How to prepare a conference. How to organize a scientific conference. How to organize a press conference
Conference (from the Latin "confero" - to gather in one place) - a meeting, a meeting of representatives of any states, organizations, groups, as well as individuals to discuss certain issues.
The conference can be an excellent opportunity to convey important information to the target audience, analyze the chosen topic from all aspects and motivate listeners to take any action. When holding such an event, it is necessary to take into account all the nuances (preparedness of participants, ways of presenting information, organizational and preparatory measures).
According to the volume of information and the total duration of the event, they can be divided into two main categories: large (congresses and meetings consisting of several sections) and small (concise presentation of the essence of the topic under consideration).
According to the composition of the participants and the method of holding the conference, there are: open (without restrictions, with the participation of all those present) and closed (selected composition, only speakers disclose the topic).
The following conferences are distinguished by purpose and style:
- highly specialized and large-scale;
- international and national;
- business and educational;
- anniversary and memorial.
How to host an event?
The success of any event (not just a conference) depends on two factors - on the degree of its preparedness and on the atmosphere of its holding. That is why the first thing you should start with is planning. You need to determine the form of the event, the theme, the range of issues discussed, the venue, potential partners and participants. Separately, it is worth thinking about the financial side of the issue, including the need and appropriateness of introducing an organizational fee. Do not forget to discuss this issue with the accounting department of your organization so that the estimated financial costs can be allocated to specific expense items. 
Then, taking into account the scale of the event, form an organizing committee, and it is desirable that your colleagues not only be performers, but also put forward various initiatives themselves. Listen for fresh ideas, brainstorm, and remember that truth comes from argument.
At the organizational stage, it is necessary to draw up a detailed scenario of the event with a clear breakdown by time. Consider all the details up to the buffet and coffee breaks, for the organization of which you can invite a company that provides catering services - catering services.
Another important stage of preparation is the provision of information coverage. In this age of the Internet, large events tend to create their own websites, but even if your organization does not have sufficient funds, this stage cannot be completely ignored. For example, your partners can distribute information about the event for free.
The event should be well organized, and information should be presented not only orally, but also through other means. To ensure comfort, you may need to rent a projector and screen. This equipment is necessary because for the effective presentation of information, speakers can demonstrate presentations, graphs, diagrams, and illustrations to the audience. Such materials may be broadcast in in electronic format through the screen so that each participant can clearly see the essence of the issue.
Of course, presenters must speak to an audience using microphones. The information that will be presented to the visitors of the event must first be saved on a computer. Conference participants can be given printed materials, stationery and memorable souvenirs (brochures, magazines, leaflets, notepads, ballpoint pens, badges, company packages). As a rule, before the start of the conference, attendees put matching bracelets on their hands so that they can find their group if they get lost. During breaks, participants must be provided with meals (coffee, snacks, lunch, confectionery).
How to organize a scientific conference?
Scientific conferences (according to their status they occupy an intermediate place between congresses and seminars) have their own peculiarities. One of the main figures is the scientific secretary of the conference, who corresponds with the participants, draws up the program and prepares a collection of abstracts for publication. An important task is to send out invitations on time and sort out applications. At serious scientific conferences, as well as those dedicated to memorable dates, they begin to do this a year in advance.Printing booklets with the following information can be of great help to you: title, place, date, emblem, deadlines for submitting materials, contact details of the organizers, time and place of publication of materials.
How to organize an international conference?
At an international conference, it is necessary to indicate in advance the languages used, find translators, prepare an excursion program for out-of-town and foreign participants, and book hotels for them.Such events are held with the aim of teaching the audience new skills, familiarizing participants with the latest technological developments, broadening the horizons and general development of people. Conferences are needed so that those present receive detailed knowledge on issues of interest, improve their abilities. Materials presented to the audience should be consistent with the theme of the conference and its goals. It is assumed that after the event, the participants receive the necessary theoretical information, which in the future they can apply in practice.
The editors wish you success, and let the organization of the conference become a new milestone in your career growth.
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Before deciding to organize a conference, think carefully about whether you need it. There are few benefits from conferences. There is a lot of trouble for those members of the organizing committee who actually organize it. At first it seems that conferences can advance scientific thought, can become, if not a useful tool for science, then at least a memorable event for participants. Both are wrong. Intelligent and authoritative speakers come to the conference (if they come) only to speak. They themselves do not listen to anyone, except for those whom they are forced to listen to, that is, those who are in front of them according to the schedule. Having made their report, they almost always immediately leave, so there is no communication with them. They also, with rare exceptions, do not report particularly interesting results, so they are not really worth listening to. It is better to read their texts.
As for, I beg your pardon for the frankness, representatives of an ordinary scientific level, they send papers to conferences only in order to have an extra publication. Most of them are graduate students, whose deadline for defense is inexorably approaching. In this situation, they convulsively increase their miserable publicity, for which they give the same text of theirs (which is usually the second or third chapter of an abstract) a form for a wide variety of conferences by inventing new names and rearranging the first few phrases.
A thin layer between these two levels are smart speakers who, perhaps, really want to bring up a new idea for discussion, but their voice is heard the least of all. It is better to rely on the texts in this case as well. A new thought will surely break through, it does not need conferences for this.
Another thing is if you are an ordinary member of the organizing committee, that is, no one asked your opinion. Then you will have to organize a conference, whether you like it or not.
What are the conferences
Conferences are small and large. Although there are other criteria for classification, this is the most important. Large conferences are completely different from small ones. First I will talk about the big
The largest conferences are sometimes called congresses. I participated in the organization of one congress. It was a congress in the full sense of the word. It was attended by about four thousand people with abstracts and more than two thousand personally. If you work, let's say, at the philosophical faculty of an average university, and your faculty occupies one floor of the building - imagine two and a half thousand people on this floor, and you will understand everything.
In large conferences, there is usually one plenary session at which titled speakers speak, then several sections that go on, perhaps for several days. A well-known scientist is usually appointed as the chairman of the section. But you need to keep in mind that being chairman is a real job, so before you appoint, you need to make contact with the person and ask for his consent. The chairman must sit through all meetings of his section. He gives the floor to the speakers, determines the order of speech, interrupts those who are talking, gives the floor to the questioners, interrupts the questioners who are talking, if necessary, even bans, that is, removes them from the hall. It is usually advisable to appoint two co-chairs and another scientific secretary. This is even necessary if the section will run for several days.
Retreat. How many days is the section open? One.
Based on the number of applications sent, usually the organizing committee of a large conference expects that the section will work for two or three days. It must be borne in mind that about half of those who sent applications will not come. Formally, you still need to leave time for them (what if they come?). But it's realistic to keep in mind that sections almost always finish work in one day. Of those who arrived, someone will make a report faster than planned, someone will go to another section, and someone, on the contrary, will talk. You need to plan in such a way that, on average, they will speak one and a half times longer than the regulations. Based on this, you need to draw up a regulation.
An example of calculating the regulation:
20 people applied to the section.
We expect that, most likely, 10 will come. But we will indicate all 20 in the program
The conference lasts two days (a large one can last three)
The first half of the first day is devoted to the plenary session.
We have three halves at our disposal: the second half of the first day, the first and second halves of the second day. Each half goes for 3 hours (more impractical, people will start to go out in search of a smoking room and a buffet).
Total 9 hours for 20 reports. On average, half an hour per report (admissible rounding), of which 20 minutes for a report, 10 minutes for questions and discussion.
Most likely, the real work of the section from the mentioned example will go only one second half of the first day. And during this time, everyone who arrived at this section and are present on this day will have time to make reports. But time will, of course, be short (there are about 10 of them for three hours!). On the second day, the lost ones will arrive, who will search for their section according to the schedule and will not find anything. It would be good to foresee this: to make some section especially long, so that all those who want to make reports on other sections on the second day will stick there.
