2023 Iowa Water Conference

The 17th annual Iowa Water Conference will be held on September 19-20, 2023, at the Meadows Events and Conference Center at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa. This year, the conference theme is “Navigating the Extremes.” Climate change has been disrupting water supplies and impacting the environment, socioeconomic structures, and ecosystems, such as forests, soils, lakes, cities, and communities.

The Iowa Water Conference and our conference planning partners invite individuals and groups to focus on the ways individuals and communities navigate climate extreme impacts on such areas as drinking water quality and quantity, floods, droughts, and other related subjects.

We are planning three broad focus areas associated with the theme of the conference:

• Climate change: water insecurity, managing/addressing water shortages/excess, water quality, cities’ climate action plans, and related topics
• Sociological implications of climate change: impact on underserved populations, flood management, planning for the metro area watersheds, drought management, including Iowa drought plan and associated policies, building resiliency on many levels, including water policy-building, outreach and education on K-12 and college levels as part of curriculum/instruction and research in higher education
• Women and water: climate change awareness of women landowners; women land legacy group(s); women’s role in policy- and community-building practices.

As a trend of increasing climate extremes is observed across the U.S., we are looking for the findings and responses to droughts, floods, heat waves and sudden intense rainfalls across our region. How do climate extremes impact our communities? What do we do to increase resilience and mitigate the impact of these increasingly frequent events?

Iowa Water Conference is a great opportunity for water, climate, agriculture, and natural resource professionals to come together, brainstorm and collaborate, exchange ideas, and learn from each other.

Join us in Altoona in September 2023 as we explore ways to navigate the extremes.

Eligibility
The general poster session is for researchers, water professionals, and students to showcase projects to conference attendees.

Dates
Posters will be displayed in the poster hall at the conference venue during the conference proceedings (September 19-20, 2023).

Topics
The Iowa Water Conference Planning Committee is specifically interested in posters that address the theme of this year’s conference. Posters that do not directly relate will be considered by the committee if they address innovative ideas or emphasize interdisciplinary teams at work.

Accepted posters include at least one of the following:

• Emphasize diversity of science and members of society (institution, geography, gender, ethnicity, subject)
• Timely water topics that address real-time needs of Iowans
• Exemplify success stories, ground-breaking data, or interesting research approaches
• Address policy discussions on water resources that are data-driven and informed by scientific discovery.

Traditional Tracks (select a primary and secondary topic)

• 2023 special focus: Des Moines and the Racoon River watersheds
• 2023 special focus: Climate change and water
• Cities’ climate action plans
• Community engagement and education
• Current research and technology
• Local agriculture and urban partnerships
• Policy making and water issues
• Sociological implications of climate change
• Soil/water connection
• Water insecurity in Iowa
• Watershed management
• Storm water green infrastructure
• Women, leadership, and water
• Stream restoration.

Conference Attendance
Poster presenters must attend the Iowa Water Conference. Registration for the conference can be accessed in July 2023.

Student Poster Presenters
Students entered in the Poster Contest will be expected to present their poster in the afternoon of September 19, 2023, during the Lighting Round session. The schedule will be provided to participants prior to the conference.

Student poster presenters will submit an image of their poster to be included on the Iowa Water Conference website before the event.

This is separate from the requirement of presenting in person where students are required to bring a digital copy of their poster for the Lighting Round session.

Submit a JPEG image and presentation title of your poster to ibassis@iastate.edu no later than August 14, 2023, to be included on the 2023 conference website.

Judges will evaluate posters and discuss the content with participating students during the Lighting Round session. Contest awards will be announced during an awards ceremony at the conference.

Students are encouraged to review the poster evaluation form prior to submission to understand the contest criteria (end of this document).

Poster Displays and Dimensions
Posters will be limited to no larger than 48 inches by 48 inches. Posters will be placed two per side of the poster display board measuring 96 inches by 48 inches. Display boards are covered with white paper and placed on top of a 6’ table. Poster authors are responsible for materials to attach posters to the display board. Velcro will NOT work with the display boards. Thumbtacks or staples work best. Tape or sticky adhesive material (including HandiTack) which will rip the poster board covering will not be permitted.

Communication
To receive notification and updates, please make sure emails from ibassis@iastate.edu and messages from Microsoft Conference Management Toolkit are not blocked or routed to the Spam Folder of your inbox.

Please spell out all acronyms and abbreviations at least once in submitted text.

Poster Submission

Proposals will be submitted through Microsoft Conference Management Toolkit. No submissions will be accepted via email to conference organizers. Please read the below instructions for completing the submission process. Incomplete submissions will be eliminated from consideration.

1. Go to https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/IWC2023/Submission/Index
2. Select “Create Account” and fill out the requested information to register
3. Once you are logged in, follow the below prompts to create your submission.
4. Select “Create New Submission”
5. Select “Posters 2023” for poster submission
6. Enter the title and abstract
7. Select “Add” under the Authors section to add additional authors (if any)
8. Select the subject area
9. Upload your poster
10. Answer additional questions
11. Select “Submit.”