2025 Annual Conference
Call for Presentations
Do you have broad experience as a presenter (working with and speaking to diverse audiences)? Is your content fresh and highly relevant to cheese industry professionals or enthusiasts? Would your audiences describe you as a dynamic presenter? If you answered “yes” to all these questions, then you meet ACS’s qualifications—and we encourage you to submit a proposal for a conference presentation next year, in 2025!
For webinar proposals, please email info@cheesesociety.org with your topic and ideas.
CALL FOR CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Call for Presentations will open in mid-October.
Deadline to submit is January 9, 2025.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATION GUIDELINES
- Panels should not consist of more than three speakers and one moderator (four participants total).
- Most ACS sessions are 60 minutes long. We have very limited availability for longer sessions that are 75-90 minutes long.
- Presentations are submitted with the understanding that these are volunteer presenter roles. As a presenter, you agree to take on the expense of your travel, if required for your presentation.
- Presenters do receive benefits for speaking at the ACS conference: including either a complimentary day pass or 50% off full conference registration plus one (1) hotel room night at one of the conference hotels
- Presentations will have a max of 220 attendees in each session, both presentations and tasting sessions. All Presentations will be expected to have a maximum capacity of 220 attendees. If you wish to propose a smaller presentation, you must include your smaller attendee number request in your presentation proposal.
TARGET PROFILE
The Target Profile of a conference session is as follows:
- Topic is timely, original, and data-driven.
- Presentation format is engaging and interactive.
- Content has useful post-conference application.
These components represent the building blocks of successful seminars and are among the primary criteria used by the Education Committee in the evaluation of session proposals. If you would like to submit a proposal, please look to the Target Profile as a reference point.
Based on feedback from our conference surveys and guidance from the Board of Directors, the Education Committee has identified a number of potential session topics to generate ideas. This list is intended to spark ideas but is not all-inclusive. If you have an idea that you think would be of interest to the ACS Conference attendees, please submit it or reach out to us to discuss.
Conference Session Proposal Ideas
- Applied Advancements in Dairy Science & Academia
- Food Service/Retail applications for Cheese (beyond cut-and-wrap)
- Bloomy Rinds
- International Cheesemakers’ Perspectives
- Small Ruminants – Animal Husbandry & Cheese Production
- Animal Agriculture’s Relation to Climate Change & Sustainability
- Inclusivity and DEI in workplace
- Strategies for Consumer Marketing
- Consumer analytics; how to find, collect and use.
- Growing retail customer base
These are jumping off points - we welcome all presentation ideas! These are meant to inspire.
THE EVALUATION PROCESS
Members of the Education Committee evaluate all proposed sessions based on the following criteria:
- well-defined focus within the core concepts listed below
- overall quality
- relevance to the industry
- practical application of material
- timeliness of the topic
- format is engaging and interactive
- speaker qualifications
- your program must be educational in nature—sales presentations will not be accepted
- material should be original: otherwise, sources must be referenced. For sessions with multiple speakers, each speaker must agree to this submission.
Incomplete programs will not be considered.
IMPORTANT DEADLINES
- January 9, 2025: Deadline to submit your proposal
- February 10, 2025: Informed if your presentation proposal has been accepted
- February 24, 2024: Presenter required to confirm participation at conference
- March 3, 2024: Informed if your presentation proposal was not accepted