In general, as we see from this example, regulations are a very vague thing. But at the same time, it must be borne in mind that during the actual course of the section, it is absolutely necessary. The chairperson of the section calculates the real regulations, as they say, online, that is, in the course of the meeting. It is necessary to put out a sheet where everyone who is present will sign up, where those who want to make a report indicate its name. The chairman, having received this list, must compare it with the program, the first to give the floor to those who are enrolled in the program, the second - to those who came from this section on the wrong day (and almost everyone will come to the first and will not come to the second), and the last - those who did not come from their section. If no reasonable timetable interferes with such a schedule, the meeting is adjourned to the next day, and still, the probability that someone will appear is no more than 1/2. If it fits, meetings must be held on that day. Since the schedule is, of course, tense, interrupt those who are talking.
If the plenary session lasted the entire first day, and the work of the sections began only on the second day and lasts all day, it must be borne in mind that after the break the number of those present decreases by about half. If two breaks are planned, then a quarter will remain by the end. How to quickly resolve the issue with the order of reports - you will have to navigate on the spot according to the circumstances. Professors and other high-status speakers should always be placed first, unless they are known to be crazy.
How many sections should a large conference have? First of all, it depends on the number of participants, and secondly, on the subject matter. A congress, that is, a conference of the broadest subject, may include several dozen sections (ours had 25 large sections and the same number of small ones). If the topic is average, something like "Good and Evil in the Modern World", then there can be 5 - 7 sections. The more sections, the more difficult it is to conduct them, because people begin to rush back and forth during meetings. With the number of participants, the number of sections is in the ratio of approximately 1:20 - 1:40. The more participants, the more unpredictable the course of the section. If the conference is necessarily conceived as a huge one, then either more sections or more participants will have to be made. Between these two options, the choice is already thematic.
The initial list of sections and their final list may not be the same. The initial list of sections is announced along with the announcement of the conference. The final one depends on what abstracts came. If one section received a lot more abstracts than others, then it can be divided into different sections or subsections, and several sections can be merged into one, although I mentioned above that it is useful to have one section that works clearly longer than others. Together with the initial definition of the list of sections, a list of potential chairmen can also be estimated.
Small conferences do not carry such loads as large ones. Small, I think, should be called a conference, the number of participants in which does not exceed 20 and in which there is one section. Small conferences are usually devoted to narrow topics (something like "The interpretation of the 42 fragments of Heraclitus in the school of Annals"). According to my observations, it makes sense to organize a small conference if the host organization (I am considering a university) has at least half of the speakers on the topic, at least five people. It can be, for example, a professor and his students.
Small conferences are open and closed (large - only open). Closed conferences are those whose composition is determined by the organizing committee, the acceptance of abstracts is not announced. It makes no sense to disseminate information about them widely. Conferences of this type are the most peaceful. It makes sense to hold them within one day, the chairman is a local professor, the co-chairman is some titled scientist from the guests, it is best to alternate the speakers, locals and guests take turns speaking. One lunch break and one coffee break. A few professors will leave by the end, but it is hoped that the rest will stay and even have a relatively fruitful discussion.
Closed conferences, for all their merits, have the same drawback as all others: they are basically useless. Since there are few participants, they can also read each other's texts. A significant benefit of a small closed conference, which is almost always characterized by a high level of reports, is a collection of materials (see below).
Open conferences
Open conferences are those that accept abstracts from everyone. At such conferences, the issue of selection of abstracts is acute. If the conference is large, then the abstracts can be almost not selected, only clearly incompetent and insane ones should be rejected. If it's small, you'll have to pick it up. This selection can be quite a frustrating task, and certainly very time consuming. Relative objectivity is achieved only if all abstracts are read by several members of the organizing committee (at least three). It is necessary to try to achieve two opposite goals: to select the best abstracts and to maintain a proportional representation of graduate students and regions. Why the latter is needed - I will write later.
Conference printed materials
All large conferences, and many smaller ones, produce printed materials. There are two types of materials: abstracts and reports, and two output options: before the conference and after. Large conferences usually try to release abstracts before the conference.
Abstracts are grouped into sections, within sections - alphabetically. At the beginning of the materials of each section, sometimes its chairmen, co-chairs, etc. are indicated, but in my opinion this is not necessary. About each author, it is necessary to indicate the Surname, name, city, institution that he represents. Sometimes they indicate the academic degree and title, but personally I don’t like it. However, if there are many titled participants, then it looks good. Positions (old teacher, associate professor), in my opinion, are absolutely useless.
The volume of abstracts is approximately 2 pages. If the conference is not very large, then you can afford up to 6000 characters.
If the collection is large, it is useful to give an alphabetical list of participants and the section number at the end (you can use the page number, this is even better, but technically more difficult).
Thesis philosophy: vanity
Despite the fact that abstracts are not a prestigious publication, many people are chasing after them. The main reason is that it is very easy to make abstracts. Few people are not able to write two pages, wrapping some of their favorite ideas with a couple of buzzwords and a couple of words from the name of the conference.
It must be said unequivocally: theses are an exclusively formal thing. Nobody ever reads them. Generally speaking, writing them should have been humiliating and at least boring, like writing a favorite idea on a newspaper and throwing the newspaper in the trash. Prevalence of benefits from any publication over considerations scientific benefit shows how far science has gone from cognitive activity along the path of transformation into a social institution. Publications-degrees-prestige-money is one of the essential economic components of modern life, not to mention its social aspect. But I can't delve into this topic right now. It just needs to be remembered when collecting abstracts for the conference. Well, if you are a self-respecting scientist, do not write abstracts for a conference if you are not going to come up with a real idea.
As for the publication of reports, this is a good thing. Collections of reports of good conferences sometimes live for a long time and are actively read. They are usually released after the conference. Reports are published only by small conferences, a large conference cannot publish a collection of reports because it will be too large.
With this, I will finish the general words about conferences and move on to how to organize them.
Conference organization
Every conference begins with the decision to hold it. Conferences are regular (for example, "64th annual international readings on the problem of good and evil") and one-off. It is necessary to conduct regular ones, they form the face of the university. As for one-offs, the decision can come from above or below. An ordinary member of the organizing committee cannot influence the decision from above. These can be, for example, anniversary conferences dedicated to the anniversary of the birth or death of an outstanding figure. If there are people in the university who are professionally involved in this figure, then it makes sense to arrange a small conference, which may turn out to be of interest. If there are no such people - a disastrous event.
If the conference is organized from below, I have already urged readers to approach such initiatives critically. But in fairness, it must be said that this may turn out to be good. Well, if the organizer is a group of enthusiasts, rallied around some problem. For example, conferences on logic are traditionally well held at our faculty, due to the existence of a close-knit community of professional logicians.
In short, it was decided to hold a conference, and there is no point in discussing it any more.
We need to set a date.
A well-organized conference is being prepared throughout the year. Thus, if it is not an anniversary, it is better to appoint it for a year later. If it is an anniversary, then, of course, you need to coincide with the date. Timing is acceptable with a deviation of about a month.
In any case, you need to keep in mind that at least a week should pass from sending out an information letter to the appointed deadline for submitting abstracts (this is a joke, although it happens quite often), and at least a month from the deadline to the conference itself (this is also joke, and just as bitter). In general, a conference cannot be organized in less than two months. This, of course, is about open conferences. A closed one can be organized in a month, if there are non-resident participants, and if there are no non-resident participants, in a couple of days.
Since I work at a university, the specifics of a university are as follows. It is best to hold large conferences at the end of the session, this is the time of maximum freedom for teachers and, very importantly, for audiences. But this is optional. It is better not to hold it at the very beginning of the semester, teachers usually do not want to be distracted at this time, they have not yet reached the lecturer's autopilot. If a lot of people from other cities are expected, you can spend it during the winter holidays or at the very beginning of the summer, but before the start of the selection committee, especially if the building is small.
On the days of the week, a good option for a large two-day conference is Friday and Saturday. There are usually fewer training sessions on Saturday, there are places to hold sections.
The next step is to determine the subject, scope and nature of the conference (open or closed). The topic was broadly clear and when the decision was made. If the conf is small, it remains only to come up with a name. If it is large, then you need to determine how many sections there will be and their approximate names. You can separately write a list of hot topics on which the main abstracts are expected to arrive (Abortion - for and against; Euthanasia - good or evil? - in that spirit). Immediately you need to decide what will be printed materials, abstracts before or, in the case of a small conference, reports after.
