To participate on the program, all presenters, chairs, moderators, and discussants are required to pay two separate fees:

1. the registration fee for the annual meeting before the submissions deadline; and
2. SAA membership dues for the meeting year (memberships run from January 1 to December 31). 

The SAA begins accepting membership dues for the following membership year on August 1. Individuals who are not current SAA members must join the Society by November 15, and current members have until January 30 to renew their membership. For further details about registration and membership requirements, as well as other policies, please visit the Submissions Guidelines page.

The SAA Board has the established meeting registration policy.

The following current refund policies will continue to apply for all SAA annual meetings that go forward:

• The SAA has always refunded (in full) anyone unable to attend the annual meeting (documentation of cancellation required).
• Registration fees for presenters who elect to withdraw from the program will be refunded by the SAA office—minus a $25 processing fee—upon receipt of an emailed or written request (no verbal requests, please) timestamped/postmarked by December 1 immediately prior to the meeting. Program participants are not eligible for any refunds after December 1 for any given meeting, without documentation.
• Registration fees for those not on the program who elect to not attend will be refunded by the SAA office—minus a $25 processing fee—upon receipt of e-mailed or written request (no verbal requests, please) postmarked by the advance registration date deadline.
• No refunds are available after the advance registration deadline except in the case of registrants who provide documentation that shows they cannot attend, such as a visa denial, governmental travel advisory or prohibition, employer travel prohibition, or medical reason. Refunds cannot be given after the event begins.
• In the event an SAA annual meeting is canceled, meeting registrations will automatically be applied to the next year's annual meeting unless a full refund is specifically requested.
• Hotel: Members must notify the headquarters hotel of a cancellation no later than three (3) working days before date of arrival to receive a refund from the hotel.
• Travel: We strongly encourage meeting participants to familiarize themselves in advance with refund and cancellation policies for airlines, car rentals, trains, or other travel providers, as there is likely to be a great deal of variation in what is allowed.
• Excursion and Workshops: If you need to cancel your excursion or workshop registration, please email meetings@saa.org. Please note that refunds will not be processed until after advance registration closes. The SAA will email you to confirm that your refund has been processed.

In order to celebrate the wealth of archaeological research taking place around California, the SAA Board will continue region-focused programing. This is an initiative to create sessions focusing on the region that are minimally or ideally entirely nonoverlapping. The Program Committee encourages anyone interested in organizing a session for the series to submit a session title with an asterisk (*) before the title in the online submission system. Organized entrants in the California Session Series will be specially marked in the SAA 2026 meeting program so that meeting attendees can easily identify them.

The Board has analyzed the 2024 per-user costs of its virtual components pilot and the potential expenses for 2025 virtual components. With regret, we feel compelled to forego this additional expense for the 2025 meeting. The Board remains very concerned about increasing meeting access and understands that for some members there are substantial hurdles to attending the annual meeting.

Presenters in symposia and general sessions will continue to have the option of sending prerecorded presentations to their organizers allowing them to present virtually in 2025.

Please read the full statement from the board here.

Each session room will have a projector, screen, microphone, and laptop. Each laptop will have the Microsoft Suite, so make sure your presentation is compatible with PowerPoint with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Please bring a flash drive with your presentation or share your presentation with your session chair to add to their flash drive.

If you are not able to present in person, you may send a prerecorded presentation to your session chair so that they can play it during your scheduled time.

 

We will not have the option to upload posters. In past years when we’ve had the e-Posters option available, less than 50% of posters were uploaded to the annual meeting site, which did not justify the expense of providing this option.

The SAA Board will discuss this in July 2024.

Notices will be emailed by December 15, 2025.

You can access your acceptance letter at www.saa.org/AcceptanceNotice.

Click on “Acceptance Letter” on the left menu bar and then click to view the letter, which you can also download in PDF format if desired. 

Abstracts cannot exceed 200 words.

The Program Committee selects chairs for general sessions from those individuals who have indicated a willingness to serve in such a capacity. Please be sure to select the appropriate box on the individual abstract submission form if you are interested.

