Conference Policies

On This Page:

• Conference Confidentiality Agreement
• Appropriate Conduct Policy
• Views Expressed
• Photo/Video/Audio Recording Policy
• Conference News Embargo Policy
• SEC-Related Issues

Conference Confidentiality Agreement

Abstracts and related information submitted to the Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®) meetings are considered final and confidential from the time of submission. This Confidentiality Agreement covers all abstracts, title of abstract and summary description placeholders ("Confidential Information"). Compliance with the Confidentiality Agreement is required by all parties receiving Confidential Information, which includes all embargoed or early copies of the abstracts shared with news media, as these documents are confidential per this policy and each recipient will be held accountable for any violations of the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement and Embargo Policy.

Agreement is required by all parties receiving Confidential Information, which includes all embargoed or early copies of the abstracts shared with news media, as these documents are confidential per this policy and each recipient will be held accountable for any violations of the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement and Embargo Policy.

Prior to the Confidential Information being publicly released by the Alzheimer's Association in conjunction with the AAIC, authors, coauthors, sponsors of the research, news media, journalists, analysts, other AAIC attendees and recipients of Confidential Information may not:

• Make the information public, or provide it to others who may make it public or utilize the information.
• Publish or present the information or provide it to others who may publish or present it.
• Use the information for any commercial purposes, pecuniary purposes, securities trading, securities recommendations and/or securities analysis until such information has been presented at AAIC and been reasonably absorbed on a broader basis into the market.

For a study to be eligible for acceptance into the AAIC, information contained in the abstract, as well as additional data and information to be presented about the study at AAIC, must not be disclosed before the findings have been publicly released in conjunction with AAIC.

Unless express permission is granted by the Alzheimer's Association in its discretion, which may be obtained directly upon request, the contents and conclusions of the abstract must not be presented at any scientific, medical or educational meeting or published in a scientific, medical or educational publication (in any medium) in whole or in part, before AAIC. If attendees wish to have information from an abstract or portions of the dataset disclosed in advance of public release in conjunction with AAIC, specific exception requests must be made per the Confidentiality Agreement Exception instructions described below.

Alzheimer's Association recognizes that certain federal and international laws require disclosure of certain clinical trial results through federal and international registries within a certain time period. If the imposed deadline for data submission falls before AAIC meeting dates, submission of the trial results to the required registry will not be viewed as a breach of the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement.

Confidentiality Agreement Exceptions

Exceptions to the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement require communication with Alzheimer's Association a minimum of 48 hours in advance of any public release. Specific inquiries about exceptions to the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement should be emailed to AAICConfidentiality@alz.org.

A Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") Exception is available to companies whose securities are publicly traded to the extent that disclosure is necessary for that company to comply with the disclosure requirements under any US federal or state or international securities laws.

The obligations above shall not extend to any part of the Confidential Information (a) that can be demonstrated to have been in the public domain or publicly known at the time of disclosure; (b) that becomes part of the public domain or publicly known by publication or otherwise, not due to any unauthorized act by the abstract submitter; (c) that can be demonstrated as independently developed by the abstract submitter without reference to or reliance upon such Confidential Information; or (d) that is required to be disclosed by law, in which case the abstract submitter will notify the Alzheimer's Association of such requirement.

Other Exceptions to the AAIC Confidentiality Agreement may be granted by the Alzheimer's Association in specific circumstances including but not limited to public health reasons and/or to meet the requirements of state, national or international government agencies.

No matter if a Confidentiality Agreement Exception applies or is granted, Alzheimer's Association retains the right, in its sole discretion, to change an abstract's placement in the meeting program based on the extent of information disclosed. If an exception applies or is granted, the study will most likely be ineligible for the official AAIC news program.

If the Confidentiality Agreement and Embargo Policy is broken, the Alzheimer's Association retains the right, in its sole discretion, to: remove the abstract from AAIC, deny the responsible author(s) attendance at AAIC, and/or bar the responsible author(s) from future submission and/or attendance at AAIC.

