their major professor. The student MUST, however, be listed as the first author, and their name underlined to indicate they are the presenter.
3. Entrants not meeting ALL of these requirements will be not be considered for the award.

Student presenters traveling from outside the metro Phoenix area can apply for funds to help reimburse their travel expenses. Students may also apply for reimbursement of poster printing costs.

Student authors of posters for the annual meeting can also apply to have the printing costs of their posters reimbursed, up to $50.00.