Depending on the capabilities of the organizing committee (that is, whether there is a person who owns the Word and the PDF format and is ready to kill three days), the requirements for the theses are formulated. Requirements are hard and soft. If the right person is not available, stringent requirements are formulated. They list the font, size, sample title, margins, length, requirements for footnotes and bibliography. Please note that no matter how you formulate the requirements, at least a third of the authors will not fulfill them. Some even, apparently, consider it zapadno, but most, I think, just do not pay attention. As a result, there will be inconsistency in both fonts and headings, and the publication will look completely unrespectable.
Better, of course, to find a layout specialist. Most of the publishers I dealt with agree to take the layout in PDF or even in Word. In this case, there is no need to formulate strict requirements for the format of abstracts, it is easier to format them yourself. In the requirements, then you need to specify only the volume and list of necessary information that the authors must indicate about themselves. Of course, a sample of a well-formed heading and footnote won't hurt, because someone will still be able to follow it.
Deadline calculation
The deadline is calculated based on the following considerations: in the interval between the deadline and the conference itself, you need to: 1) read the abstracts; 2) select good ones or reject bad ones; 3) sort by sections (at the same time specifying the list of sections); 4) place them in one Word file in the right order; 5) uniformly format; 6) transfer to the publishing house; 7) the publishing house must print them. The selection stage will take about 2 weeks, formatting - two days of full work or a week, if a busy teacher (like me) does this in his free time, and how much time the publishing house will take - this must be negotiated separately, usually it is from 2 weeks to a month, but it is possible to agree in a week, especially if there is good funding. In short, the deadline is on average two months before the start of the conference.
In what form should abstracts be accepted?
There are currently three options for submitting abstracts to the conference.
1. Abstracts are sent by mail, printed on paper. It is necessary to require that the author put at least two diskettes with an electronic version of the abstract or duplicate them on one diskette at least three times. If a paper letter came without a diskette, this is the basis for rejecting the abstracts on formal grounds. This method itself is outdated, but for now it is better not to refuse it. Uninterrupted and inexpensive Internet is not available in all parts of our country.
2. Abstracts are sent email, attached file. This is the most common option right now. In the e-mail itself, many authors write their questionnaire, although it is inconvenient to copy it from there, it is better to require them to include it at the end of the same file as the abstract.
Be sure to set up an automatic responder with the text: "Your letter has been received."
3. Online registration on the conference website. This requires an appropriate software. Nevertheless, it is time for large conferences, and even more so for congresses, to switch to this method. The program itself registers a person, accepts a file of abstracts from him, hangs out for everyone to see, when the abstracts have been approved or disapproved by the organizing committee, it sends a notification to the participant. Be sure to configure the program so that the fields with the author's personal data are hidden, visible only to the organizing committee.
Now you need to write and send out an information letter.
Based on all these decisions made, an information letter is drawn up. The paper is official, it must be approved by the dean of the faculty, although it goes to the mailing list without a signature. The information letter indicates the name of the university, the large name of the conference, its large date, then the program (at this stage it is approximate: the names of sections or possible topics), you can indicate famous speakers, if any. Then the composition of the organizing committee is indicated. It is possible to single out a separate program committee, including all well-known titled scientists in this field, and their consent is not necessary - they will not have to work. But it is better, of course, to inform them, otherwise unforeseen interpersonal interactions are possible. Then there will be wedding names in the program committee, and really working people in the organizing committee.
If there is a registration fee, indicate the amount (about finances later).
Then you need to specify the deadline for submitting abstracts and requirements for them. Be sure to provide a template for the questionnaire, which each participant must fill out about himself.
At the end - the contacts of the organizing committee, including the postal address, landline phone, e-mail and the address of the conference website (more on the website).
The information letter is sent through two types of channels: paper and electronic. Paper at first glance is outdated, but it works. It makes sense to send paper letters to large universities and research centers working on the subject of the conference. They hang them out there on their boards, and these letters are really read.
The electronic method, unfortunately, is as good as it is bad. The good thing about it is that you can very easily reach a large number of people with a mailing list. The bad thing is that incoming conference notices annoy many people no less than spam, and sometimes they are confused with spam. There is an excellent professional mailing list in philosophy, which I actively use - moderated by Ikhtik and T. Rushchina [email protected]
You can send yourself. Then you need to have a base. The base is assembled, as a rule, based on the results of previous conferences.
It is also a good idea to place an information letter in thematic communities in LiveJournal and forums.
Conference funding
The best source of funding is a grant. The Russian Humanitarian Foundation grants grants for humanitarian conferences, the RFBR gives grants for natural science conferences, and there are other foundations. The application must be made to the Russian Foundation for Humanities three months before the year when the conference will take place, to the RFBR - a quarter before the conference, in general, the conditions are different. The fund transfers money to the account of the organization. It is best to indicate the boss, for example, the dean, as the project leader. The more known the leader's name, the more likely it is to receive a grant.
If a grant is given (but, unfortunately, this will be known for sure shortly before the conference), then there should be no financial problems. Where does the money go?
1. Publication of a collection of abstracts. At current rates in Moscow, this is about 100,000 rubles. for a big conference; if a collection of reports is planned, the amount may be higher. It depends mainly on the publisher and the quality of the cover.
2. Settlement of non-resident participants in a hotel. At Moscow State University it is cheap, 800 rubles. per day per person. More problems with booking seats. If possible, a student hostel and a hotel should be provided.
3. Sometimes, when there is a lot of money, you can pay someone's fare.
4. Consumables: paper and disposable cups. Paper will be needed for the program and for the supplies needed in paragraph 5. Also, pens, notebooks and folders are purchased for each participant, in excess, of course. It takes about 15,000 rubles.
5. Reception (buffet, dinner, etc.) This cannot be paid from the fund's money, there is no such article. This can pay the university in exchange for consumables. But in general, the reception can be done at the expense of the participants. This item is optional.
What to do if the fund did not give money? All items, except for item 1, are removed. Participants themselves pay for the hostel and travel, in invitations (more on them later) they must be warned about this: many will arrange a business trip and pay at the expense of that side.
Point 1 will still have to be fulfilled - at the expense of the university or at the expense of patrons. The requirements for cover, paper and print quality, publication speed, etc. are reduced. Sometimes it is possible to bring the price to 50,000.
In addition, you can enter the registration fee and payment for the collection of abstracts, if it is released by that time. This thing is so burdensome that it is better not to mess with it until the last. Before entering, you need to consult on legal issues related to cash. People need to issue receipts for payment of the registration fee, receipts must be on behalf of an organization that has the right to commercial activities. If you trade in the collection, the organization must have the right to trade. All this can be checked by the tax authorities at any time and, in case of violations, provide the administration of the university with a serious headache. It is best to keep financial records not through the university, but through some organization at the university - an alumni association, for example. Such organizations, as a rule, have the appropriate permissions.
If you managed to go down this path, then you can recoup about half of the costs. Another half pays off in symbolic capital; if the conference is a success, it even pays off in excess.
When the issue with finances is resolved, the organizing committee, in general, relaxes before the deadline and writes its own theses. In addition, it is necessary to constantly conduct PR work among titled scientists, inviting them to make a report at the plenary session. Many of them have time scheduled six months in advance, it will be too late to invite them at the last moment, even if they want to.
We are building a conference website.
The first step in choosing a site is to find a site. Well, if it is provided by the website of your university (faculty, department, etc.). Agree with the system administrator about the rights. You must have the rights to edit the pages of your directory, to create new pages, to upload files in html or php, pdf, gif formats (useful), access to the directory via FTP; if you do online registration - this is generally the subject of long discussions with the system administrator. Humanitarians need to keep in mind that they need to prepare for conversations with system administrators by studying a foreign language and foreign mentality, because these people do not speak humanitarian languages. In a difficult case, stock up on the written order of the dean on the organization of the conference site based on the site of the university. The best thing is if one of the members of the organizing committee has a computer programmer son who is willing to help. Personally, I put these functions on my spouse :), but this is not the best option, husbands are busier people than children.
