Meeting/Event Information
2027 VATA Annual Meeting & Symposium
January 08, 2027 - January 10, 2027
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Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center
901 Prices Fork Road
Blacksburg, VA 24061
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Guidelines for Proposal Submission
The Call for Proposals for the 2027 VATA Annual Meeting is now closed. We look forward to seeing you in January!
If you have any questions regarding submission or presentation requirements, please contact Meghan Shifflett at [email protected].
Important guidelines
Please read through all requirements below before submitting your proposal to ensure your submission is completely filled out. All presentations should be based on best practice/evidence.
Proposals should be submitted following the NATA Guidelines. Please note that compensation from VATA is NOT the same as NATA and will be discussed if your proposal is accepted.
The VATA reserves the right to make any changes including, but not limited to, length of presentation.
The proposal submission form linked after the requirements below has been designed to gather information to ensure that VATA meets the Approved Provider Standards designed by the Board of Certification (subject to change to keep in line with current BOC standards). For more information: https://bocatc.org/approved-providers/
Deadline
Proposals must be submitted no later than September 13, 2026. Decisions on submissions will be made by late September. Incomplete (e.g., missing speaker CV) and/or late proposals will NOT be accepted.
Accepted Presentation Types
- Feature Presentation - Podium presentation including time for audience questions. This is for those who were personally invited to submit a proposal for a talk or to talk at the annual meeting.
- Lecture - Presentation and audience participation.
- Learning Labs - Hands on practice/application of skills. If you were personally invited to submit a proposal for a learning lab, please select this option.
- If you are submitting a learning lab, you will be asked if you are willing to present multiple (2-3) offerings of your lab as well as the capacity for your lab (typically no more than 20-30 per session)
Submission details
Have the following information available as you will need the following to complete the proposal submission process:
- Speaker Information (required for each speaker):
- Name & Credentials (Please reference the NATA Guidelines on Listing and Abbreviating Degrees, Licenses and Credentials)
- Title or position of speaker
- Affiliation (or place of employment)
- Contact information: email, phone, address
- NATA/VATA Membership Status (Member or Non-member)
- CV/Resume to upload
- Biography
- Conflict of Interest Disclosure
- Title of Session
- Presentation Length
- Abstract (Limited to 500 Characters)
- Domain
- Proposal topics must fall within one of the five domains of practice for athletic training. Please reference the Practice Analysis, 8th Edition to help determine which domain your submission falls under:
- Domain I: Risk Reduction, Wellness and Health Literacy
- Domain II: Assessment, Evaluation and Diagnosis
- Domain III: Critical Incident Management
- Domain IV: Therapeutic Intervention
- Domain V: Healthcare Administration and Professional Responsibility
- Proposal topics must fall within one of the five domains of practice for athletic training. Please reference the Practice Analysis, 8th Edition to help determine which domain your submission falls under:
- Level of Presentation:
- Essential - Includes core theory, concepts, and applications.
- Advanced - Includes in-depth theory, concepts, and applications of information and/or techniques beyond the Essential Level.
- Mastery - Includes the highest level of theory, concepts, and applications of knowledge or technique within a specific area.
- Learning Objectives
- Three to five learning objectives for the session:
- Objectives should follow best practices using Bloom’s Taxonomy Action Verbs.
- Avoid "understand" and "appreciate."
- Start directly with a Bloom’s verb. DO NOT start objectives with “Following this session, participants will be able to…”
- Three to five learning objectives for the session:
- Practice Gap
- Identify the professional practice gap and/or educational need the content addresses. This explains the observed practice and what the practice should be. This is supported by the literature. The Gap should answer all of the following:
- What isn’t the AT doing that they should be doing?
- What doesn’t the AT know that this program will provide them?
- What is the patient’s unmet need?*If each bullet point is not addressed, practice gap is non-compliant.
If each bullet point is not addressed, the practice gap is non-compliant.
- Identify the professional practice gap and/or educational need the content addresses. This explains the observed practice and what the practice should be. This is supported by the literature. The Gap should answer all of the following:
- Clinical Bottom Line
- Provide a three to four sentence summary of the evidence that identifies the clinical recommendations outlined in the learning objectives.
