Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 1:00 – 2:30 pm, Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Spotted Curlew
To reflect the range of interests and career goals of VSS attendees, we are pleased to offer our popular ‘Connect with Industry’ event at VSS 2024. This is an opportunity for our members to interact with representatives of industry. Representatives from a range of organizations and industries will be present to discuss opportunities for vision scientists in their companies and to answer questions about collaborating with, and working within, their organizations. No advance sign-up is required.
Three 25-minute sessions will be scheduled (1:00 – 1:25 pm, 1:30 – 1:55 pm, and 2:00 – 2:25 pm). Drop in for one, or stay for all time slots. Representatives will present an introduction to their company at the start of each session (1:00 pm, 1:30 pm, and 2:00 pm).
No sign-ups are required. Although light snacks will be served, please feel free to bring your brown bag lunch to enjoy during the event.
Use this form to order Audio Visual equipment for your VSS 2024 session.
Please note that some rooms have a wall-mounted monitor that can be used instead of a screen and projector. Some rooms require powered speakers if you are ordering audio.
Monday, May 22, 2023, 2:00 – 4:00 pm, Jasmine/Palm
Organizers: Sabrina Hansmann-Roth, University of Iceland; Bjoern Joerges, York University; William Ngiam, University of Chicago; Janna Wennberg, University of California
It is customary for conference posters to contain at least preliminary results. However, feedback and suggestions with regards to the experimental design – a major benefit of poster sessions – would be most helpful before data collection has started. In hopes of achieving this, we will be hosting a pre-data collection poster session.
Receiving feedback at this early stage promotes rigorous and impactful science – researchers can identify confounds, hidden assumptions, or other concerns that would likely be raised by reviewers. This cuts down research waste as suggested changes can be implemented before resources are committed. Researchers may even learn of similar studies and potential issues, helpful resources, or opportunities for collaborations between labs. This mirrors Registered Reports, an Open Science initiative, where peer review of a pre-registration occurs before data is collected.
Interested VSS attendees will be asked to sign up by indicating their research topic and a short (250 word) description of their research idea and preliminary design. Registration for this event will be just-in-time (deadline: May 1). Those selected will be asked to prepare a conference poster which focuses on the theoretical background of the study and their proposed study methods. There will be a maximum of 40 posters, and spots will be granted on a first come, first serve basis.
We are aware that, under an adversarial, competitive view of academia, this event may place presenters in a vulnerable position – participation publicizes research ideas without allowing them to formally lay claim through a publication. We encourage poster viewers to be mindful, using this event to establish collaboration with presenters and improve science. We will be creating an Open Science Framework Meetings page if presenters wish to upload their pre-data posters, providing a verification and timestamp of their research proposals. However, ultimately if you are worried about getting scooped, presenting your idea at this event might not be the right decision for you.
If you want to present a poster on your proposed research design, you can submit your abstract using this Google Form. If you merely want to browse and comment on the posters, no registration is necessary.
Update May 2nd: Submissions are still open, but please send us a note () to make sure that we process your submission promptly.
Update May 16th: Please find the abstract booklet here:
The Friends & Family Pass allows your friends and family to enjoy our many fun VSS social events. Your travel companion can attend the Opening Night Reception and the Demo Night Beach BBQ, as well as enjoy all Coffee/Snack Breaks and the Daily Continental Breakfast!
Pass Pricing
$120 for each adult guest (maximum 2 adult guests per VSS attendee).
$40 for children ages 6 through 12. Children under the age of 6 are free.
To purchase a Friends & Family Pass, the registered VSS attendee should visit the VSS Registration Desk with guests to receive their passes. Passes are required for entrance to all social events and meals, including the Opening Night Reception.
Friends and Family Passes are non-refundable.
Note: The Friends & Family Pass does not cover entrance to scientific sessions. To bring a guest to a scientific session so they can see your presentation, please inquire at the VSS Registration Desk about a half-day Guest pass.
