KOACON Protocol

Venue of KOACON

Venue will be decided 2 years prior in AGB
Present rotation – Palakkad, Kochi, Alleppy, Kottayam, Trivandrum, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kannur, Kollam and Malappuram.

Basic requirements for Venue
  • Central Auditorium:
  • The main auditorium should haw a capacity of minimum 500. If this can be increased to 750 it would be better. The acoustics of the hall should be good and it should most preferably be air-conditioned.

  • Satellite halls:
    • Two satellite halls with minimum capacity of 100 (Free paper, Video presentations & Pre-conference workshop)
    • 2 “Boardrooms” with capacity for 15 persons should be available.
    • Storage space for conference office of minimum 250sq. feet.
    • A hall for poster display.
  • An area adjacent to the main hall (within 100 sq. yard of main auditorium) for the dining hall (An area of approximately 3500 sq. feet would be required).
  • Another area of similar size/or 2-3 long rectangular halls of 2000sq. feet and adjacent to (within 100-150 yds) of the auditorium will be required for the trade exhibition.
  • The venue shall be preferably located centrally in the city/town, or within 10 kms.
  • Adequate parking space should be available around the venue.
  • The venue should also have some area for providing “lounge space” for spouses/children.
  • Adequate space should be provided for registration counters.
  • The venue should be such that it can be cordoned off from general public and is safe from security point of view.
Dates of Koacons

The dates for the conference will be in last weekend of January (Date given by IOA) but can change under extraordinary circumstances in consultation with KOA & IOA. (The CME shall be on the last Friday of January & the rest of the programme shall be planned accordingly)

Finances of Conference
  • Registration fees for KOACON: The registration fees for KOACON should be increased by 10% each year and rounded off to the nearest 50. The registration fees for non-members will be a minimum of 60% more than the registration fees for members. Late fees will be 25% of registration fees after one month of last date of regular registration and 50% after 2 & 1/2 months from last date of regular registration. Spot registration will be double the normal registration fees. Registration fees for Post-graduate students will be 60% of registration fees for members.

    Early bird registration should be 10 % less.

  • 50% of the registration fees should be given to the KOA. This should be done in a transparent way with no delay.

  • Complimentary free registration:
  •   The following have to be given Complimentary free registration:

    • President of KOA and his wife
    • Hon. Secretary of KOA and his wife
    • Hon. Treasurer of KOA and his wife
    • Office Secretary of KOA
    • All Foreign guest speakers
    • All Indian guest speakers who are not members of KOA
    • Spouses of foreign guest speakers if they are accompanying them.
    • Invited dignitaries.
    • KOA members over 65 year of age provided they have a life membership for 5 years.
Scientific Programme of Conference

The scientific programme for the conference will be drawn up by a central committee consisting of the following:

  • President
  • President Elect
  • Hon. Secretary
  • Hon. Treasurer
  • Org.Chairman of the conference
  • Org. Secretary of the conference
  • Scientific committee Chairman.

Central Scientific Committee will have to meet between 15th & 30th November. It is mandatory that they scrutinize the papers select papers for competitive sessions & will be responsible for keeping the quality of the papers presented in KOACON at high standards. These members should not be an Author/co-Author in competitive sessions.

  • Orations:
  • There is at present Dr. K I George memorial oration & Silver Jubilee Oration of the KOA and it should be given prime time during the conference. It should be between 9:00 a.m. to 11:000 a.m. on the first day of main conference. There shall be no concurrent session during the oration. The chairpersons for the oration shall be the President and Secretary of KOA.
    Dr. K I George MEMORIAL ORATION: This will be presented by the immediate past President of the Association. If he has some inconvenience then one of the past presidents or someone selected by the organizing committee shall given the oration. The Secretary will inform the Orator at least 8 months in advance seeking the topic of his presentation which shall subsequently be informed to the local Organising Secretary. The duration of the oration shall be of one hour out of which the actual presentation shall be of 45 minutes. The President of KOA or of the past President who knows the orator will introduce the orator and invite him for the presentation (10 minutes). The Secretary shall assist the President in the award of the Medallion for the oration. The president will present the medal and certificate. The secretary shall arrange the medal and the certificate. The orator shall wear the medallion during the oration. The K. I. George Memorial oration shall be printed in the April issue of KOA Journal in subsequent year.
    Silver Jubilee Oration of the KOA – Papers shall be invited from KOA members who have more than 5 years life membership, through the 1st & 2nd newsletters. Papers should be sent to President of KOA. Evaluation will be decided by President & four Senior KOA members from different places who will be decided by President.Duration of oration shall be 30 minutes

  • Conference Lectures:
  • will be decided by organising committee. In addition to the conference lectures there shall be a “President’s invited Guest Lecture”. The President shall have the privilege of inviting a leading personality from the medical world or otherwise whom he feels has made significant contribution to society at large.
    The guest lectures will be of 25 minutes duration with 5 minutes for discussion. The Presidents guest lecture shall be of 30 minutes duration with no discussion.

  • Selected Presentations
  • The Central Committee shall meet preferably in 2nd week of November for selection the papers for oral presentation. Approximately one-third of papers selected for presentation in the conference shall be for oral presentations. Rest of them shall be for poster presentation. Criteria for selection of papers shall be circulated in the final announcement brochure for the conference. Every presentation becomes the property of the association which has the right to publish in the official publication of the association and the President & Secretary shall be the custodian. The Association can withdraw a presentation at any time. If selected the author has to be present the presentation. In any instance he/she cannot do it, it has to be intimated to the Chairman Scientific Committee. The Chairman can allow one of the co-authors to present or withdraw the presentation. If an author is not presenting without intimating the Scientific Committee, he and his co-authors shall face a ban of 2 years from presenting any papers in KOA.

