2019 Call for Student Poster Presentations & Poster Contest

The Research Committee of the American Society of Trial Consultants (ASTC) is sponsoring a Student Poster Competition at the 38th Annual ASTC Annual Conference June 6 – June 8, 2019, at the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis. After blind review by the Research Committee, competitive posters will be accepted for presentation and entered into the poster competition.

The poster topic need not be related directly to trial consulting or, for that matter, jury behavior, per se. Although papers on topics such as venue surveys, witness preparation, jury selection, and attorney presentations (e.g., openings and closings) are welcome, we also invite work on cognate topics – e.g., persuasion in small groups, visual communication, implicit bias, hindsight bias, counterfactual reasoning – with potential application to better understanding of individual and group decision-making in trial settings.

Submissions may be theoretical or research-based. The Research Committee will judge all entries for soundness of methodology, strength of analyses, and potential contribution to the field of trial consulting and/or enhanced understanding of human behavior in litigation settings.

Research must have been conducted while the first author was, or is, an actively enrolled undergraduate or graduate student in a recognized university degree program. Faculty sponsorship is encouraged but not required. The first author must attend the conference for poster presentation of his/her work.

Submissions are due April 12, 2019. A confirmation receipt will be sent to the senior author. Submissions should include the following:

1. Cover Page: 
The cover page should be detachable. It should include the researcher’s name(s), designation of senior author with whom the Research Committee should communicate; university affiliation, address, telephone and email. In anticipation of blind review by ASTC referees, NO information about the author or the author’s affiliation should be found on any pages other than the Cover Page. 

2. Overview: 
Area of research, goal of the study, and how the results will contribute directly to the enhanced understanding of decision-making and communication in litigation settings. 

3. Literature Review: 
Summarizing relevant literature on the topic.

4. Methodology: 
Description of quantitative and/or qualitative methodologies applied. 

5. Results: 
Basic summary of findings; or the proposed theory, if the poster is theoretical. 

6. Conclusions and Implications: 
What are the take-aways and, specifically, how can trial consultants use the results or theory in their trial consulting practice? ❖ Style: One inch margins, 12-point font, no more than four single spaced pages, with attachment of all tables and references. Format in .doc, .docx, or .pdf.

All posters will be entered into the ASTC Student Poster Contest, with possible awards including free ASTC membership, waived convention fees, and varying cash prizes. Award winners are announced at the ASTC convention and could be featured on the ASTC website or in ASTC publications. To learn more about, or join, the American Society of Trial Consultants, visit our website, www.astcweb.org.

Questions can be directed to: Pete Rowland, ASTC Research Committee Chair 913-486-4305

Send submissions to: Rebecca Schnorf ASTC Associate Director of Education rschnorf@firminc.com Subject line: ASTC Poster Submission