If the university / faculty / department does not have a website or failed to agree with the system administrator, you can use one of the many free sites, at least narod.ru. It is not prestigious, but it provides the necessary functions.
Let's start by creating the main page.
Let our conference be called "Metaphysics of Good and Evil". The site is located on narod.ru at the address: za-dobro.narod.ru. The main page is called index.html (may be another extension if the site is not on the people). It is referenced in the newsletter. It provides basic information about the conference - in large print, with pictures, which can be views of your city, Latin sayings, or something else suitable.
Then there should be links to other pages, they can be placed in the same directory: a page with the full text of the newsletter, where you can write more of what went into the mailing list (add topics, for example); translate the information letter into English and make a page, the link text is also in English, a page with the participant's profile, with a sample of perfectly formatted abstracts in PDF. At the bottom of the main page, provide the contacts of the organizing committee. Then - a list of accepted abstracts (author's surname and title). This list is also written on a separate page. The list of approved names will grow as abstracts come in, so this page should be bookmarked. With each surname - a link to the theses.
From the main directory we organize a special folder for abstracts. We put them there in PDF format, everything is possible, but it is better - only accepted ones. It is necessary by all means to avoid a situation where some abstracts were approved, a letter was sent to the author about this, and then it was decided to reject them. It is better to move to another section.
Time jump - deadline is coming
All domestic thinkers always send abstracts exactly on the day of the deadline. As the rarest exceptions, there may be those who send in a day. There will also be latecomers. If the delay is no more than three days - you can accept. If, more than expected, as a particularly pleasant exception, a certain number of abstracts arrive in a week, you can start reading and selecting them immediately, but you need to keep in mind that the bulk of the comparison will arrive later. This is where the unpleasant situation mentioned above can arise: at first someone's theses seemed to be nothing, but against the background of the bulk they look losing. Here we must adhere to the rule: what is accepted is accepted.
After the deadline, three days later, the organizing committee meets, counts the abstracts, discusses the selection criteria and sits down to read. The criteria, as I mentioned above, depend on the size of the conference. On a small - the best are selected. On the big one, the unsuitable ones are culled. However, if there is still an excess on the big one, then you can select it, but in my opinion this is unnecessary. If a decision is made to select the best, then insults cannot be avoided, and this is far from the best intellectual product that a good conference is designed to provide. To minimize negative emotions, it is necessary to evaluate the abstracts collegially. It would be nice if one of the members of the program committee could be involved, but it should not be a militant misanthrope. In addition, it is better if persons with an unbalanced psyche, with inclinations towards sadism and with a pronounced orientation towards any marginal scientific school are not involved in the work on evaluating the theses. In principle, it is possible to entrust the selection even to a group of graduate students of the second or third year: the conciliar mind makes mistakes noticeably less often than the individual mind.
It is imperative to ensure that the abstracts of famous people - doctors, heads of departments, etc. are not rejected. They, unfortunately, must be accepted at any quality.
Conference Order
At least a month, and preferably two before the conference, you need to issue an order to hold the conference. For universities: if the conference is small, up to 10 people, an order is issued for the faculty. If large, then an order from the university. For other organizations - an order for organization.
The problem with the order is that it must go through numerous approvals.
I describe for the case of my university: the order for the university must be signed by the rector, the approvals must be put by: vice-rector for scientific work; Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs (Academic Policy); vice-rector for administration; Chief Accountant; if there are foreigners - for work with foreigners; if there are non-residents - management of hostels; territory protection department; if there is equipment - the chief engineer. Many vice-rectors are busy people and the order waits for their signature for several days. And he can wait several weeks for the final signature of the rector. At the same time, without an order, you can’t book a place in a university dormitory, you can’t agree with engineers about equipment, you can’t even arrange a passage to the territory, in short, an order must be ready at least two weeks before the conference and, therefore, you need to start signing it for two months.
The text of the order itself must first be agreed with the responsible people in the administration. Usually, such a responsible person sits in the administration of affairs, who has a sample form of the university, all the requirements for registration (and they are tough, and they must be met), the necessary wording and a list of people who must agree. These requirements are changing, so an order made on the model of last year can be rejected at the most inopportune moment: when almost all the coordinators have already signed it, only the rector remains. At this moment, it may turn out, for example, that the preamble should be printed not in 14 size, but 12, and not one and a half intervals, but one. Such things are usually very annoying, but they must be done and treated like bad weather: not trying to argue, but dressing.
What we organize on the computer
One of the members of the organizing committee (in this case, it's me) organizes a conference folder on his computer. It has a subfolder - theses. In this folder, subfolders - by the name of the author. It is definitely better to store each abstract in a separate folder. There are rare conference enthusiasts who edit readable abstracts. Then the information letter should include the phrase "The Organizing Committee reserves the right to reject and edit abstracts." Actually, in my opinion, it is not necessary to do this. Unsuitable abstracts should be rejected, the rest should be placed as is. However, it is necessary to make corrections in individual cases, for example: if an accidental error is made in good abstracts; if good abstracts exceed the volume by one or two irrelevant paragraphs, these paragraphs are deleted; if there is no name or it is obviously unsuitable (unnecessarily provocative, for example). On all these issues, if you wish, you can contact the authors and invite them to make the necessary changes, but if there is little time, you can correct it yourself. If a well-known person did not attach a questionnaire, and many do (they get sick, if everyone should know them, once again write the full name and patronymic), you need to enter this data for him, but it’s always better just in case to check in directories. Confusing the name is not going to be a problem later.
So, if the abstracts have been edited, a subfolder is organized in the folder of this author, I give these the standard name "0", but it is better to give meaningful names, for example, "original". The original without editing is removed there, but it must be saved. In the author's folder itself - theses with editing. It is not necessary to select, mark the edit.
After the abstracts acceptance board has delivered its verdict, the "abstracts" folder is divided into two subfolders: accepted and rejected. These things need, of course, carefully checked.
Database
The base can be maintained even in Word, even to Excel, but personally I prefer Access. Access is a little hard to get used to at first, but it has a lot of features that pay off in case of large conferences. In the case of small ones, the database can be omitted at all, a list of participants with the titles of reports is enough.
The main database table is called, say, "Participants".
It contains the following columns: text: Last name, First name and Patronymic, Title of the report; Section; institution; City; The address; e-mail; note; logical: you need a hotel; accepted; pay for accommodation; the confirmation; and a few more service logical columns for differences between locals and nonresidents (they need invitations of different types); between domestic and foreign (invitations to foreigners require a completely different procedure altogether); Russian-CIS (they need different types of envelopes).
The database is filled in as the abstracts are received. The online registration program, they say, can be configured so that it fills the database itself, but I have not tried it yet. I will not tell you how to display various requests and in general about the possibilities of Access, but what is especially good to use is reports for invitations.
The text of the invitation is composed several times:
1) for non-residents who will be given and paid for a hotel;
2) for non-residents who will be given, but not paid for, a hotel;
3) for non-residents who will not be given a hotel;
4) for locals.
In addition, if someone is paid for travel, then this is another option for an invitation.
All monetary conditions must be indicated in the invitation, because the design of a business trip depends on this.
An example of the text of an invitation to a person who will be given and paid for a hotel, but not travel:
Dear name!
The Organizing Committee of the conference name of the river informs that your report is included in the conference program. We invite you to take part in the conference. You will be presented with a place in the hostel. The Organizing Committee pays you accommodation from daterek to daterek. The Organizing Committee does not cover travel expenses. The conference will be held daterek and addressrek. Registration will be dated and timed. Please confirm your participation in the conference. Signature (The signature must be the chairman of the organizing committee or the dean of the faculty)
Do not forget to insert the line "please confirm participation" in the text of the invitation.
For many domestic speakers, this is the only way to determine whether a person is going to come personally or if he intends to participate only with abstracts. Although this method is also exemplary: even some of those who sent confirmation do not come later.
