How to Effectively Manage Every Abstract for Medical Conference Success

Managing an abstract for a medical conference is no small task. When thousands of abstracts flood in from researchers, clinicians, and industry experts, the process can quickly become unmanageable. 

We understand the frustration of manually sorting through hundreds (or thousands) of submissions. It can feel like an impossible task without the right tools in place.

Without the right systems in place, you’re left juggling spreadsheets, email threads, and scattered files.

In this article, we’ll show you how abstract management software can solve these problems. 

Simplifying submissions, organizing peer reviews, and ensuring data security make the process smoother and more efficient.

Seven Pain Points vs. Seven Fixes

The Submission Headaches Unique to Medical Events

1. Managing High Volume and Complex Submissions: Medical conferences often receive hundreds or even thousands of abstracts, each packed with intricate details such as CME (Continuing Medical Education) disclosures, author hierarchies, trial numbers, funding data, and learning objectives. Managing all this manually is a recipe for chaos. Spreadsheets break under pressure, duplicate entries creep in, and keeping versions in sync becomes a full-time job.

Disjointed submissions across multiple subspecialties add to the complexity, creating fragmented and inconsistent data that makes the organization even harder.

2. Handling Multiple File Formats: Submissions come in various formats beyond just Word documents and PDFs. You’ll receive large files like DICOM files, surgical videos, poster templates, and full datasets. 

These large file sizes choke inboxes, and incompatible formats stop reviewers in their tracks. A lack of a central system capable of accepting, validating, and organizing different file types leads to a navigational mess, and important content can easily slip through the cracks.

3. Coordinating with Multi-Reviewers: Specialty societies often assign three to five reviewers per abstract, while author details are masked to avoid bias. However, coordinating an abstract for medical conference in terms of who sees what, enforcing deadlines, and tracking feedback across multiple rounds becomes a nightmare without automation. 

Manual reviewer routing results in missed deadlines, duplicated effort, and lost feedback. Managing reviewer assignments across diverse subspecialties can further complicate this process, leading to inefficiencies and frustration.

4. Addressing Security and Compliance Requirements: Medical abstracts often contain unpublished clinical data and, in some cases, patient information. This means that HIPAA, GDPR, and even FDA guidelines apply. Shared folders and unsecured platforms can’t provide the necessary security measures such as encryption, access controls, and audit trails. 

The risk isn’t just reputational—it’s legal. Ensuring full compliance with privacy regulations while preventing exposure of sensitive data is crucial, and inadequate systems can expose organizations to serious legal risks.

5. Providing Real-Time Communication: Authors expect to know where their submission stands—whether it’s been received, reviewed, accepted, or rejected. When you’re juggling hundreds of submissions, manual email updates quickly fall behind. 

Without automated notifications, authors are left in the dark, leading to frustration and an overflow of status inquiries in inboxes. Real-time communication is essential for keeping authors informed and reducing manual workload.

6. Streamlining Program Conversion: Once reviews are complete and decisions are finalized, the real pressure begins. Staff must update the event agenda, populate the event app, prepare printed proceedings, and notify speakers, all often in just a few days. 

Copying and pasting abstract content into separate systems leads to errors and delays. If the abstract data isn’t directly linked to sessions through a connected platform, the last-minute scramble becomes inevitable, and the risk of mistakes skyrockets.

How an Abstract Management System Works

Managing medical event submissions can be overwhelming, especially with complex data, peer reviews, and multiple file formats. vFairs’ abstract management software is built to simplify this process and address the unique challenges of medical conferences.

1.Abstract Submission Form Creation

Creating an abstract submission form with vFairs is the first step in streamlining the submission process for your medical event.

Customization

Every medical conference has unique needs, and with vFairs, you can create forms tailored to your event. Whether you need fields for CME disclosures, clinical trial IDs, or patient consent forms, vFairs lets you collect exactly what’s necessary. 

Plus, you can set up multiple tracks for specialties like oncology, cardiology, and radiology, keeping things organized across medical fields.

Ease of Use

Submitting an abstract should be simple. With vFairs, authors can upload a variety of file types—PDFs, DICOM images, and even surgical videos easily in one go. The intuitive interface ensures a seamless experience, while real-time validation prevents errors and resubmissions.

2. Collecting Submissions via the Submitter Portal

Centralized Submission Portal

All submissions are collected in one place, making it easy for authors to track their status and for organizers to keep everything organized. Authors can update their submissions as needed, keeping everyone in the loop without any back-and-forth.

Automated Acknowledgement

Once an abstract is submitted, authors get an automatic confirmation email with a reference ID. This reduces your administrative workload and ensures authors have a clear record for things like visa applications or grant paperwork.

Customizable Workflow and Approval Process

vFairs allows you to create custom review workflows that align with your event’s needs. For example, oncology abstracts can go through an additional ethics review before being sent to the final panel. This ensures sensitive abstracts are carefully considered at each stage.

3.  Assigning Abstracts to Reviewers

Once abstracts are submitted, vFairs simplifies the process of assigning them to the right reviewers, ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow.

