WOW with Your Abstract
Each year, RRNW receives a large number of strong abstract submissions for a limited number of presentation slots. Because RRNW uses a plenary format, presentations are selected not only for technical quality, but also for their relevance, clarity, innovation, and value to the broader restoration community.
So what separates a good abstract from a great one?
* What problem or question you addressed
* Why it is unique
* Why it matters to the restoration community
* What story does it tell
That may sound simple, but the best abstracts do this efficiently, clearly, and with purpose.
The strongest abstracts tell a story. They guide the reader logically from the challenge to the solution, then explain why that work matters beyond a single project site. Abstracts that connect technical work to implementation, policy, monitoring, community outcomes, climate resilience, or restoration practice tend to resonate with broader audiences.
Clarity also matters. RRNW presentations are delivered to interdisciplinary audiences that may include engineers, ecologists, geomorphologists, planners, tribal staff, regulators, students, and community practitioners. Avoid unnecessary jargon, overly academic writing, or long technical setup sections. Simple, direct writing is almost always stronger. As RRNW notes in its presentation guidance: if a sentence takes three lines, ask whether it can be said in one.
Whether your project was a major success, an unexpected failure, a monitoring effort, a funding experiment, or a small but meaningful restoration improvement, there is likely something valuable the community can learn from it. The best abstracts communicate that value clearly, concisely, and authentically.
The Makings of a Good RRNW Presentation
First step is to decide how your information would best present – is it a poster, abstract, or organizing a whole session? Need help?
Below are some best practice tips based on the abstracts we receive:
- Remember our ranking criteria that relate to content and use those words to explain how your presentation is awesome (relevance to river restoration, innovation and originality, impacts and applications). In short, how does your work contribute to the science and practice of restoration?
- Figure out how to say what you’re saying with the fewest words possible. If a sentence is three lines long – can you say it in one? State it in simple terms for clarity, then string those ideas together in a sequence that tells your story to maximize coherence! Google “transition words” to get a list of great phrases for going from one idea to another!
- Don’t forget about the community! Some projects don’t necessarily have a large community component and that’s ok. If you DO have that component, make sure to talk about it!
- Think about your structure. State what you did, how you did it, then what we can all learn from it – the best abstracts bring learning and understanding that benefits our whole community! Don’t spend too many of your valuable words describing the location.
To know where we’re going you have to know where we’ve been! Check out past symposia content to see where you stand along the evolution of our practice in the context of a history of amazing people! https://www.rrnw.org/past-symposia/