A general session chair accepts the responsibility of collecting presentations and bringing them to the meeting prior to the session. To facilitate that process, SAA staff will provide the general session chair with contact information for all the session participants by the end of November.

If the SAA Board elects to have virtual components, session chairs (or their delegates) may be responsible for launching Zoom meetings on the session-room laptop. Regardless, session chairs will continue to be responsible for loading all presentations onto a flash drive prior to the session and uploading those presentations to the session room laptop prior to the session beginning. Session chairs (or their delegates) are also responsible for making sure the session stays on time.

The SAA recognizes that images of human remains have the potential to be offensive and unsettling to some members of our community and those communities with whom we work. We ask that presenters please indicate in their abstract whether or not their presentation includes such images in an effort to create a more respectful environment for all.

The session chair is responsible for organizing the session submission and making sure their participants have completed their submissions. If the SAA Board elects to have virtual components, session chairs (or their delegates) may be responsible for launching Zoom meetings on the session-room laptop. Regardless, session chairs will continue to be responsible for loading all presentations onto a flash drive prior to the session and uploading those presentations to the session room laptop prior to the session beginning. Session chairs (or their delegates) are also responsible for making sure the session stays on time.

After you select your session format (Symposium, Forum, or Lightning Round) and complete the session abstract, you may invite participants to your session. In order to invite participants, you will need to enter each person’s first and last name and email address. Participants are invited to your session via an automated email message. The participant must use the SAME email address that was used for their invitation to log in to the portal.

Sometimes a participant’s email provider may reject the automated email message. If someone has not received the invitation, the participant will need to log in to the submission system, click the “Accept/Decline Invitation” tab on the left-side menu, and accept or decline their invitation.

You can now connect with possible session participants and organizers through the “Session Organizers Looking for Participants” discussion thread in the Collaboration e-Community. In this e-Community, organizers can post about their session and the type of presenters they are looking for. This gives others the opportunity to reach out directly to the organizer if they feel they would be a good fit for the proposed session. This thread can be found under “Annual Meeting” in the Discussions section.

Detailed instructions on how to navigate to this thread can be found here. The Collaboration e-Community is open to anyone with an SAA account (whether they are a current member or not) during the submissions period.

When logged in to the submissions portal, click on the “Manage My Submissions” drop-down menu, click on your session, and then click “Manage my session: Session Title.” Go to the “Participants” tab and click “Invite Participant.” You should enter your own information, and then you will see your name on the list of presenters at the bottom of your screen. You can click the paper and pencil icon to submit your presentation abstract.

Starting with the 2025 call for submissions (using the new submissions portal), chairs cannot pay for participant(s) registration(s) through the portal. Please contact meetings@saa.org and include a phone number so SAA staff can help you. Registration fees for all participants must be received by the submissions deadline.

The designation “sponsored” indicates the support of an SAA internal entity (e.g., committee, task force, interest group) or an outside organization that has received explicit approval from the SAA executive director.

SAA internal entities can sponsor one special event at the annual meeting and may submit proposals for symposia, forums, or other sessions. Special events are generally requests for business meetings, receptions, “town hall” requests, workshops, or excursions that will be identified as being sponsored by the interest group, committee, or task force.

Outside organizations will need to contact Oona Schmid (oona_schmid@saa.org) to discuss session sponsorship approval. Outside organizations are limited to no more than two sessions each year, which can comprise one session (poster, symposia, forum, etc.) and one special event (reception, business meeting, etc.) or two proposed sessions (poster session and symposium, for instance).

To indicate that your session is sponsored, go to “Edit your session submission,” and on the “Title” step at the top of the screen, check yes under “Sponsored Session” and enter the name of the sponsor in the box below.

If a group sponsors more than one session, regretfully the Program Committee cannot guarantee that the sessions sponsored by the same group will be scheduled at different times.

Session organizers must submit the session for review prior to the submission deadline of September 5, 2024, 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

Prior to the deadline, please be sure to organize presentations within the submissions portal as you would like them to appear on the Preliminary Session Schedule and Final Program. No changes may be made after the submission deadline. Chairs of sessions have the ability to make changes to the session at any time before the deadline.