Efficient Reviewer Assignment

vFairs automatically assigns abstracts to the most qualified reviewers based on their specialties and conflict-of-interest flags. This ensures that each abstract is reviewed by the right expert, whether it’s a cardiologist or an oncologist, so your reviews are always unbiased and accurate. However, if preferred, organizers also have the option to manually assign reviewers, giving them more control over the process.

Reviewer Dashboard

Reviewers get a personalized dashboard where they can easily access abstracts, leave feedback, and score submissions, all in one place. With double-blind reviews built in, authors and reviewers stay anonymous, ensuring impartial evaluations.

4. Post-Review Communication

After reviews are completed, vFairs streamlines the feedback and decision process, ensuring clear communication with authors and keeping everything organized in one place.

Streamlined Feedback and Communication

Feedback is consolidated and can be sent directly to the authors with just a click. Everything stays within the system, eliminating the need for external tools or emails. This ensures a clear, unified record of all feedback, making it easy for authors to revise and resubmit.

Decision Notifications

Once decisions are made, authors are automatically notified about whether their abstract is accepted, rejected, or needs revisions. Timely notifications mean you’re always aligned with key event deadlines, like poster printing or speaker briefings, without having to follow up manually.

5. Security and Compliance

Handling sensitive medical data requires top-notch security. vFairs is ISO 27001 certified and fully GDPR-compliant, offering encrypted data storage and detailed access logs. 

Plus, regional hosting options are available to meet HIPAA requirements, ensuring that all data is securely handled, no matter the jurisdiction.

6. Analytics and Reporting

vFairs’ powerful analytics tools help you track key metrics, such as submission rates, acceptance rates, and reviewer turnaround times. This data empowers organizers to make data-driven decisions for future events. 

Additionally, CSV exports make reporting to institutional repositories or funding bodies simple, with no extra formatting or cleaning required.

7. Convert Accepted Abstracts into Sessions and Posters

Accepted abstracts for medical conferences are seamlessly integrated into virtual poster halls or mobile app sessions. vFairs offers a streamlined process for converting accepted abstracts into sessions and posters. 

Here’s how it works:

1. Confirm Selection: After reviewing all abstract submissions, you select the abstracts you want to convert into sessions or posters.
2. Field Mapping: Map the abstract details (like title, speaker names, and description) to session fields in the system. You can also upload any relevant handouts at this stage.
3. Time Setup: Optionally, you can add specific time slots for the sessions or adjust the duration to fit the event schedule.
4. Speaker Roles: Customize speaker roles, such as the main speaker, co-speakers, or moderators, with simple toggle options.
5. Review & Finalize: Review all the converted session details, ensuring everything is accurate before finalizing the conversion.
6. Session Listing: Once confirmed, the abstracts are fully converted into organized sessions, which are then viewable and manageable, including assigning speakers and scheduling.

This structured workflow simplifies abstract management, saving time and ensuring that each submission is accurately translated into a session or poster ready for the event.

Discover how vFairs’ abstract management can streamline your health tech conference processes from submission to publication.

How A Rural Drug Addiction Centre Used vFairs For Abstracts

A rural medical symposium hosted by a leading drug addiction center brought together healthcare professionals, researchers, and students to explore a range of pressing topics, spanning addiction treatment innovations, community-based interventions, and mental health integration in substance use care.

Although the event focused on knowledge-sharing and academic participation, it did not require advanced abstract management features. 

The reason? It was a targeted, community-focused symposium with a relatively limited number of expected submissions. The goal was to keep the process simple and accessible while maintaining professional standards.

Instead of deploying the full Abstract Management module, the organizing team leveraged vFairs’ customizable registration form builder to collect abstract submissions. Faculty, staff, and students were invited to submit their proposals through this additional form, designed directly within the vFairs platform.

The result?

A quick and efficient setup, perfectly aligned with the event’s scale and goals. This lightweight solution streamlined the submission process, made data collection hassle-free for organizers, and ensured participants could easily engage without navigating a complex portal. It’s a strong example of how flexible event tech can adapt to unique academic needs—even in niche or resource-conscious settings.

This approach aligned with the client’s minimal requirements and allowed for a quick and efficient setup. By using vFairs’ customizable form builder, the event team was able to streamline the submission process, ensuring a smooth experience for both participants and organizers without compromising on data quality or accessibility.

Implementation Tips for Healthcare Conference Planners

Streamline your healthcare conference planning process and maximize engagement with these proven tips:

1. Tie Form Fields to CME Outcomes: Capturing learning objectives early speeds up the accreditation process.
2. Choosing the Right Speakers: Selecting the right speakers is essential for setting the tone and credibility of your event. Focus on experts whose specialties align with the event’s themes and target audience. 
3. Pre-board Review Panels: Load reviewer bios early and let the auto-assignment engine handle the routing.
4. Leverage Draft-Reminder Emails: vFairs automatically reminds authors who saved but never submitted, increasing final submission rates.
5. Use Analytics to Tune Tracks: Identify under-represented subspecialties and target them for next year’s marketing.

By centralizing submissions, automating peer reviews, ensuring full compliance, and seamlessly integrating program conversion, vFairs helps organizers save time, minimize errors, and improve overall satisfaction.

Schedule your personalized demo today.

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