If a person sends confirmation on the same day that he received the letter, this can serve as an indirect confirmation that he will come.
According to the results of confirmations, the logical column "confirmation" is filled in the database. It is useful to display its results periodically using the appropriate query. Of course, it makes sense to include only those who confirm in the lists for settlement and in the program. Everything except the name of the addressee is printed in the access report, instead of the name we make a field from the FirstNamePatronymic and LastName columns. You can make queries on the fields "accepted", "pay for accommodation", etc., you can specify this as a filter in the form itself. A signature is placed at the bottom of the invitation with a pattern. Technically, you can also drive the print there, but this is not recommended in the legal sense - it is better to put a live print on paper.
All generated invitations, firstly, are printed on paper, and secondly, they are saved in PDF format (it is better to do this through "printing to a PDF printer"), page-by-page printing, each page is saved with the name of the corresponding person, then the files are manually sent by e-mail .mail. Recipients will print them out and will use them as a basis for issuing a business trip.
If they absolutely need a live copy, then you need to send it by paper letter, but for most, an electronic one is enough. Paper notes can be given to them directly at the conference, sometimes it can come in handy.
The printing of paper envelopes is configured from the Surname and Address fields. It's better to customize the appropriate queries.
The return address is printed on the report itself. In principle, it is difficult to organize a separate printing of the index in this way, you can write it on the envelope manually or leave the field empty - the letter will reach without it. Closer to the conference, the registration log of participants and badges to participants are printed from the same database, also through appropriately arranged reports. That is, who has not yet mastered Access, master it :)
Accommodation
About a month before the conference, but at least two weeks before, you need to start booking hotels or a hostel. If the dormitory of the same university that holds the conference is booked, then a letter is written addressed to the director of the dormitory. A copy of the order must be attached to the letter, even if, as is often the case, it has not yet been signed by the rector. If a hostel is booked at another university or a city hotel, then copies of the order are not needed, but you need to draw up, for example, guarantee letters of payment (if the university pays), or, if participants pay, the booking application form, which must be given in the hotel. In a letter or application, you must specify a list of visitors with full names, preferably in alphabetical order.
Lists for protection
The item is relevant,
if the organization that hosts the conference has serious security at the entrance, that is, it has recently been relevant almost everywhere. When to submit lists depends heavily on the rules in a particular organization, which is guarded by a particular platoon. Sometimes they require a week in advance, sometimes, on the contrary, the day before. But in order not to have to retype, be sure to print the lists with full names and in alphabetical order. The guards need this more than the hostel, because they have to quickly find the name of the arrival.
The conference is drawing near.
It's about three days before. If the conference is large, the days of the organizing committee merge into one big day. If it is small, then this happens only with one member of the organizing committee (in this case, with me). The phone is constantly ringing, by which the participants inquire about the arrival, about the journey, about the program. Well, if the conference is held by a specific department of the university/faculty, for example, the Department of Logic or the Department of Aesthetics: then you can put the laboratory assistant of the department to answer the calls. He needs to be given detailed explanations about travel, regulations and everything in general. You must not forget to also include him later on the list for monetary incentives, which usually happens at the end of the conference.
Ordering audiences
If the matter takes place in a university, then it is necessary to pre-order an audience for a plenary session (if it is an assembly hall, especially if it is an assembly hall of a large building where several faculties are located, it must sometimes be ordered at least a month in advance!) and for section meetings. If these audiences are empty according to the schedule, then it's good. Application for them must be left in the control room. Well, if they are equipped with multimedia technology. This is not yet common at humanitarian conferences, but if natural scientists are involved, they will almost certainly bring a presentation. In principle, a laptop is enough in a small audience, but, of course, a multimedia projector is much better. If classes are scheduled in the classrooms at this time, then they can either be rescheduled or canceled, this decision will be made by the educational unit. In any case, you need to warn students and teachers. For students, an announcement is sufficient. Teachers need to be called. Most likely, the educational part will not deal with this. If any section in its entirety appears at a lecture by some professor, completely unnecessary showdowns are possible.
It is also necessary to organize several students to help at the conference - necessarily two or three at the beginning of the first day, during registration, and necessarily several who know a foreign language - if there are foreigners.
Conference program
This is one of the main points of the third or second day before the conference. Since it is more or less clear who will speak, the program is formed, that is, the sequence of speakers by sections and days. Sometimes only at this moment it turns out exactly how many sections-subsections will be. It is necessary to finally determine the chairmen of the sections. The lists are divided into definitely coming and not definitely coming.
The titled ones are included in the list first, then the titled ones who definitely come (you can alternate), then the rest. The list is agreed with the chairman. Well, if the chairman makes his own report closing, then he can start it with a brief review of the work of his section.
It is convenient to print the program not in a printing house, but on own computer organizing committee. To do this, you need to format it for a brochure right in the Word. This technique is not at all complicated, I will not describe it here.
The first page, the cover, contains the name of the university at the top, then the logo of the conference, if any, then the name and dates, at the bottom - the city and year.
On the second page, spread of the cover - the composition of the organizing committee. If the conference received a grant, you must not forget to indicate this. Then the general rules of the conference are indicated: the date of arrival, the first day - the plenary session, from what time and in what audience, the time of the break, the plan for the second part of the day - the continuation of the plenary or the work of the sections. About each section - name and where. This, together with the organizing committee, usually fits on the back of the cover.
From the next page - detailed plans for each section. For each, its name is repeated, then the first series of work (for example, the evening of the first day) - what time and where, who chairs, then the list of reports, the names of the speakers in full, Surname - First name - Patronymic (many people will want to ask questions by addressing by name and patronymic , and you can’t see the badge from a distance). Speakers' titles can be specified, but personally I don't like it.
Well, then the next series of work (which, as we saw at the beginning, it is quite possible that they will not take place) and the next sections. Special hint: section speakers with full names are removed from the database, only the order of their arrangement is determined manually, it usually makes no sense to enter it into the database. At the end of the program, it is useful to indicate the plan of the university buildings with the route to the hotel and with canteens, if the territory is large. It might be on the last cover page. It is not bad to post the same scheme on the site.
And, of course, you need to remember to post the program on the site as soon as it is ready. The program is printed approximately at the rate of the total declared number of participants + 20. If for some reason the organizing committee has confidence that the attendance of participants will be full, then +50. Excess copies are distributed to volunteers, hung on the doors of sections, they are needed for reports to the fund and on the scientific work of the university, remain in the archive, are donated, etc.
Badge printout
It is made from the database using a specially configured report. Badges look good on colored paper, one color for the participants, the other for the members of the organizing committee. It is better not to put papers in plastic, this is a huge amount of unnecessary work, because there will be several dozens of unassembled badges, from which these pieces of paper will then need to be taken out again. The participant himself can put a piece of paper in the badge, or this can be done during registration.
Organization of coffee breaks
This is easiest to do, relying on previously purchased plastic cups and cash from the organizing committee (the issue of cash is decided at the dean's office). For a coffee break, you need a separate audience, it can be, for example, a room of some department. There you need to put a cooler or several teapots. Two cans of coffee are purchased, one large box of tea bags, a box of sugar, and several bags of biscuits. Pouring, pouring and taking the participants themselves may well be, you can ask the laboratory assistant of the department or student to follow the water in the kettles.
Formation of folders (packages)
This is usually done the evening before the conference. But if registration is announced the day before the conference, then a number of folders should be ready. The folders contain: a copy of the program, a notebook, a pen, a copy of the theses, if it is not decided to trade them, and, perhaps, some promotional material of the university. You can put something else to your liking, for example, a calendar card with a view of the city or something with the symbols of the conference.
registration
Registration usually starts the day before the conference. Usually 1/10 - 1/4 of the participants come to this early registration, these are those from other cities who arrived the day before. This registration can be organized, for example, in the room of the organizing committee, one person is enough. There should be a registration log - a list of all participants in alphabetical order, it is derived from the database. You can display the columns "city" and "pay for the hostel" in this journal (the last column will be printed by Access in the form of squares with checkmarks for those who pay).