When a chair is ready to complete the session submission, they must log in to the submissions portal and click on “Mange My Submissions” from the left-side menu. Then click on the title of the session, click the “Manage my submission” button, and then go to the confirmation step at the top of the screen. Click the blue “Submit” button at the bottom of the screen to submit the session.

Notes: Chairs will not be able to complete this step if there is a person in the session who has not completed their submission or paid their registration. The chair will need to remove them and confirm submission. Additionally, if the chair has not completed their own submission or registration, the session cannot be submitted for review.

Chairs are able to review and print the “Summary” page that shows exactly how their session will appear once it is submitted. They can do this on the final confirmation step of their submission. This is the same screen where they submit their session.

The SAA Board policy is that presenting at the meeting is a privilege of membership. However, in the interest of broader dialogue with community leaders, descendant communities, and scholars from other disciplines, we have a process for waiving this requirement.

Eligible for a membership waiver is any individual who is invited to participate in an organized session (as a presenter or discussant) at the annual meeting in order to present information for the benefit of SAA members and who is neither an archaeologist, anthropologist, nor a professional in a field whose members would normally belong to the SAA. Decisions under this policy will be made by the executive director, who reviews whether the individual meets the criteria.

Please submit the waiver request using this form by November 1.

To submit to an organized session, the session’s chair will have needed to send you an invite through the submissions portal. You will receive the invitation via email and should follow the steps within the email message to accept the invitation. Sometimes, an email provider may reject the automated email, so you will then need to log in to the submission system, click the “Accept/Decline Invitation” tab on the left-side menu, and indicate if you want to accept or decline the role.

If you have not been invited by a chair to participate in an organized session, you can find chairs looking for participants by logging in to the Collaboration e-Community. The “Session Organizers Looking for Participants” discussion thread is where chairs can post about their session and the type of presenters they are looking for. This gives others the opportunity to reach out directly to the chair if they feel they would be a good fit for the proposed session. This thread can be found under “Annual Meeting” in the Discussions section. Detailed instructions on how to navigate to this thread can be found here.

The Collaboration e-Community is open to anyone with an SAA account (whether they are a current member or not) during the submissions period.

While any individual participating in the meeting may hold three roles, participants are limited to holding one “presenter” role. Presenter roles include first authorship (primary author) on either paper or poster submissions. If you are already listed as a presenter elsewhere, you can’t submit a second abstract.

Abstracts cannot exceed 200 words.

Since the submission system will only allow each individual to submit one paper or poster abstract, you will need to delete the initial abstract submission and resubmit the abstract to the organized session. In order to submit to an organized session, the chair must send you an invite through the submissions portal. Once your previous submission is deleted, you can follow the instructions in the invitation email sent by the session chair or you can log in to the submission system, click the “Accept/Decline Invitation” tab on the left-side menu, and choose the submission that you want to accept. If you have any problems with this process, contact meetings@saa.org for assistance.

Once the maximum number of participants has been reached in a session, invitees will no longer be able to accept the invitation to the session. Similarly, if a specific role is maximized, participants will not be able to join the session in that role. Please contact your session chair if you are unable to join their session for one of these reasons.

Alternatively, an individual participating in the annual meeting may only hold three roles, including only one “presenter” role. Presenter roles include first authorship (primary author) on either paper or poster submissions. If you have already reached your three-role maximum, you will not be able to join the session.

The SAA recognizes that images of human remains have the potential to be offensive and unsettling to some members of our community and those communities with whom we work. We ask that presenters please indicate in their abstract whether or not their presentation includes such images in an effort to create a more respectful environment for all.

Come to our virtual First-Time Attendee and New Member Meeting Orientation and/or our in-person First-Time Attendee and New Member Meeting Orientation, where you can get information about how to get the most from the meeting and ask any questions you have.

The final program and the final meeting app are terrific resources that list all sessions, presentations, and the dates/times/rooms where they are scheduled.

