Proposals are evaluated by a panel of peer reviewers by the following criteria.

1. Information relevant to the proposed topic
2. Content expands attendees' current knowledge
3. Appropriate number of examples to support the information
4. Originality of material
5. Timeliness of information
6. Inclusion of three good, solid ideas
7. Accuracy of data
8. Logical conclusions
9. Identification of outside resources
10. Clarity of presentation
11. Past speaking evaluations and experience
12. Avoidance of product/vendor commercial
13. Completeness of proposal
14. Overall rating

a.  Relevance

What are the practical applications of your ideas? Have you included reasoning and documentation to support your conclusions, recommendations, and outcomes?

Tips:

• Conference attendees prefer presentations focused on outcomes or results.
• Make the definition and background portions of your presentation brief.
• Highlight problems encountered, options available, choices made, documented pre- and post-change effects and lessons learned.

b.  Content expands attendees' knowledge

Will your presentation expand participant's knowledge of technologies and applications beyond entry-level basics? Do you provide guidelines or models to manage attendee's own installations or applications?

Tips:

• Most HIMSS conference participants are managers, department heads, directors, or senior-level executives. As a rule, direct your presentation to an intermediate or advanced audience.
• Participants want to learn the reality versus the hype, the positive and negative attributes, problems encountered but often not discussed, realistic expectations for operational use, and how to adapt to a changing environment.

c.  Examples

Do you have an appropriate number of examples? Has your proposal been implemented with comparative results available? Have you documented pre-and post-implementation status? Have you sufficiently listed reasons in support of your conclusions or recommendations?

Tip:

• Documenting comparative results convinces participants that your ideas have been tested in the real world.

d.  Originality

Does your presentation advance existing ideas or present new ideas? Has this material been presented elsewhere?

Tips:

• You might apply proven techniques to new problems. Or identifying and applying new approaches, techniques, or philosophies.
• Illustrate problems that occurred, the actions taken and the techniques used to resolve problems.
• Many conference participants are not on the cutting edge of technology, so you must assess the degree to which an application is a new tool. For example, an application of bar coding might be more or less innovative, depending on the department in which it is installed and how it is used.
• Avoid highlighting a named product or service. Focus instead on the general attributes, benefits, and drawbacks of a given application, process, or tool.

e.  Timeliness

There's no substitute for timeliness. Will your presentation be up-to-date and cutting-edge at the time of presentation in six to nine months? Will your topic have implications in the future? How relevant is your topic in the context of pending legislation, regulations and technology? Does your presentation document pre-and post-process or system changes?

f.  Inclusion of three good, solid insights

What attendees want to learn is the reality versus the hype, the positive and negative attributes, problems encountered but not often discussed, realistic expectations for the operational use, and adaptability to a changing environment. They are searching for guidelines and models to simplify or manage their own application or installation.

g.  Accuracy of data

Have you included data supporting your conclusions? Is your data accurate? Is it, or can it, be validated by repeated collection of similar studies?

h.  Logical conclusions

Have you supported your conclusions with data? Is the data representative of the key points of your presentation? For example, have cost savings or increases been documented? Are effects to processes or outcomes measured and documented?

Tip:

• Annual HIMSS Conference participants place a high value on supporting data in assessing the value and applicability of presentations. Have you included adequate detail? Is it convincing?

i.  Identification of outside resources

Have you included sources of information, benchmark data, or examples from multiple sources?

j.  Clarity of presentation

How well do you express the purpose and outcomes of the session? Do you have a well-defined focus? Do you use referenced sources and data appropriately? Is your writing clear, jargon-free, and coherent?

k.  Past speaking evaluations and experience

Do you have adequate experience with the subject matter to give a presentation at this time? Do you have actual project or implementation experience? Does your presentation include a user perspective? Can you document that you are a skilled speaker? Have you achieved high attendee evaluation scores in past speaking engagements? (HIMSS requires that speakers achieve "excellent" or "very good" scores from 75% of the session attendees in order to be invited to speak at a future HIMSS program)

l.  Avoidance of product/vendor commercial

Does your presentation avoid any commercial content? If you are a vendor or consultant, do you include a user perspective?

Tips:

• No commercials/ proprietary information for particular products, services or vendors permitted.
• Company logos are only allowed on the opening slide

m.  Completeness of proposal

The quality, completeness, and accuracy of the proposal will be a judging factor in the proposal selection process.

n.  Overall rating

In the end, you must make your case for the importance of this topic and its relevance to participants. Have you made the best case you possibly can?