    All presentations should be done by members only. One person can present only one paper.
    Presentations will be under following heads:
    (a)Oral presentation, (b) Poster presentation, (c) Video presentation.

  • Oral presentation:
  • There shall preferably be 6 presentations for a one hour session. Each oral presentation shall be of 8 minutes with 2 minutes for discussion. Strict control shall be kept on time taken for presentations. The oral presentations will comprise of Dr P K Surendran Gold medal Paper and Free Papers

      Dr. P. K. Surendran GOLD MEDAL COMPETITION:
      A special session of 2 hours (10 presentations) shall be kept reserved for this prestigious competition from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on the first conference day.

      Members desirous of participating in this shall mark on their abstract form that the presentation is for the competition. The competition is open to only for KOA members below 40 years of age on 31st December of year of conference. Proofs of membership and age are essential. The central scientific committee in its Oct/Nov meeting shall screen all such papers and select a maximum of 10 papers for the competition (less, if sufficient numbers are not found to be suitable).

      Selection shall be based on same format as for judgment during the competition. There shall be 3 judges from amongst Past-President of KOA/Senior Professors of Orthopaedics, preferably one to represent each region, from amongst those attending the conference. The Secretary will finalise the list in consultation with the President and inform the judges on the day of the competition from the available faculty. The judges/president/Secretary is required to maintain strict secrecy of appointment. The Judges are requested to hand over the judgments to the Secretary immediately after the competition. The judges, in consultation with each other, may decide not to award the gold medal if no presentation is found to be of a standard befitting the competition. The results of the competition shall be finalized collectively by the Judges, President, Hon. Secretary and Scientific committee Chairman. The result of the competition shall be announced during the Annual General Body of the Conference. The medal shall be presented in the inaugural function of the subsequent conference.

      GUIDELINES FOR P. K. SURENDRAN MEMORIAL GOLD MEDAL PAPER

      • Single case reports will not be considered unless the first in the world/country.
      • Retrospective studies will not be considered.
      • Papers which are sponsored or had received financial assistance will not be considered.
      • Papers is not eligible if it has been published prior to submission
      • Only registered authors who are members of the association can present (Proof of age to provided)
      • Once an abstract is accepted additional authors cannot be added
      • However excellent the paper may be if it crosses the eight minute deadline it will be disqualified
      • An affidavit should be collected from the author
      • Judges
        • Three judges will be selected by the President and secretary of KOA on the day of the conference from the available Faculty.
        • One of the judges should be below 45 years.
        • They should not be from the institution from which there is a paper / have coauthored any paper in this session.
        • They should not be part of the organizing committee of the conference.
      • Criteria for Judgement
      • (Assessement Sheets will be valued by the President & Secretary KOA) (Total 50 Marks.)

        • Significance of the study 5
        • Content 5
        • Clarity 5
        • Presentation 10
        • Projection 5
        • Discussion 5
        • Specific number of cases 5
        • Clinical or research data to support conclusion 5
        • Follow up 5

      FREE PAPERS: Free papers will be invited from members of KOA for presentation during the conference & will be decided by organising committee. Each member can present only one free paper as the fit author.

      The Free papers shall be preferably grouped into scientific sessions according to regions special techniques, specific diseases etc. The duration of individual scientific sessions shall not exceed 120 minutes (preferably 60-90 minutes). There shall preferably be 6 presentations for a one hour session. Each oral presentation shall be of 8 minutes with 2 minutes for discussion. Strict control shall be kept on time taken for presentations.

  • Poster Presentation:
  • Approximately two-third free papers selected for presentation will be invited to be presented as posters. The Central Committee reserves the right to recommend any paper for poster instead of oral presentation, and representations against this shall not be accepted. The Organising Secretary shall make adequate arrangements for proper display of the posters as well as for interaction of the author with delegates interested in discussing the poster. The standard size of posters shall be 175cms vertical height and 85cms across inclusive of the title, subject matter, photographs. Posters in non conforming formats are likely to be taken down. The Organising Secretary shall make basic arrangements for putting up the posters. The best poster shall receive the Best Poster award. The judges for the competition shall be selected as for P. K. SURENDRAN MEMMORIAL Gold Medal Competition. The authors of posters shall be present in the hall during the visit of judges – the time/date of which shall be properly announced bylocal Organizing Secretary. The format of judgment shall be similar to the P. K. SURENDRAN MEMMORIAL Gold Medal Competition.

  • Video Presentation:
  • A separate hall shall be reserved for video presentations. Each member can make only one video presentation. The duration of each presentation shall be 12 minutes with 3 minutes for discussion. The duration of each presentation shall be 7 minutes for video & 3 minutes for discussion. Organizing committee will give the money for gold medal.

  • Chairpersons for Scientific Session:There shall be two chairpersons and one rapporteur for each scientific session. The Central Committee from amongst members of the KOA shall select these with interest/experience in the field for which the session is devoted. A broad consideration for representation from all over the country shall be ensured for selecting the chairpersons/rapporteur. The Organising secretary shall give a list of members from host chapter for inclusion in the list of chairpersons. Guidelines for chairpersons shall be notified.
  • Preconference Workshops:At present there is no PCWs. The KOA may institute this in near future.
  • Prof. P A Alexander Memorial Continuing Medical (Orthopaedic) Education Programme: This programme shall be held on the first day of the main conference. The topic, guest speakers and programme will be drawn-up strictly in consultation with President/Hon. Secretary of the Association each year.