The AAFS Board of Directors and staff have been working diligently for months to ensure the 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting will be conducted. To date, we have confirmed a 100% virtual format, selected a virtual events platform provider (vFairs), confirmed pre-registration fees, and formatted a schedule that will maximize educational content while taking into consideration screen-time fatigue.

The educational portion of the meeting will be five days: February 15-19, 2021, U.S. Central Time zone. The format for most of the presentations will be pre-recorded with speaker text chat during the scheduled session. The Plenary Session, Keynote Session, and AAFS Annual Business Meeting will be live-recorded events. On-demand content will be available to registered attendees for three months.

A short demo of the vFairs platform may be viewed HERE. We are excited to announce the following information:

• Virtual Exhibit Hall (with booth personnel and text chat option) – Wednesday (Feb 17), Thursday (Feb 18), and Friday (Feb 19).
• Workshops (up to 24, four-hour workshops) – Monday (Feb 15) and Tuesday (Feb 16). Presenters interested in submitting a full-day workshop can submit a two-day proposal scheduling four hours each day.
• Keynote Session and Plenary Session – Wednesday (Feb 17).
• Scientific Sessions – Wednesday (Feb 17), Thursday (Feb 18), and Friday (Feb 19).
• Virtual Poster Hall (with the ability to text chat with presenters during specified times) – Wednesday (Feb 17), Thursday (Feb 18), and Friday (Feb 19).
• Interdisciplinary Symposium and a Standards Consortium Special Session – Tuesday (Feb 16).
• Case Break Sessions (up to five breakfast, luncheon, and evening session proposals will be adapted into one-hour Case Break Sessions).
• AAFS Annual Business Meeting – the agenda will be condensed significantly to shorten the length of this meeting.Most award acknowledgements will be moved to the section business meetings and/or deferred to the 2022 meeting in Seattle, WA.
• Section Business Meetings – to maximize time for educational content, these will be scheduled the week before the meeting.Specific details will be provided later.
• Registration Fees – 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting are as follows:
  • Member Registration                                   $185.00
  • Nonmember Registration                            $280.00
  • Member Student Registration                     $ 75.00
  • Nonmember Student Registration              $115.00
  • AAFS Retired Fellow                                     $ – 0 –

This is not the complete schedule and changes may occur as the Board finalizes the overall meeting structure. Information will be updated as it becomes available.

Pre-Registration begins November 30, 2020.