Christian Léger, JSM 2018 Program Chair

In 2018, one of the largest statistical events in the world will take place in Canada. The 2018 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from July 28 to August 2. The theme for the meeting is “#LeadWithStatistics,” promoting the idea that using statistics in the right way will improve any leaders’ chances of success, including the new generation of statisticians and data scientists who will become the future leaders of our field.

Thanks to your efforts and those of the JSM 2018 Program Committee, the invited program is almost complete. The 181 invited sessions will cover a wide spectrum of applied and theoretical topics to address spatiotemporal, multi-omics, and various other types of complex data via Bayesian, nonparametric, machine learning, or many other types of statistical methodology with applications to medicine, government, sports, and other areas. It will also feature a number of sessions about important policy issues relevant to our profession.

The process leading to the selection of the 181 invited sessions was competitive, with many good sessions having to be left out (fewer than half the proposals could be accepted). But there are still many ways in which you can get on the JSM 2018 program.

Speed Sessions

A speed presentation is a four-minute oral presentation advertising an electronic poster (e-poster) that will be presented in a later session. A speed session consists of 20 oral presentations with a five-minute break after the first set of 10 talks.

The idea is that the oral presentation hits the main point of the work to pique interest, and then the e-poster—lasting 45 minutes—provides an opportunity to present details customized to the interests and backgrounds of the viewers.

The best speed session presentations do not try to squeeze too much information into the four-minute oral presentation, but just enough to give the big picture and attract viewers to the e-posters.

Speakers are invited to use their creativity to get their message across by using the greater flexibility offered by the electronic nature of the presentation, such as video files and software demonstrations. In fact, it is not a good idea to prepare a “regular” poster, given that the e-poster is shown on a screen, rather than a large poster board. It also frees you from the hassle and cost associated with printing or transporting a poster.

When you submit your contributed abstract, simply select “Speed” as the sub-type.

Poster Sessions

In many fields, the main way to present research is through a poster. Statisticians should consider presenting a poster at JSM. It allows face-to-face extended discussion with individuals or small groups interested in the topic, providing researchers with more direct feedback than is typically possible with a contributed paper talk. I strongly encourage you to consider this format.

Contributed Sessions

Contributed paper sessions consist of seven papers with 15 minutes of presentation time for each, including the introduction of the speaker and questions. Although this is still the preferred way to present research for many JSM participants (nearly half of JSM sessions are contributed sessions), the short duration of the talks, relative difficulty interacting with the audience, and large number of parallel sessions should lead many researchers to consider trying a speed session or poster session.

Topic-Contributed Sessions

For the previous modes of presentation, a participant simply submits a title and abstract by the deadline (see below) and several presentations are put together into cohesive sessions by the JSM 2018 Program Committee. But if you can put together five speakers on a common theme—either five papers or four papers with one discussant—then you can submit a proposal for a topic-contributed session.

Topic-contributed sessions are allocated on a competitive basis, however, and each ASA section, committee, interest group, or partner society (ENAR, WNAR, IMS, SSC, ICSA, IISA, KISS, ISBA, RSS, or ISI) has a limited number of them. So, before submitting a proposal to a section or society, organizers are invited to get in touch with their JSM 2018 Program Committee members to let them know of their interest.

Because of the selection process, topic-contributed sessions are often more cohesive than regular contributed paper sessions and feature high-quality papers. The advantage is that each speaker has 20 minutes of presentation time, instead of 15 minutes. Organizers must select a theme, invite five speakers, and ensure speakers’ commitments prior to the submission deadline of January 11, 2018.

Abstract Submission

The online abstract submission system will close February 1, 2018. This deadline is firm, so please submit your title and abstract ahead of time. To ensure a well-organized program, speakers must register for JSM when they submit their abstracts. Whether you submit an abstract for a speed session, poster session, or contributed session, you have to provide the choice of the ASA section or JSM partner society most closely associated with the topic of your paper (topic-contributed sessions will have been selected by a section or society). The system will be reopened for abstract editing from March 29 to April 18, 2018.

Session Chairs

All JSM sessions require a chair to ensure speakers are well informed about the session in advance, introduce speakers, and manage time for each speaker. Chairing a session is a great way to get involved with JSM and network with other professionals in your field. I especially encourage people who are new to the profession to consider chairing sessions by volunteering to the program committee members of their section or society.

Finally, I hope you will participate in JSM 2018 at the beautiful Vancouver Convention Centre. Its success depends on your involvement. I am glad to receive any feedback at leger@dms.umontreal.ca.