The registration process itself is short: the registrant signs in the magazine, receives a conference folder, a badge and parting words on how to get to the hotel. If he is paid, then a call to the hotel with a warning may be required, the reception there is not always up to date. If they settle in a university dormitory, then they usually know there, but there can be no certainty. It may be necessary to run around to negotiate, print letters addressed to the director signed by the dean, etc. right there on the go. This will definitely need to be done if unscheduled participants arrive, and one of the planned ones notifies of the non-arrival.
The most intensive registration is one hour before the conference. If the plenary session is scheduled for 10, registration should begin at 9. Several tables should be set up, students should be mobilized for a tray of boxes with folders.
If it is decided to take the registration fee, a separate person with prepared receipts should sit.
In addition, there will be many questions about the design of travel sheets. This is usually done by the dean's secretary or the head of the office, you need to explain how to get there. If she entrusts the seal (and it would be better if she did not), then put another person from the organizing committee to arrange business trips. Students, purely out of reinsurance, it is better not to trust the press. If they lose, nothing will happen to them, and it’s not difficult to guess who will.
If a cultural program is provided, notices should be posted about it.
If you decide to organize a banquet at the expense of the participants, you need to collect money here and either offer tickets or put it on the list. This, as far as I know, does not require any permits for trade and commercial activity, so it is simple to organize, but since cash is collected, this should also be done by an individual.
Technique
The possibilities of multimedia technology in the plenary session depend on your organization and should be accepted as is. If there is a large hall with a projector, it's good, if not, speakers should be warned to prepare only oral speech. What you need is a microphone, and do not forget to put tables and chairs in the presidium the day before.
The plenary session is usually chaired by either the dean or the chairman of the organizing committee. He needs to be clarified whether he knows the full names and scientific titles of all speakers; if not, then prepare a list in advance.
At breakout sessions, sometimes multimedia equipment is needed (if the conference is natural science, then it is almost always needed, but I write primarily about the humanities). It is very good if there are only a few such reports. Then someone from the organizing committee should be on duty at each such report. He should quickly figure out how to turn on the projector, how to connect the laptop, and how to turn everything off. If there are a lot of multimedia reports, you have to organize one person on duty per section. Ideally, if you can find responsible students. If not, then you need to run between sections yourself: it's exhausting, but it's better than a lot of broken reports.
There are no poster presentations at humanitarian conferences, and I don't know how to organize them. I think you need to order stands from the supply manager :)
Visual agitation
It is necessary, starting from the entrance to the building, to hang papers with arrows in the direction of the organizing committee room. From this room, hang arrows in the direction of the plenary meeting place. You can’t hang an arrow for each section, so let them ask the organizing committee, but if it turns out that the meetings are held in different buildings, the participants need to be given a layout of the buildings. In the classrooms where sections are held, paper with the name of the section is hung. Some also hang up the program to see whose reports are on here.
Dictaphone recording and photography
This is optional, but very useful if there is an enthusiast. Conferences are fleeting, but sometimes they deserve to be remembered. If there is no camera or there is no individual who will deal only with it, then a digital camera is suitable. It is very useful to shoot small, three minutes, clips of each speaker. But here a skill is needed to catch the beginning and end, if not of a logical unit of speech, then at least of a sentence. Then it is very good to include such materials in scientific reports, presentations of the faculty, and simply burn them on a disk and give them to the participants.
Press contacts
If there is a person responsible for PR, he can invite familiar correspondents to the plenary session, not from the political press, of course, but from a scientific or university newspaper, for example. But usually contacts with the scientific press develop after the conference. Many specialized journals commission reviews of large conferences. Reviews are usually boring, especially considering that they are ordered in very small volumes. In fact, it turns out only to list the names of the sections and, as the topics that were discussed in the section, the titles of the main reports. But if you manage to disperse, then it's good to talk about past discussions (in the sense of what questions were asked). This is where voice recording helps.
The informal part of the conference is never included in the review, but if it seemed especially deserving of mention, you can simply say in one sentence that it was.
The plenary has begun
Actually the course of the conference does not particularly depend on the organizing committee. Problems with exceeding the time of the report and discussion fall on the shoulders of the presiding officers. The main thing you have to do is to remove numerous overlays. No matter how hard they tried to make lists for the dormitory, for security and for the program, they still definitely didn’t let someone in, they didn’t let someone in, and someone’s report turned out to be missed.
Often they forget to warn teachers about the rescheduling of classes, and they have to be transferred right on the spot to the first audience that comes across.
Sometimes one of the important speakers is missing and another needs to be quickly organized.
Sometimes the equipment doesn't work.
And during the congress, for example, we had such a moment that the electricity went out in Moscow (ours, of course, too, but this did not interfere with the progress of the sections, it was daytime); accidents in this connection were broadcast on the radio all over the country; it is easy to guess that all the telephones of the organizing committee and the faculty were interrupted by calling relatives. Many demanded to call a specific person to the phone, and they had to look for him according to the section schedule, through fellow countrymen, etc.
So, you need to be prepared for such things.
Conclusion: in no case should you plan for yourself any additional activities for all days of the conference, but especially for the first day.
For example, if a member of the organizing committee is a teacher, he must cancel or reschedule all training sessions from that day, even paid ones. It's hard, but, again, it's better than a few broken sections.
Clipping madmen
At philosophical conferences, this is a fairly topical issue. The lunatics change about once every two years. It is never possible to cut them off on guard, they know how to seep through any obstacles. In principle, if the madman is relatively quiet, he even brings a certain interest into the course of discussions, so that within five minutes he can be given the floor, but in no case more. If the madman is active, you need to stop his performances at the very beginning. It is usually impractical to physically expel him (and he does not perceive non-physical influences), so you need to resort to the art of people who know how to resolve such situations. I am not one of those people and I can’t give advice on clearing out, I can only give this advice: you need to have a few people capable of clearing up on your note and know how to call them.
The second and third, if there is a third, days of the conference always pass incomparably calmer.
Most sections do not work, but, as I have already said, it is good to have one working, where everyone who arrived on the second day will come to make reports.
If a cultural program is provided, participants need to be explained where and how to go. But most use both the second day and the third (especially if it's Sunday) to create their own program on their own.
The last point in the conference is not to forget to lock the classrooms in which the sections were held, clean up the organizing committee room and collect the archive in a separate box. There you need to add a dozen copies of the program, a couple of collections of abstracts, a registration book, a CD with audio recordings and photos, another CD with a copy of the database. This box is kept in the science department as a keepsake. Sometimes it's nice. It happens that the authorities force you to write reports on scientific work 10 years in advance, and it can be difficult to remember ten-year-old conferences even by titles, not to mention the dates and how many sections there were.
Writing reports
I have already said above that sometimes, if a big conference received a response, it was the case with us, of course, with a congress and also with a conference on the philosophy of mathematics, several scientific journals order a review at once. A review is a page or two of text and has between four and ten authors, because usually each section is reviewed by its chair. It is clear that the real text is made by shrinking and various stylistic transformations.
There should be named the main issues that were discussed; if it is not obvious, they are formulated by quoting the titles of the reports of the chairman and the most titled participants.
The second type of reports are reports to the fund and university reports (annual, etc.) on the work done. The specifics of the report to the fund depends on the fund, but in any case, you need to do the same work as in the first case - to talk about the topics of reports and problems. I still include a CD with all the media, i.e. audio recordings, photos, clips, etc. Nothing replaces visibility.
Are conferences useful?
Once the conference is over, there seems to be none for a long time. I am aware that biologists and physicians in this place begin reflex urges to vocalization of an aggressive type. The difference, I think, is, firstly, in conferences on various sciences. I have repeatedly repeated above, and I will repeat once again, that all of the above applies to those conferences in the organization of which I personally took part; these are conferences on philosophy or related fields; I have reason to think that almost the same applies to all humanitarian conferences.
