Ballast is SAMLA’s dedicated conference software portal/platform. It is the same software used by other MLAs such as NeMLA and PAMLA. You can create an account or log on to Ballast at samla.ballastacademic.com or by clicking “Ballast Login” in the top-right corner of the screen.

Ballast is the official record and sole software through which to organize your event, submit your abstract, renew your membership, and register for the conference. Requests to circumvent Ballast will be declined.  

Everyone interested in SAMLA for its mailing list, conference, and SAR journal need to be using Ballast. Especially for the conference. We only process conference submissions that are submitted through Ballast correctly. We do not process conference proceedings via email.  

You can create an account or log on to Ballast at samla.ballastacademic.com or by clicking “Ballast Login” in the top-right corner of the screen. 

Login to Ballast at samla.ballastacademic.com. Click on the “Membership and Registration” tab. Select the purchase item for “Membership” in the calendar year. Select any additional purchase items you would like. If you’re trying to pay for conference registration at the same time as membership, it will appear as an add-on on the next page. Click “Next” and follow on-screen instructions to submit your payment. We accept all major credit cards but prefer debit cards if possible.  

Login to Ballast at samla.ballastacademic.com. Click on the “Membership and Registration” tab. Select the purchase item for “Conference Registration.” Select any additional purchase items you will like. If you’re trying to pay for membership and conference registration at the same time as membership, select “Membership” on the first page, click “Next,” and Conference Registration will appear as an add-on on the next page. Click “Next” and follow on-screen instructions to submit your payment. We accept all major credit cards but prefer debit cards if possible.

Errors can appear for multiple reasons. However, the three most common reasons are as follows: 1) your payment method is being declined due to incorrectly entered information, 2) your payment method is being declined due to insufficient funds, or 3) your username on Ballast contains accented letters or an extra white space that is causing the system to glitch. It is always good to double-check that your error is not happening because of your Ballast username. You can check this by going to your name in the top-right corner of Ballast, clicking “Edit Profile,” re-typing your name without any extra spaces and by changing accented letters to non-accented letters. Click Save and go back to the “Membership and Registration” tab and attempt to submit payment again – it should go through.  

Go to your name in the top-right corner of Ballast, click on it to open the dropdown, and click “Edit Profile.” The screen will open for you to change what you need to. Click “Save” to save the changes. 

They are already visible in Ballast. Please navigate to your Session Manager at the bottom of the home page splash screen and click “Manage.”