Deciding an abstract means changing its status. Based on the status you choose, Rhythm can email the submitter to let them know the abstract was approved or declined, or that the presenter needs to respond to an invitation. This article explains how to change one abstract’s status, change several at once, and understand what staff can do that members cannot.
Prerequisites
- Permission to edit abstracts.
Change One Abstract's Status
- Open the abstract, open Abstract Options, and select Change Status.
- Choose the New Status.
- Turn on Suppress email notifications if you do not want Rhythm to send the decision email for this change.
- Select Update Status.
Result
Rhythm saves the new status. When the new status has a matching email, and the abstract’s type uses an approval process with that email switched on, Rhythm sends the email to the abstract’s people unless you suppressed it. Matching email statuses are approved and awaiting the presenter’s acceptance, declined, accepted by the presenter, and declined by the presenter. Any other status sends no email.
Tip
Saving without changing the status still counts as a save, so Rhythm can resend the matching email if one applies. If you opened the dialog only to check the current status, select Cancel instead of Update Status.
Change Many Abstracts' Statuses at Once
- Search the event’s abstracts, then select Bulk Changes above the results.
- Select the abstracts you want to change, then choose Change Status from the bulk menu.
- Choose the New Status, and turn on Suppress email notifications if you do not want Rhythm to send the decision email for this run.
- Select Update Status.
Result
Rhythm changes each selected abstract to the new status, just as it would if you changed them one at a time, and shows a results summary when the run finishes. Emails are sent per abstract, using the same rules as changing one abstract’s status.
Warning
When you do not suppress email notifications, the bulk dialog warns you that emails will go to every selected abstract’s presenters after you continue. Confirm the selected abstracts and the status you chose before proceeding, because this action changes every selected abstract at once.
What Only Staff Can Do
Portal members can only respond to their own presenting invitations, but staff can move an abstract from any status to any other status. You can also move a decision backward, such as changing an accepted abstract back to submitted. Rhythm does not keep a history of past abstract statuses, so a status you reverse or restore this way leaves no separate trace on the abstract. Only the record’s last-modified information shows that something changed.
Related Reading
To create an abstract, or to change its content and status together through the plain edit form instead of this dialog, see Create, Edit, or Delete an Abstract in the Console. To find the abstracts you want to change, see Search and Review Abstracts in the Console. After an abstract is accepted, you can turn it into a session; see Create Sessions from Abstracts. The approval process and its decision emails are set up under the event’s call for abstracts configuration. For general details about how a bulk change works, including its results summary, see How Bulk Changes Work.