Presentations play a key role in many professional events, and you must have a system to select which speakers and topics you want to feature. That’s where abstract management comes into play. 

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Abstract management is the process of evaluating presentation topic ideas or academic papers and choosing which ones are best for your association’s event. This entire abstract management process ensures that presentations align with your goals.

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Many elements contribute to this process, such as:

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• Ensuring topics align with your event’s theme and the organization’s message. 
• Selecting presentation topics that feel cohesive with one another. 
• Assessing the validity of claims in academic papers or professional recommendations. 
• Determining how many presentations you need throughout the duration of your event agenda. 
• Organizing the submission and review process to make submissions easy to evaluate. 

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The number of submissions you get will usually depend on the size of your event and your association’s reach. To give you a benchmark, smaller conferences typically get 30-50 submissions or fewer, and larger conferences often get up to 50+ submissions.  

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No matter the size and number of submissions, it’s essential to have an established peer review process to reduce stress and ensure no submissions go overlooked. Leveraging abstract management software can help organize everything in one place.

Abstract management software is a digital solution that helps collect, manage, and review abstracts for events and conferences. It provides a centralized place where your team can access and organize all the information for a simplified review process. 

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Some key things that abstract software helps with are:

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• It makes it easier for prospective speakers to submit ideas. An abstract management system will help you create accessible online forms that you can easily share with prospective speakers and will walk them through how to submit all the information you need to know.  
• Associations can set up review teams. You can establish and add your entire review team in one place. That way, they can communicate, mark off which submissions they’ve reviewed, and contribute systemized assessments. 
• It helps create and manage deadlines. This ensures that everyone stays aligned and on track, clearly understanding what needs to be done and when. When your event date is scheduled, you must have key deadlines at each step of the way, such as when abstracts must be submitted, when team members should complete initial reviews, and when final decisions will be made.
• Your reviewers can provide feedback. Reviewers may have questions for prospective speakers, need more information, or want to add feedback. The software should allow quick and easy communication to add those extra details. 

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Choosing an abstract management solution with the right features will make the submission and review process much smoother for effective decision-making.

Some key features to look for in an abstract management software are:

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A Customizable Design and Submission Process

Abstract management shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all system. Instead, you should be able to customize it based on your organization’s needs. That includes:

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• Branding: The software should allow you to add branding elements to the forms, like organization logos or customizable colors. Branding will help make a professional first impression when potential speakers see your forms and consider submitting an idea. 
• Forms and file formats: You should be able to adjust forms based on your event’s needs and allow potential speakers to submit file formats that work best for you. For example, some organizations may ask speakers to submit a quick MP4 video introducing themselves, whereas others prefer a simple PDF. 
• Revisions and updates: Your submission needs could change as you get deeper into the decision-making process. For instance, you may notice each submission is missing important information you’d like to have, so your software should allow you to go back and add an extra question box to your existing form. 

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Automated Notification System

As mentioned earlier, managing deadlines is crucial during the submission and review phase. However, whether it’s a potential speaker preparing their submission or a reviewer on your team, anyone can mix up deadlines when they’re busy. 

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That’s why having abstract management software with automated notifications can make a big difference. It should let you input each deadline, assign the appropriate recipients, and customize when and how reminders are sent.

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This eliminates the need for conference organizers or event planners to manually chase down updates or risk missed deadlines, saving time, reducing stress, and keeping the entire process on track.

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Review Management

Associations collecting submissions will want to ensure a thorough, fair, and organized review process at each step of the way. 

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Your abstract management system should have review management features that help, such as: 

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• Assigning reviewers
• Managing assignments
• Tracking reviewer feedback

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A clear and trackable overview of the review process helps organizations adjust as needed and ensure effective decision-making. 

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Reporting and Analytics

Associations collecting submissions need a review process that is thorough, fair, and well-organized from start to finish. An effective abstract management system should include robust review management features, such as:

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• How many total submissions you’ve received
• How many reviews have been completed
• The overall grade reviewers gave each submission

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With a clear, trackable overview of the entire process, associations can make informed adjustments as needed and ensure timely, confident decision-making.

When looking for the ideal abstract management software, it’s important to pay attention to the specific industries they cater to. For instance, some may work better for large corporate events, whereas others are better for associations and nonprofits. Here’s a quick breakdown of some top choices by industry. 

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Corporate

Many abstract management software options offer highly customizable submission and review processes, enabling teams to adjust forms, send automated alerts, and analyze specific data. 

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However, some organizations might find the extensive setup process overwhelming if they don't require such detailed configurations.

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Academic Conferences and Journals

Some platforms are favored for abstract and paper management in academic settings, thanks to their specialized tools for paper submissions, author management, peer reviews and speaker management. These features are particularly beneficial for academic conferences and journals.

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Scientific Researchers

Certain platforms are designed by researchers for scientific research institutions to facilitate effective paper submissions and peer reviews. While excellent for scientific formats, they may not accommodate other submission types as effectively.

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Associations and Nonprofits

Eventscribe’s Abstract Management solution is built for associations. Its user friendly and intuitive interface makes it easy to add and manage review teams and volunteers while setting up customizable forms that feel on-brand for you. 

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It has many of the essential features discussed throughout this article, such as customizable forms, data tracking and analytics, review management, and automated notifications to create a well-rounded abstract management system. 

Many future trends are coming to abstract management software to provide better and more efficient event planning experiences. Some key trends to watch for are:

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Continuous Improvements in Automation

AI is making pre-screening systems more efficient. Pre-screening tools are getting better at evaluating submissions based on relevance and quality, so event organizers can focus review efforts on the abstracts that align with their needs. 

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On top of that, event management systems like our Evenscribe software from Cadmium already provide some essential automation features like automated notifications that help manage deadlines more efficiently. 

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Better User Experience

User experience matters—especially when it’s your first impression with potential speakers. A seamless, intuitive process can make the difference between a completed submission and a missed opportunity.

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Abstract management solutions are continuously working toward a better user experience, such as making platforms responsive on mobile devices, adding customizable forms, and making the setup and review process intuitive for internal team members. 

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Ensuring Ethical and Transparent Review Processes

Organizations in need of abstract management solutions are often concerned with minimizing bias and ensuring transparency in the review process. 

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Some key features that more software developers are adding for this are options for single and double-blind reviews and the ability to provide feedback to prospective presenters who submitted ideas. 

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Integration with Event Management Systems

Having a standalone abstract management software isn’t always the best fit since it can be hard to integrate it with your other software or unify your brand across platforms. That’s why there’s a growing trend of companies offering abstract management tools as part of a complete event management system (EMS). 

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When you choose Eventscribe, you get much more than just abstract management. You’ll receive a complete set of tools to help with all your event planning needs. It’s a much more efficient way to organize all your event planning stages in one place.

Eventscribe is an all-in-one event management system designed for associations and nonprofits. No matter which stage of the event planning journey you’re on, it has features that can help, including:

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• Abstract management for a customizable and efficient submission and review process
• Smooth logistics planning to manage rooms, sessions, and resources
• Transformative attendee engagement options before, during, and after the event
• A streamlined registration system for easy signup and information gathering
• Exhibitor and sponsor management to ensure those key stakeholders’ needs are met
• And more

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‍Click here to learn more about how Eventscribe can help through each stage of event planning and management.