Appropriate Conduct Policy

The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) aims to provide a safe, equitable, and accessible conference experience, for both in-person and online participants, and discrimination and harassment of any kind is not tolerated at AAIC. In furtherance of this, the following code of conduct, which applies to all attendees, speakers, sponsors, vendors, exhibitors, volunteers and staff members, is intended to govern behavior at AAIC. Read our statement of appropriate conference conduct (PDF).

Everyone at AAIC, whether in-person or online, is to avoid engaging in behavior that constitutes discrimination or harassment. Such behavior includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Verbal comments intended to stereotype, provoke or demean someone on the basis of their gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, nationality, age, disability, body size, veteran status, or other group identity.
• Unwelcome sexual attention, unsolicited physical contact, public displays of sexual imagery, or anything else that creates a sexualized environment.
• Conduct that is severe or pervasive sufficient to create an environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.
• Intimidation, stalking, or the taking of invasive photos or videos without permission.
• Sustained disruption of talks or events, verbally or physically threatening speakers or other participants, or damaging or taking property.
• Encouraging or advocating for any of the above listed behaviors.

These rules apply to all AAIC-related events, including preconferences, workshops, plenary sessions, poster presentations, exhibiting, receptions and ancillary meetings.

Participants, who either experience harassment, discrimination or other troubling behavior or observe such behavior directed toward another conference participant, should promptly inform a member of the Alzheimer’s Association staff. Staff members are stationed at the Registration Desk and are present throughout the conference space in black shirts labeled “Alzheimer Association Staff.” Potential offenses that take place online should be emailed to aaic@alz.org.

Reports can also be made anonymously onsite, meaning the person reporting the information does not need to disclose any identifying information about themselves. However, during the inquiry process, identifying details may become apparent. In addition, a lack of identifying details may significantly limit the Association’s ability to investigate. An anonymous phone line will be provided to attendees onsite.

If you feel that there is an immediate threat to your personal safety, please contact local law enforcement.

Alzheimer’s Association staff will take reasonable and appropriate action to manage attendees who engage in harassment, discrimination or other unacceptable behavior during the conference. This may include, but is not limited to, limiting or denying attendees’ access to AAIC.

Thank you in advance for creating an equitable, safe and accessible environment for the advancement of dementia research.

Views Expressed

The views and opinions expressed by AAIC presenters, panelists, moderators and participants — whether spoken or written — do not necessarily reflect those of the Alzheimer's Association.

Photo/Video/Audio Recording Policy

Because of the proprietary nature of data and the reporting of preliminary, unpublished research, any photography, filming, screen capture, taping, recording or reproduction in any medium of any of the programs, talks or data/posters/slides presented at AAIC is prohibited, unless the presenting author grants explicit permission or there is demonstrated prior consent. If a speaker indicates that they are open to photography or recording, please use common courtesy and do not be disruptive or distracting, either to the speaker or fellow audience members.

Similarly, the subsequent dissemination of any photo/image, film/video, screen capture, audio, or other recording in any medium of any of the programs, talks or data/posters/slides presented at AAIC is prohibited, unless the presenting author grants explicit permission or there is demonstrated prior consent.

Sharing your experience on social media is encouraged to add to the discussion and excitement of AAIC, as long as it complies with AAIC recording, embargo and confidentiality rules. Sharing images on social media that contain discernable research data (i.e., image of a poster or slide) is prohibited, unless explicit verbal or written permission is granted by the presenter of that research.

Violation of the above restrictions may result in appropriate penalties, including removal from AAIC and denial of entry to future AAICs and future Alzheimer’s Association conferences and events.

Please direct questions regarding this policy to AAICmedia@alz.org.