TampaInternational Airport (TPA) is about 30 miles from the TradeWinds Island Resorts. See Ground Transportation from Tampa International Airport.
St. Pete/Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is 20 miles from the TradeWinds Island Resorts, however there are very few flights servicing this airport. See Ground Transportation from St. Pete Clearwater International Airport.
Orlando International Airport (MCO) is approximately 120 miles from the TradeWinds Island Resort. See Ground Transportation from Orlando International Airport.
Airport Ground Transportation
TradeWinds Resort Shuttle
All reservations this year will be made by calling 727-343-3303 between the hours of 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Please have the following information available for each traveler.
Traveler(s) Full Name
Airline
Flight #
Time of arrival/departure
Cell #
# of persons
Any special needs. (oversize luggage, car seats, golf clubs, etc.)
Credit card (All fees will be paid directly to Resort Transportation)
Transportation from either Tampa International Airport (TPA) or St. Pete/Clearwater Airport (PIE) directly to the TradeWinds Island Grand or TradeWinds RumFish Beach Resort is available to Vision Sciences Society 2024 meeting participants. VSS group discounts are as follows:
1-5 persons = $85.00
6-11 persons= $150.00
Shuttle Hours Arrivals: 6:00 am – 9:00 pm Departures: 4:00 am – 8:00 pm
It is recommended that reservations be made at least 2 weeks prior to the date of travel. For more information or to make a reservation, please contact Shirley DiGregorio at 727-343-3303, Monday – Friday between the hours of 10:00 am and 6:00 pm EST. International travelers may email Shirley DiGregorio at . Identify yourself as a Vision Sciences Society 2024 attendee.
TradeWinds Island Resorts 5500 Gulf Boulevard, St. Pete Beach, Florida 33706 (727) 367-6461
From the North From I-75, take I-275 to Tampa and remain on it through Tampa and across Tampa Bay. Continue south on I-275 approximately 15 miles through St. Petersburg. Proceed from * below.
From the East Take I-4 west into Tampa. Stay in the left hand lane and follow the signs for I-275 South “To St. Petersburg” past downtown Tampa and across Tampa Bay. Continue south on I-275 approximately 15 miles through St. Petersburg. Proceed from * below.
From the South From I-75 take the I-275 exit “To St. Petersburg” (not Tampa), and over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (toll). Proceed from * below.
From Tampa International Airport Follow the signs to I-275 South “To St. Petersburg” and across Tampa Bay. Continue south on I-275 approximately 15 miles through St. Petersburg. Proceed from * below.
From St. Petersburg/Clearwater Airport Turn left out of airport onto Roosevelt and follow signs to I-275 South through St. Petersburg, approximately 13 miles. Proceed from * below.
* Exit I-275 at the St. Pete Beach/Pinellas Bayway Exit (exit 17). Proceed west across Pinellas Bayway (toll) which takes you directly to St. Pete Beach and ends at Gulf Blvd. Turn right and the TradeWinds Island Resorts is on the left side of the street, about 1.5 miles north.
Does the TradeWinds require a deposit to book a reservation? Yes, a one-night room and tax guarantee is required to secure your room.
Is the hotel deposit refundable if I have to cancel my room reservation? Yes, your hotel deposit is fully refundable until 5 days prior to arrival.
Is there a waiting list if the hotel is sold out? VSS does maintain a waiting list and if rooms become available, people on the waiting list will be contacted in order they were added to the waiting list. Contact VSS to be placed on the waiting list.
Is there a resort fee at the TradeWinds? The TradeWinds typically charges a $55 resort fee per night, but this fee is waived for VSS attendees booking through the VSS web link. To see what is included, see TradeWinds’ Resort Amenity Fee.
What if I find a better rate for the TradeWinds on a 3rd party site? VSS has done its due diligence to negotiate the lowest possible group rate at the TradeWinds. If you find a lower price during them meeting dates, please contact VSS. Keep in mind, if you book a room through a wholesaler like hotels.com, the TradeWinds will NOT waive your resort fee.