During the call for submissions, some organizers and presenters checked a box indicating that their presentation(s) might include images of human remains. These sessions are listed on this web page: 

https://www.saa.org/annual-meeting/presentations-remains.

The SAA does not allow independent video or audio recording at the annual meeting in session rooms by external parties. In the exhibit hall and special events, attendees may record with consent of subjects for non-monetary, non-commercial personal use. Any attendee or media organization seeking to record a session or interview an attendee at the SAA annual meeting for commercial use must be approved by the SAA prior to the beginning of the annual meeting. Approval to record in dedicated meeting spaces during meeting times will not be granted after the start of the annual meeting. Commercial use includes monetized YouTube channels and podcasts.

The SAA vets all media who request press credentials. Our credentialing process has changed as the media landscape has changed. All media representatives must be representing an established, reputable media outlet, either as staff or freelance, when they request credentials. In the case of freelancers, we ask for recent relevant clips (within two years). Relevant clips are science-based stories, not opinion pieces, that went through the publication’s editing and fact-checking process. Please send clips and affiliation to mediarelations@saa.org at least two weeks prior to the first day of the conference. Not all press credential requests are granted. The SAA rarely grants registration waivers, including press credentials, to archaeologists. 

The display area is 4 feet (height) × 8 feet (wide); your poster should be slightly smaller to be able to fit on the display area.

Presenters must bring their posters to the meeting. You may use laminated poster paper, fabric, or cardboard. The poster should be mounted with the pushpins provided on the poster board provided.

Please be sure to pick up your poster when your session has concluded in order to provide a clean space for the incoming poster presenter. Electricity is not available in the poster area; please do not bring equipment that requires electricity.

 

Poster sessions run for two hours. You can set up your poster 15 minutes prior to the start of your poster session in the designated poster area. Please remove your poster when your session concludes and clean the area to allow for quick turnover for the incoming poster session. The location of your poster will be determined by the poster number that is designated in the final program, which will be marked by a number and letter (e.g., 8-a). These poster numbers will be posted at the top-right corner of the poster display area.

How much time presenters spend with their posters is up to them. Since one of the clear advantages of poster presentations is sustained interaction with the “audience,” the SAA urges presenters to spend as much of the two hours as possible with their material. If you are not able to be present for the entire session, please be sure to be on time to set up and to remove your materials.

Please email your session chair with copies of any electronic presentation files in advance of your session. Check the final program to check what time you are scheduled to present. If you plan to present in a general session or a symposium remotely, please let your session chair know and send them a prerecorded presentation to show at your scheduled time.

 

Please remember that oral presentations in regular symposia are limited to fifteen minutes in length. Prepare your paper with this time limit in mind so that all sessions will run on time.

There is a Speaker Ready Room available at the annual meeting to test connecting your laptop to the AV set up. You can also use this room to run through your presentation.

Your session chair should contact you to collect all presentation slide decks in advance of the meeting. If it is two weeks before the meeting and you have not heard from your chair, please reach out to them by finding them in the member directory. You should prepare PowerPoint slides (or MS Windows–compatible slides) in a 16:9 ratio format. Your presentation should not exceed 15 minutes, as a courtesy to those who will present after you. Please note that live, hybrid participation cannot be supported by Wi-Fi. If you cannot attend in person, please prerecord your presentation and share it with your session chair to show at your scheduled time.

 

• Gather presentations from your presenters and load them to a flash drive in advance of the session Tip! Number presentations in order (e.g., “01,” “02”) so that they are in sequential order.
• Bring flash drive to the session room so that all presentations are available on the session laptop in the session room
• Note: Session-room laptops are hardwired to ethernet, the projector, the sound patch, and, should the SAA Board move forward with any virtual components, the virtual components
• Introduce each participant and open their slide deck from the podium
• Ensure presentations run according to schedule (15 minutes per paper presentation)
  

Volunteer session attendants will periodically check in on your session to ensure everything is running smoothly. If you need assistance, please ask your volunteer and they will get in contact with SAA staff as needed.