Conference News Embargo Policy

The Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) is a well-recognized, global platform for news regarding advances in Alzheimer's and dementia research. If you are interested in having the research you present at AAIC eligible for inclusion in AAIC news releases and news conferences, it must not be published (online or hard copy) or presented, in whole or in part, in any manner, previous to presentation at AAIC. (Note: The Association reserves the right to also include previously published material in its news program, if it so chooses, but this is generally not the case.)

View the full guidelines for news media covering AAIC , including press office guidelines for exhibitors, sponsors and other industry representatives.

All materials presented at AAIC are embargoed for publication and broadcast until the date and time of presentation at the conference, or an embargo date and time specified by the Alzheimer’s Association. Please contact the Alzheimer’s Association Public Relations Department at AAICmedia@alz.org with any questions.

For Presentations Included in the AAIC News Program

The news embargo for abstracts and scientific presentations in the AAIC news program will be listed on the news release and/or story pitch materials that include that abstract/presentation. The embargo time/date must be honored regardless of the time of presentation at AAIC.

For All Other Presentations

Materials presented at AAIC are embargoed for publication, posting and broadcast until the officially scheduled release at AAIC, unless the Alzheimer's Association provides written notice or permission in advance.

• For podium presentations, the scheduled release is the beginning of each individual talk (not the overall session). For example, for a Featured Research Session starting at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time (North America) where each talk is 15 minutes long, the news embargo on the:
  • First talk is 9:30 a.m. ET
  • Second talk is 9:45 a.m. ET
  • Third talk is 10 a.m. ET
• For poster presentations, the scheduled release and news embargo coincides with the opening of the virtual conference platform.

All news media representatives, scientists, funders of science presented at AAIC and AAIC exhibitors/sponsors agree to be bound by the AAIC news embargoes laid out in this policy, in addition to release times stated on news releases and other news materials issued by the Alzheimer’s Association and AAIC.

Embargoed AAIC news materials are intended specifically for each journalist’s individual use and are not to be shared in any manner with anyone until the news embargo date/time has passed. By accepting embargoed AAIC news materials, journalists acknowledge that the materials are solely for their use and that they will not distribute, publish, broadcast or in any other way share them before the news embargo time has passed.

If a reporter or news media outlet breaks an AAIC news embargo, the Alzheimer’s Association reserves the right to revoke their press access and credentials for the current event and future Alzheimer’s Association conferences and events.

SEC-Related Issues

If a publicly traded company is advised that it is legally required to disclose certain data or other information from a confidential AAIC abstract in advance of the AAIC news embargo to satisfy requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or a corresponding regulatory body in a country where the company’s stock is traded (collectively, “SEC”), that company must submit to AAIC, in advance of the SEC-required disclosure:

• Written notification of the time, manner and recipients of the company’s release; and
• A letter signed by the company’s legal counsel, advising that (a) public disclosure of the information is necessary for the company to comply with applicable securities laws, and (b) the information disclosed is the minimum necessary for such compliance.

If this is done, the abstract will not be automatically rejected or removed from AAIC on the basis of the SEC-required release of data or other information, though the situation is still subject to AAIC review. At a minimum, AAIC may in its discretion change the position of the abstract in AAIC, e.g., from oral presentation to poster. The abstract will most likely be ineligible for the AAIC news program.

The company may issue a news release at the time of SEC-required disclosure. The AAIC abstract itself may not be released publicly by the company or lead author. Mention may be made that full details will be presented at AAIC. AAIC would prefer that the news release:

• Summarize study data cited in the abstract in a qualitative rather than quantitative manner.
• Avoid interpretations about the implications of the data for practice.

As an example, a statement that a study “met its primary endpoint of improving cognition” is qualitative, while “ADAS-Cog scores remained stable for 18 months in the treated group” would be considered quantitative. A quote such as “We are encouraged by these promising results” would not be viewed as interpretive, while a quote such as “These findings support [drug] as first line therapy in mild to moderate Alzheimer’s” would be seen as an interpretation of the data.