The natural sciences differ from the humanities, first of all, in that there are poster presentations, and secondly, in the fact that presentations are actively used in the reports. They also slightly differ in that they contain a relatively large proportion of new material. Despite all the ridiculous fuss that natural scientists have raised in defense of the sacred right to go to conferences, I still think that this proportion of new material does not exceed the amount published in articles so that it pays for the costs - time lost on empty communication. What really distinguishes science conferences from humanitarian conferences is the culture and character of the participants.
Biologists are characterized by pronounced extraversion and a reduced level of reflection and thoughtfulness. I know these people firsthand. Therefore, personal contacts are not so much useful to them - there is nothing particularly scientifically useful in them - but rather pleasant. This is part of the culture of this science. No wonder biologists love to go hiking and sing songs by the fire with a guitar.
The conference is such a big scientific bonfire with a guitar, and biologists like it. But just as serious music differs from campfire songs, so does serious science differ from conference reports.
It was shocking, but in general conferences, of course, can be useful, I have personally seen such and still hope to see them.
*** A few personal memories. In general, my life, as it is now, began in July 2005. And somewhere in March 2005, I already understood this. There I have a record somewhere in my LiveJournal: "In July of this year, the world will see a completely different person in my place." That's right, it turned out that way. Many people have such turning points in their lives. For most women, this is the birth of a child. I don't have children. But for me it was the IV Russian Philosophical Congress. Congress demanded from me an unprecedented exertion of strength. Nothing like this happened in my life either before or after (although, of course, difficult moments always happen in their own way; usually these are illnesses - one's own and mother's).
I already wrote above that we had about four thousand participants, 3800 abstracts and 2200 participated personally. This, by the way, is larger in scale than world philosophical congresses. Let's take everything I've written about big conferences to the extreme. Events such as congresses are always prepared years in advance. They are held in different cities (international - in different countries) on the basis of large universities. Around the beginning of 2004, we already knew that nothing could be planned for the first half of 2005. True, they did not yet know to what extent it should reach. At the end of the second semester, I was not even able to teach my special course. But Markin brought everything to the end, but what did it cost him.
We are, firstly, those who are supposed to organize conferences at the faculty, that is, the deputy dean for science, in this case it was V.I. Markin, and an employee of the scientific department, in this case it was me. It was necessary, of course, to assemble an official team of at least 6 people in advance, but we did not do this. Therefore, together with the two of us, in fact, only four more people worked at the congress: one helped Markin, three helped me. At the peak of work, it was possible to organize two more employees of the postgraduate department. Newsletters about such events are always published in advance, in official journals, in this case, they were Questions of Philosophy, Vestnik RFO, etc. In addition, everyone knows about such events, because information is distributed through direct communication channels. I don't think we even sent out an email. The list of sections was determined at the level of the administration of the Russian Philosophical Society (this is the Russian Philosophical Society, the official co-organizer of all congresses), the administration of Moscow State University and the directorate of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Applications started coming in about a month before the deadline, in line with an appropriately scaled Gaussian curve. And about a week before the deadline, a huge amount of work had already begun. All incoming applications had only to be processed, entered into the database and sent to the heads of the relevant sections (the number of sections did not change; there were approximately 50 in total). We take into account that a number of them were on diskettes. In this mode, 20 applications a day are not yet strained, 50 are already a lot, and 100 are the work of one person from morning to night. Let me remind you, we received about four thousand. So, three days before the deadline there were about 400, two - 700, there were a thousand in a day, on the very day of the deadline there were more than one and a half thousand applications, the next day a couple of hundred more, then the flow abruptly subsided, but we accepted up to the last one. I remember that the day of the deadline, when we actually only had time to save the letters, we sat from nine in the morning until ten or eleven in the evening, and when we left, we looked so crazy, drunk and happy. There are a thousand of them. There are more than a thousand of them! The country has a philosophy! Now it is difficult to understand how we could have been so happy then, but, apparently, there was nothing else left from fatigue. The bosses regularly called back, unsubscribed or went in person - who they accepted, who they rejected. Some bosses, especially young ones, strove to reject more than half of the theses, which is completely inconsistent with the spirit of the congress, to which everyone should be invited. With such a question, the higher authorities decided: basically, the theses rejected by them were transferred to other sections. Retreat. Why do we need conferences that take everyone to? To homogenize the scientific development of the country. Actually, this is a difficult question. Some, to name them, critics on the right point out that big low-level conferences are not needed at all. This, they say, is a reproduction of the scientific scoop (I will not go into the analysis of terms - a scoop is a scoop). It is felt that they would give free rein - they would organize only closed small conferences with collections of reports. I have already noted above that such conferences are, indeed, usually of a high level, but this all the more makes them meaningless. Well, roughly speaking, five people in the country are studying the forty-second fragment of Heraclitus in our country, well, they will gather once a year for a conference, telling each other what new they have learned in a year about the forty-second fragment of Heraclitus ... Maybe in the natural sciences , where the dynamics of the increase in information is higher, this makes sense, but in the humanities they will get bored after the very first time, especially since they already know all the results of each other from publications. In general, conferences as a method of information exchange in the information society lose their meaning. If a scientist does not publish, but reports (perhaps there are such eccentrics), then, of course, the conference gives the scientific world a chance to get to know his ideas, and in other cases it is much better to read an sensible article. Magazines and, most importantly, ways to search through magazines are now enough. The conclusion from this is simple: conferences are not a scientific event, they do not move science in any way, they hardly contribute to the dissemination of ideas. But the social significance of the conferences is high. (Now the hypocrites will take me up again, but I will speak directly). Roughly speaking, lagging behind regions and young scientists need them. With the regions, everything is more or less clear. They can also read, but this is where the factor of visibility and lively communication comes into play, the positive role of which I can see only in this case. Seeing with your own eyes a higher level than what you are used to helps a lot. Perhaps, by the way, that is why so many commentators of my post, in response to my story about how I organize humanitarian conferences in Russia, angrily told how they go to biological conferences in the West, without even noticing how many times they changed the subject! In relation to the West, Russian biology is a typical lagging region, so it is not surprising that biologists intuitively feel that Western conferences are useful to them. Young scientists also benefit from conferences, which mainly consists, as I understand it, in the ability to make reports and put them in context. Before
When planning a conference, the organizing company may pursue different goals. For certain firms, this is the main type of business, while some companies just want to try something new; some even position themselves as industry leaders, and conferences help secure this status. In any case, every event manager dreams of making his conference interesting and attractive for participants.
Here are some practical tips on how to lighten the mood and create a truly memorable conference.
one . take risks
About 60 percent of the conference budget goes to proven and proven ideas, while the remaining 40 percent should be directed to testing new products in the industry market.
In the end, only half of these innovations will be truly successful, but even failures will help make the conference more interesting and send the message you need to the guests.
Do not be afraid to take risks, then your glasses will always be filled with champagne.
2. Use a personal approach to each participant
In the age of modern technology, live communication between people is gradually being reduced to a minimum. Today, even participation in an event is often confirmed by a programmed electronic robot.
However, do not overestimate the electronic "assistants". By appointing a special person to confirm applications and conduct correspondence with each of the participants, you express your respect for the guests of the conference. This will help to strengthen the bonds between the invitees and the organizing company.
3 . Let participants shape the program
Innovative methods make it possible to create a variety of applications, including those that allow conference guests to actively participate in shaping the program. Invite attendees to choose speakers and topics, and create blogs and forums where guests can discuss ideas before the actual event.
Loft #3 – 10 new halls with a capacity from 20 to 800 guests
In this way, you will give your guests a sense of involvement in the organization of the conference, which means you will increase your chances of success.
4 . Demand unique presentations from speakers
Warn speakers that you expect only original presentations from them. Make sure that the invited guest is not regaling the viewer with the same report for several years, but is really valuable to your audience.
five . Skip boring introductions
One of the latest trends in the organization of conferences is the rejection of boring guest introductions and enumeration of various regalia in favor of a short witty review of the speaker's personal qualities.