What are the contractual obligations with the TradeWinds? VSS is contractually bound to fill a certain number of guest rooms (this is called a room block) during the annual meeting. By guaranteeing these rooms, VSS receives complimentary meeting space and reduced food and beverage pricing. This ultimately helps keep registration rates down.
What happens if VSS does not meet the contractual obligations? VSS will be charged an attrition fee if we do not meet 85% of our room block and if unused rooms remain unsold prior to the meeting. Groups like ours often book three or more years in advance to secure enough hotel rooms for meeting attendees. Attrition fees are compensation to the hotel for the rooms that might have been sold had they not been held in our room block inventory. Attrition fees are a standard practice in the United States.
The 24th annual meeting of the Vision Sciences Society will be held at the Tradewinds Island Resorts in St. Pete Beach, Florida. VSS has negotiated special room rates for the TradeWinds Island Grand and the RumFish Beach Resort hotels for the 2024 meeting.
All rates are for single or double occupancy. Additional people will be charged $15 each per night. Discount rates are available May 13 – 23, 2024.
TradeWinds Island Grand
The TradeWinds Island Grand is the meeting hotel for the VSS Meeting. Booking a room here means you are only steps away from the meeting rooms, poster sessions, and social events. There are several room types available at the TradeWinds Island Grand. See below for a description of each room type available for VSS attendees.
Room Types
Standard Room: $190 Two double beds (King available upon request). (300 sq ft)
Resort View Room with Balcony: $220 View of Pirate Island and surrounding landscape. Two queen beds (King available upon request). (300 sq ft)
Gulf Front Room with Balcony: $240 Stunning view of the beach and Gulf of Mexico. Two queen beds (King available upon request). (300 sq ft)
Courtyard Studio Suite: $290 Two double beds in a separate room and a double-size sofa bed in the living area; can accommodate up to 6 people. (384 sq ft)
Resort View Villa with Balcony: $330 View of Pirate Island and surrounding landscape. Two queen beds in a separate room and a double-size sofa bed in the living area; can accommodate up to 6 people. (536 sq ft)
Resort View Villa Two Bedroom Suite with Balcony: $390 View of Pirate Island and surrounding landscape. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus a living area with a double-size sofa bed; can accommodate up to 10 people. (820 sq ft)
RumFish Beach Resort
The RumFish Beach Resort is the sister hotel to the Island Grand. Located 100 yards from the Island Grand, the RumFish is just a short seven-minute walk to the meeting hotel by street or by beach.
Standard Room: $190 Each room comes with two double beds and offers a complete wet bar area with mini-fridge, microwave oven, coffee maker, toaster, and dishware, as well as a hairdryer.
Amenities at Island Grand and RumFish
All rooms include a complete wet bar area with mini-fridge, microwave oven, coffee maker, toaster, and dishware, as well as hairdryer and iron/board.
The $55.00 resort fee (waived on all VSS block rooms) provides access to overnight parking, wireless internet in guest rooms and common areas, the fitness center, an in-room safe, and the business center. Also included in the resort fee is daily use of a hooded beach cabana, two tennis courts, five swimming pools, the 3-story tall High Tide Waterslide, paddle boats along the waterway, mini-golf, and more.
Government Room Rate
Government-rate rooms are available to VSS attendees. The number of government-rate rooms is limited, and they will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
To reserve a government-rate room, send an email to and include the following information: first name, last name, # in party, arrival date, departure date.
Note: To obtain the government rate, you must present your government ID upon check-in.
Reserve a Room
To receive the VSS rate and a waived resort fee, click the button below. You must enter a group code and password:
VSS is seeking proposals for symposia to be presented at the VSS 2024 Annual Meeting, which begins Friday, May 17, 2024. VSS 2024 will be a fully in-person meeting with no virtual components. Four to six symposia will be scheduled, each in a two-hour time slot.
