the Galvanizers Association
2026 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
September 20 – 23, 2026 | at the westin resort, hilton head, sc
Become a Presenter for the 2025 Annual Conference
Presenters help make the Annual Conference a collaborative and innovative experience. During our General Sessions, presenters have the opportunity to share their insights on new strategies, innovative practices, production improvements, and much more.
You can apply to be a presenter at our Annual Conference by submitting an abstract that outlines your presentation’s objective, methods, results, and conclusion. The program committee will select presenters based on the submissions provided. Presenters in the General Session will have 25 minutes to present and answer questions.
Steps to Becoming a Presenter
To present in the Annual Conference, presenters must register for the full conference. Failure to follow this requirement and the following steps exactly will result in cancelling the presentation and the published manuscript.
SUbmit your Abstract
by April 15, 2025
Submit an abstract of your proposed paper / presentation as a PDF or PowerPoint Presentation to info@galvanizersassociation.com:
See if your abstract is accepted
By May 9, 2025
The program committee will select who will be presenting at the Annual Conference based off the submitted abstracts. Presenters will be notified by email by May 9, 2025. If you are accepted to present, you will submit future documents to your session’s chairman for review throughout this process. Your session chairman’s contact details will be included in the email sent to you if your paper is accepted by the program committee. If you are chosen to present in the Annual Conference, you may proceed to the following steps.
Fill out the Speaker Biography form
by July 11, 2025
Upon notification of acceptance for presenting please complete the Speaker Biography Form no later than July 11. This will be used to introduce you at the session.
Submit your Draft Manuscript
by July 11, 2025
Email a draft manuscript for the proceedings and a copy of the preliminary PowerPoint presentation to be presented to your session chairman for review. Your session chairman will return the draft copy of your manuscript to you within two weeks of receipt with any comments or suggestions.
Submit your Final Manuscript
by August 8, 2025
After final approval by your session chairman, instructions will be sent to upload the final manuscript. The manuscript will be published on the Galvanizers Association website in October.
Submit your final Powerpoint presentation
by August 11, 2025
Email the final PowerPoint presentation to your session chairman. This will be the version used for the conference. It is the presenters’ responsibility to verify that the session chairman has received the PowerPoint presentation by the due date.
After your final manuscript and powerpoint Presentation submissions, No additional changes are permitted.
NO changes will be permitted at the meeting. Please do not ask for your presentation to be the exception as the request will be respectfully denied. Please re–read this statement.
Manuscript and Powerpoint Guidelines
Following these Guidelines when creating your Manuscript and PowerPoint Presentation will assure a well-received presentation and professional proceedings.
Corporate Logos and Commercialism
- Overt or blatant commercialism in oral presentations and published manuscripts is forbidden and seriously damages audience acceptance of technical presentations.
- Corporate logo may appear on the first and last slide only. Use of corporate logos on all slides is an example of overt/blatant commercialism.
- Comparison of competitor’s products or processes should be referenced generically and must not be able to be identified in either the oral presentation or manuscript text. For example: “product A versus product B”.
Speaker preparation
- The presenter should be listed as the first author on the paper and must be the individual to present the work at the meeting.
- Presentations in the General Session will run approximately 25 minutes each, including questions.
- All General Session speakers are required to attend the speakers prep ½ hr before your scheduled session in the meeting room. During this time you will meet with your designated session chairman to go over important details for the session and obtain last minute instructions. Your attendance ensures that all parties are informed and that the technical session/program will run smoothly.
Manuscript Preparation
- The size of your document should be 8 ½″ x 11″. The preferred font is 12 point Times New Roman. The text should be single spaced and occupy an area of 6 ½″ x 9 ½″, with left margin being 1 ¼″ and right margin being ¾″, top margin being 1″ and bottom margin being ½″.
- Photographs, drawings, graphs and any other illustrations must not occupy an area greater than the 6 ½” x 9 ½” field. All must be appropriately identified with figure or table numbers and titles.
- Page numbering must be centered above your header on each page. Header to be located centered within the field area given.
- Page 1 is the cover page, indicating the paper title, author(s), and company affiliations(s).
- Page 2 contains the abstract, headed by the paper title, the name of the author(s), and the word “abstract”, followed by the abstract text.
- Page 3 is the first page of the paper text, headed by the title and the name of the author(s).
Powerpoint Preparation
- Presentations will be given in large session rooms. When preparing your visuals, ask yourself this question – Will the people seated in the back rows be able to see or read this? It is important that your slides be clear and legible.
- There is no number limitation on slides. Suggested guidelines for slide numbers are below.
- Title (1 slide)
- Authors (1 slide)
- Background (1-3 slides)
- Method (1-6 slides)
- Results (1-3 slides)
- Conclusion (1 slide)
- The Session Chairman will assist any presenter who is not familiar with PowerPoint prior to the presentation.