2024 Call for Abstracts

AESP’s Annual Conference is the preeminent event for AESP members, attracting close to 1,000 energy professionals from across North America. As a speaker, you will have the opportunity to:

• Increase your organization’s image and visibility
• Position yourself as a leading expert
• Grow your professional network, connect with peers, and make new contacts
• Contribute your expertise to this rapidly changing industry
• Gain knowledge from others in your session and at the full event
• Enjoy the sights, sounds, and tastes of San Antonio
• Receive a highly discounted registration rate for the full conference

Submittal Requirements:   

• Presentation title  
• Preferred session format  (presentation, discussion, or learning lab) 
• Topic category  
• Presentation descriptions (shortened version for the conference agenda, and then an expanded version for the abstract judges to review)  
• Three (3) learning objectives  
• Speaker information, including a bio and optional resume   

Our goal is to meet the needs of differently-abled people throughout the abstract submission and agenda creation processes and to make the final on-site content fully accessible. Please contact Jenny Senff at [email protected] for assistance in making the process and content accessible. 

Submittal Guidelines: 

• Complete your submission by the deadline – abstracts received after June 1 will not be considered. Submit early to avoid heavy traffic at the deadline! 
• Explain why your abstract topic is relevant, innovative, and important to the AESP audience 
• The presentation and/or content has not been offered at a previous AESP conference or large industry event 
• The presentation and/or content should showcase the latest innovations, best practices, and trends impacting the industry. New or unrefined concepts or lessons learned from other industries may be considered 
• The suggested speakers/panelists should be considered experts on the proposed topic and experienced public speakers 
• An abstract that appears to be selling a product or service will not be accepted 
• While AESP does not limit the number of abstracts submitted by a company, the program planning committee does limit each company to three (3) accepted presenters throughout the conference agenda, to ensure a wide representation of organizations and perspectives 
• Please note that preference may be given when utilities are part of the presentation

Similar to the communities served by utilities and the energy industry across North America, AESP is made up of clean energy professionals that represent different races, ethnicities, genders, gender identities, geographic backgrounds, sexual orientations, educational backgrounds, vocations, ages, abilities, career stages, socioeconomic backgrounds… and more. As you submit your abstract, we encourage you to be inclusive in your selection of presenters to reflect the diversity that contributed to the information you intend to share. AESP believes that human diversity should be celebrated, respected, and represented in every way.   

The following session formats may be featured at AESP’s Annual Conference:  

Presentation Sessions: Speakers may submit as individual presenters and will be combined into a moderated session. An accepted presentation speaker will be part of a session that includes 3 to 4 total presentations (10-15 minutes each), based on similar topics. All presentations should provide clear takeaways and learning objectives that are summarized in the submission. Typically, presentations are conducted by one subject matter expert, but up to two speakers may be submitted. Please note that the two speakers MUST be from different organizations, and there is a preference for at least one utility representative. Speakers typically show slides, videos, or similar visual content to support their presentation. 

Discussion Sessions: Discussion sessions will foster and stimulate discussion and debate between the panelists and the audience, with a moderator keeping the panel on topic and providing questions to facilitate discussion. Discussion sessions typically include a moderator and 3 to 4 panelists and may choose to use slides as references, but should mainly be discussion-based. Speakers interested in being a part of a discussion session may submit themselves and their topic of interest to be combined with other speakers or may submit a full panel of recommended speakers and moderators. If multiple panelists and moderators are submitted, they MUST be from different organizations. 

Learning Labs: Similar to a workshop, this format is meant to be highly engaging and emphasizes participant interaction. Learning labs are facilitated experiences that immerse attendees in interactive discussions and exercises. These are generally smaller to ensure that every person in the room can engage with the facilitator(s) and get the most out of the experience.   

First Step: Judging by Topic Committee Representatives 

A distinguished panel of AESP Topic Committee judges, who are energy professionals with subject matter expertise, will review and score abstracts submitted in their area. Judging is completed in a fair and objective process. Judges are bound by confidentiality and are required to declare any conflict of interest in entries over which they deliberate, in which case they will recuse themselves. 

Abstracts are scored on a 1 (low) – 5 (high) scale on the following criteria: 

• Innovation, to ensure that the topic is unique and new to the AESP community. 
• Relevance and Impact to conference attendees and AESP membership.  
• Speaker’s Qualifications, to ensure the presentation is high quality.
• Overall Impression, including the strength of abstract writing, clear direction, and cohesion. 

The judges will also apply their own experience to assess the quality of the abstract. After initial judging, each Topic Committee team participates in a virtual meeting to review scores and abstracts. All graded abstracts are then sent on for review by the Program Planning Committee. 

Second Step: Final Selection by Planning Committee 

Between 25-30 experts in the industry are invited to participate in the Program Planning Committee. These individuals are selected based on their subject matter knowledge. AESP also ensures a strong mix of utility representation, board representation, geographic representation, and diversity of Planning Committee members.  

The Planning Committee members first review all abstracts, along with their scores and comments that have been passed on by the Topic Committee judging teams. From there, a highly collaborative planning session takes place, where Planning Committee members select the final abstracts to be included as part of the agenda. If a topic area is missing, AESP may curate some content to balance out the remaining agenda. 

The AESP Program Planning Committee reserves the right to:

• Build unique sessions based on ideas presented in the abstracts. For example, an abstract submitted as an individual presentation for a presentation session may be modified and incorporated into a multiple-speaker panel on the same subject. Abstract authors and proposed speakers will be allowed to accept or reject the reconfiguration of their abstract. 
• Accept no more than three (3) presenters from the same organization. The Committee’s goal is to provide diverse opinions, speakers, and organizations on the program agenda. 
• Reserve session slots for hot topics, late-breaking industry news, and/or invited speakers. 
• Curate sessions to fill content gaps not addressed by abstract submissions.  
  

Panelist, Speaker, and Moderator Requirements:

• All speakers must have superior public speaking, presentation, and / or training skills.  
• All speakers will be required to use an AESP template if using PowerPoint slides. 
• All speakers identified in abstract submissions must confirm their availability to travel and present, prior to submittal. 
• All speakers must register for the conference unless attending only their session. AESP sincerely appreciates our speakers’ efforts in developing and delivering exceptional presentations, but unfortunately AESP is not able to pay speaker fees or travel / lodging expenses. AESP does, however, offer speakers a significant conference registration discount.