Symposia can be organized along the lines of content or methodology, but in every case talks within a symposium should focus on broader conceptual themes than a typical VSS presentation.
Proposals are evaluated by the VSS Board of Directors based on the following criteria:
Scientific merit
Theoretical and/or methodological innovation
Timeliness
Breadth and appeal to a substantial number of VSS attendees
Lack of overlap with the regular program and recent symposia
Diversity of the speakers
Symposium Format
The recommended format is four to six talks. Talk time and Q&A time can be scheduled within the 2-hour session according to the organizers’ discretion (e.g., after individual talks, concentrated at the end of a session, or a mixture of the two approaches). Other formats will be considered, but proposals for other formats should include a clear rationale. Symposia often benefit from a diversity of perspectives and institutional affiliations. Proposals from young investigators are encouraged.
Symposium Information
The symposium is submitted using a multi-page form that includes information describing the symposium and the talks in the symposium. A symposium may have a maximum of three organizers. A minimum of four talks is required; up to six talks are allowed. Talks must be entered in the order they will be presented. It is best to collect information about the individual talks from their authors before you start the submission process.
As the symposium organizer, you must have prior approval from your talk presenters they consent to participate in this symposium (and no other symposium), and to register and attend VSS 2024 in person to present their talk. The organizer must also agree to the Symposium Policies and disclose any Conflicts of Interest.
Required symposium information:
Symposium title.
Brief description of the symposium (maximum 100 words). Appears on the symposium overview page.
Full description of the symposium (maximum 500 words). Appears on the symposium detail page.
Estimated attendance.
Name, affiliation, and contact information for the organizers (maximum 3 organizers).
Acknowledgements (optional).
Required information for each talk:
Talk title.
Talk abstract (maximum 250 words).
Author names and affiliations.
Email and country of citizenship of the talk presenter (first author).
The presenter must agree to an Ethics statement and disclose any Conflicts of Interest.
Organizer and Speaker Requirements
The symposium organizers (maximum of three) must be current VSS members (for 2024), but invited speakers are not required to be VSS members. All speakers are required to register for the meeting. Submitting a symposium proposal or speaking in a symposium does not prevent organizers or speakers from submitting an abstract for a talk or poster presentation at VSS. An individual may participate as organizer or speaker in only one symposium. The symposium organizer(s) may be a speaker in the symposium.
Organizers must ensure that all speakers are committed to participating in the symposium before submitting a proposal, and organizers must also ensure that speakers have not agreed to participate in more than one symposium. If a symposium talk has more than one author, it must be presented by the first author. For each speaker, please provide up to three references to published articles relevant to the proposed talk.
Per the VSS Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest Policy, speakers must reveal any commercial interests or other potential conflicts of interest that they have related to the work described. Any conflicts of interest must be declared on your title slide.
While preparing submissions, organizers are encouraged to use a checklist to ensure that their proposals meet the requirements.
Symposium Review
Proposals are evaluated by the VSS Board of Directors. In addition to considering the VSS 2024 focus outlined above, our criteria include scientific merit, timeliness, theoretical innovation and breadth, methodological innovation, lack of overlap with the regular program and recent symposia, and diversity of the speakers.
Submission Schedule
Submissions Open: October 12, 2023 Submissions Close: November 09, 2023 Notification of Accepted Symposia: November 20, 2023
It is the responsibility of the First, Corresponding, or Presenting Author to list on the abstract any relevant commercial relationships or other conflicts of interest.
For each abstract and presentation, the First/Corresponding Author must also disclose the name of the organization with which a commercial relationship exists for the First Author and each Co-author.
Each Platform Presenter is to orally state and display on a slide at the beginning of the presentation all relevant commercial relationships or other conflicts of interest, as well as the name of the organization(s) with which a commercial relationship(s) exists for the First Author and each Co-author.
At a poster presentation, the presenter must display the relevant commercial relationships or other conflicts of interest, as well as the name of the organization(s) with which a commercial relationship(s) exists for the First Author and each Co-author.
