Annual Meeting FAQs

We are hosting an in-person Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, September 3-6, 2026. The Annual Meeting is a great opportunity for scholars to gather for sessions and workshops, create valuable connections and research partnerships, see the latest in the Exhibit Hall, and tap into vital career services. We believe the in-person event provides an unparalleled opportunity for these events.

However, we also recognize that it may be difficult for members to travel to the Annual Meeting. As part of the meeting, we are hosting a limited number of live virtual Zoom panels, pre-selected by the division chairs, along with a live stream of the Plenaries, Breaking News panels and the Presidential Address. This will allow those who are unable to attend in person to still access the quality content and research that APSA members deliver at the APSA Annual Meeting.

Our First-Time Attendee Guide is a great place to start! If you have any questions not addressed in the guide or on the website, feel free to email us at meeting@apsanet.org.

January 14: Submission deadline for all proposals
March:
– Notifications are sent out and participation confirmations are due
– Registration and Housing opens
March 26: Participation confirmations due
March 31: Affiliated event requests and working group applications are due
April: Travel grant applications will open
June 8: Pre-registration deadline for program participants 
July 1: Early bird registration deadline

Thursday, September 11: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Friday, September 12: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 13: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

All iPoster sessions will take place in the Exhibit Hall on Thursday-Saturday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Limited travel grants are being offered to qualified applicants for attendance at the 2026 Annual Meeting. More information will be available soon. Any questions in the meantime can be sent to travelgrants@apsanet.org.

All union properties at the Annual Meeting in Boston have signed agreements in place through at least the end of 2026.

Registration will open in March. More information will be available on our registration page in the coming weeks.

Housing will open in March. More information on hotels and rates will be available shortly.

*Please be aware of unauthorized hotel solicitations. Only book your hotel through the link on our Housing page to avoid potential scams.* Companies may contact you indicating that they are affiliated with “Association/Event Name,” and claim to offer hotels at a reduced rates. These companies are not affiliated in any way with the American Political Science Association, and we strongly recommend that you DO NOT use their services. At past events, exhibitors and attendees have used these companies and lost deposits or did not receive the hotel rooms they reserved. If you are contacted by a company, please let us know at meeting@apsanet.org.

Yes, APSA will be offering childcare reimbursements for the 2026 Annual Meeting. More information will be available shortly.

For Program Participants:
Yes, invitation letters can be provided to all participants accepted and listed on the official program (both members and non-members). For those whose visa applications require an invitation letter to travel to the Annual Meeting, please complete our Invitation Letter Request Form at your earliest convenience. Please allow at least two business days for a response due to our high volume of requests. Please send any questions about invitation letters to meeting@apsanet.org.

If you would like to request an invitation letter that does not include the title of your paper(s) or panel(s), please email the request to meeting@apsanet.org.

For Attendees Only:
If you are not a presenter or participant on the Annual Meeting program, please instead use your meeting registration receipt as supporting documentation for your visa application where needed.

Registration receipts are emailed at time of purchase, but can be accessed again under your MyAPSA account. Access your receipts under “Recent Orders” by clicking on the “View” icon next to the appropriate receipt.

*Invitation letters are intended for visa application purposes only. If you require a letter for any other circumstances, such as travel funding or travel approval from your university or organization, please review the information on justification letters below.*

Notification emails were sent out on March 12th.

By Thursday, March 26:

1) Login to the submission system, using your APSAnet.org login information.

2) On the RSVP menu, select the “Confirm or Decline Participation” link.

3) For each participation role, you will need to accept or decline.  If you have been accepted to more than one role and/or session (paper presenter in a session, session chair, discussant, poster session presenter, etc.), you will see a list of items – for each you need to either confirm or decline. 

4) Click “Accept and Continue.”

5) Review your work and click “Save.” Once your response has been successfully recorded, you will be taken to a confirmation email page, and you will also receive a confirmation email, indicating your response(s).

All paper authors can now adjust the author and non-presenting co-author roles in the system. To do so, log into the submission system and click “Submit or Edit a Proposal.” Under this, you will be able to change authors to non-presenting co-authors and non-presenting co-authors to authors. Please note that all papers must have at least one author and an acceptance from that author to remain on the program. The deadline to be able to edit these roles via the submission system is Thursday, March 26. Once the change is made, a new invitation will be generated in the system for the presenting authors to respond to.

*Please note that non-presenting co-authors are considered “inactive” roles, so they do not require an RSVP and will not show up on your RSVP dashboard.

No. You can only adjust between presenting and non-presenting co-author roles for existing authors within the system. If you would like to add or remove an author, please contact meeting@apsanet.org to make this change for you.

All authors that declined will automatically become non-presenting co-authors after the March 26 deadline. If the all authors on a submission decline, the paper will be removed from the program. If you wish to be fully removed from participation on a paper, please email meeting@apsanet.org. 

If you are a non-presenting co-author, the system considers it an “inactive” role, so you do not need to RSVP, and it will not show up on your RSVP dashboard in the submission system. 

Before March 26th, please log into the submission system and decline your role there.

After March 26th, if you have already RSVP’d “Accept” for a role you now wish to decline, please promptly notify the following individuals to ensure you are removed from the program:

(1) Division Chair(s) (view division contact information).
(2) Panel Chair/Discussant(s) and Panelists (emails can be found in the online program when made live).
(3) APSA, by emailing meeting@apsanet.org to be removed from the program.*

*Please note that the PDF version of the program will be going into production at the end of June. We cannot guarantee any changes made after this time will be captured in the program.

All iPosters are created and published electronically, and displayed in a unique, searchable online gallery. iPosters will be presented in-person at the Annual Meeting in Boston during a scheduled time slot. Your iPoster will be shared on a screen in our Exhibit Hall during your scheduled poster session, along with other division presenters. Find more information on iPosters here.

Lightning Rounds are similar to PechaKucha and will be held in-person in Boston. Each session will feature eight presenters. Each scholar will have five minutes to present, followed by five minutes of feedback or Q&A. This format provides a structured framework, giving presenters not only an opportunity to share their research at the world’s largest political science meeting, but also a chance to develop and enhance their research communication skills through a concise, focused presentation.

All in-person panels will be fully in-person. The rooms will not be set up with equipment to support a hybrid format.

On your invitation email sent on 3/12, your session type listed in the “Session Type” field will say “Virtual” in it. All other participations are in person.  You can also reference this in the online program once available. 

Yes! If you are presenting on a virtual panel, but wish to attend the meeting in person, you are more than welcome to do so. Your presentation format does not impact how you must attend the meeting. If you have a virtual presentation but attend in person, you will just present your panel from your hotel room or another location suitable for your presentation.

Rooms have also been set aside for in-person attendees to participate in virtual panels from Boston from their own personal device or laptop. These rooms will feature 6′ tables with chairs. Meeting spaces will have general conference wifi access. We recommend bringing your device/laptop, power cord, and headphones/headset. Locations are available from Thursday, September 3 through Sunday, September 6 during panel hours.

No, once the panel has been accepted in an in-person or virtual format we cannot change the presentation format. Panel rooms and Zoom licenses have already been allocated to a specific number of panels in each presentation format, and we cannot make adjustments.

When you submit your paper or panel through All Academic, the form will ask you to indicate your preferred presentation format by selecting either “in-person” or “virtual” from the drop-down menu. Please note that while preferences will be considered, they cannot be guaranteed as there are a limited number of virtual panel allocations available to each division.

Once acceptance notifications have gone out, presenters cannot move from an in-person to virtual format or vice versa.