You are a young and successful employee of a prestigious scientific organization. The leadership of your organization, in order to test your organizational skills, instructs you to hold a conference. This is the first time you have faced such a challenge. In this case, it is best to contact those who have already organized such an event. Any help or advice will give you the opportunity to avoid mistakes.
So, you are faced with the task - where to start?
1. Drawing up an action plan
First of all, you should think carefully about the theme of the event, and determine what range of issues you want to consider. Will it be a narrow professional meeting or you want to cover a wide area of problems with the involvement of experienced specialists from related industries, or will it be a meeting of specialists who are looking for new scientific directions, as well as solving specific issues in certain areas of science. First of all, the question will definitely arise how this event will be held - will it be a congress, seminar, conference or meeting. Let's look at the essence of what these events are.
- Congress. This word comes from the Latin congressus, which in translation means a meeting, congress or meeting, in most cases of an international nature.
- Seminar. Translated from Latin, it sounds like a hotbed, or in a figurative sense - a school. Usually these are group classes during which they are engaged in advanced training or special training.
- Conference. It also comes from the Latin word conferentia. It is an organizational form of scientific activity, during which scientists gather for an in-depth discussion of issues that are devoted to some well-defined topic. The status of the conference will occupy an intermediate position between the congress and the seminar.
- Meeting. This event is dedicated to a broad discussion and resolution of specific issues and the adoption of effective measures for their implementation.
First of all, you need to think about what organizations and funds, including international ones, can assist you in organizing future events. Analyze the conditions they will put before you. These will be conditions on the place and form of holding, as well as information on participants and publications of conference materials. Gather information about which of the traditional customers or partners of your organization can be directly involved in the organization and participation in this event. Be sure to use the Internet, where you can find possible sponsors, as well as interested organizations, and it does not hurt to also look at the sites of other conferences. Attention should be paid to the fact that almost all sponsor organizations provide their assistance only on a competitive basis. In this case, you will need to quite reasonably present your idea for holding your event, and be sure to draw the sponsor's attention to its significance for him, your viability in organizational matters and the need to hold the event at this particular time.
You also need to determine which organizations, other than traditional partners, you can invite to co-sponsor this event. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the planned event is included in the annual plan of interested organizations. In such cases, most organizations need a justification for the event and a financial plan. In most cases, the inclusion of an event in the annual plan is a prerequisite for receiving organizational and financial assistance from the co-founder enterprises.
No matter what form of event you choose (congress, seminar, conference), you need to invite several reputable scientists well known in the field, whose information will be decisive for your event. You should also pay attention to the fact that quite often there are world-famous scientists who are often poor speakers. And in this regard, their reports will be more interesting for narrowly specialized conferences and seminars than for plenary presentations. Also important will be the fact which of the scientists will agree to take part in your event, and what it will cost you. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that there will be other major events in your industry that will be close to your subject, and it will not turn out that most of the scientists you invite will prefer to take part in them. You should also ask yourself if you can organize a congress or a large conference right away, or if it's best to organize a small seminar or conference first. Practice shows that conferences are planned 1-3 years before the start of the event. Issues such as the provision of support and participation in events of prominent scientists are best addressed at other conferences or negotiations, as well as when concluding contracts for joint work.
So, let's focus on such an event as a conference. Conferences in most cases are held at certain intervals, or dedicated to some anniversary event, which allows specialists to keep abreast of current events, expand contacts with researchers, and as a result of this receive the necessary information. To make the planned conference easily recognizable among many others, along with the name of the conference, you need to develop an easy-to-remember logo. In this case, you should arrange a small competition for designing logos and names for the conference.
Now let's get to one of the highlights. Having thoroughly thought through absolutely all the previous questions, first of all estimate the number of participants who will take part in the conference. Consider the planned financial contributions and expenses for the conference, and more than that, calculate the planned organizational fee. Ask yourself if it will be too big for your conference participants. Be sure to consult with the accounting department of your organization, and how you can allocate the estimated financial costs to various expense items. In your financial report, create a reserve fund with which you can conduct additional events for conference participants. It is advisable to organize a number of excursions, as well as visits to theaters and concerts. If your conference will be held near a sanatorium or ski base, organize a sports and recreation program for its participants.
It is important to pay attention to the fact that even when planning a conference, you cannot do without the help of your colleagues. Therefore, to hold such an event, you will need to create an organizing committee that will further support you in holding the conference. Here you will need to show all your skill and ingenuity. It is necessary that your colleagues are not only performers, but also take the initiative, then it will be quite easy for you to carry out the planned action. Listen to new ideas, discuss every interesting issue, argue. After all, it is not for nothing that they say that truth is born in a dispute, and when working together, future business relationships will be created.
2. The first stage - the planning stage - you have passed, now we are starting the organizational stage
It is well known that when organizing any business, people are the main thing. And here you, as an organizer, must show all your organizational talent. First of all, you need to assemble the organizing committee, which should select the submitted reports and the order in which they will be presented at the conference. The organizing committee should include highly qualified specialists in all scientific areas that will be represented at the conference. It is desirable that your committee be international. The committee should include representatives who will take an active part in the conference.
Let's talk now about the organizing committee. Your group should be very active and dynamic. Clearly assign responsibilities to the committee. Don't try to do all the work yourself. It is best to divide the work on organizing a conference into blocks and appoint responsible executors at the head of them. The heads of the commissions will create their own groups, which will organize the work in groups. Your task will include the selection of people who have already worked with you and will be able to do their job well. You must remember that according to management literature and practice data, the optimal number of employees for flexible structures will be 5-7 people. It should also be remembered that each member of the organizing committee must have his own deputy and these deputies must be known to everyone. You should also have such a substitute. Now we give a list of the main commissions and the corresponding blocks, which, depending on the nature of the conference, can be combined, split or supplemented with other commissions and blocks:
Commission for the preparation of materials. In most cases, this commission is headed by the scientific secretary of the conference, and he is one of the main figures in the organizing committee. The scientific secretary conducts all correspondence with the participants of the conference, he has collected all the necessary data on the reports presented at the conference. His responsibilities include compiling and publishing the conference program. He also makes various changes, if any, prepares for the printed publication of materials and collections of abstracts of the conference, and also regulates the work of sections and groups.
Registration Commission. The name itself suggests that this commission is engaged in the registration of conference participants. In addition, members of the commission prepare badges and handouts. Members of the commission constantly inform the scientific secretary about the arrival of speakers.
In most cases, the place of registration is a spacious hall where posters and stands of the conference are placed and where you can get acquainted with all available information. Presentation schedules and layouts of meeting rooms should be provided here. You should organize the registration process so that there are no long queues, and conference participants do not have to fill out numerous forms. The registration process itself should not take much time.
- Housing Commission. This commission deals with the accommodation of the conference participants. Her task is to process incoming requests for resettlement. She makes hotel reservations and also arranges for extra beds should unforeseen circumstances arise.
- Transport Commission. Her responsibilities include providing the conference with the necessary transport to meet the conference participants and drive them to the venue. Organizes various trips for the delivery of the necessary equipment and materials.
- Financial Commission. Everything is extremely simple here - this commission is fully responsible for the entire financial side of the conference.
- Catering Commission. Her competence includes catering for conference members, holding various coffee breaks, without which no conference can do, as well as holding a traditional introductory reception. It could be lunch or dinner.
- Supply Commission. The tasks of this commission include close interaction with all conference commissions, primarily with the financial one, and providing participants with everything necessary.
- Technical Support Commission. Her responsibilities include ensuring the operability of the equipment that is necessary for the presentation of reports, as well as the arrangement of stands and additional materials necessary for fixing reports on the stands.
Recently, at conferences, in order to avoid various types of misunderstandings, there is another group of people - security.
3. Information stage of your conference
Well, it happened, and information about your scientific conference appeared on the Internet. Such information can be found in the section of planned events on the websites of organizations that organize this event, as well as on the websites of sponsoring organizations. By this time, you already have information about which organizations act as organizers and which sponsors. Also, you already know well what amounts will be provided to you by sponsors, and now you can fix the amount of the registration fee. Now you need to place as much information about the conference as possible, and if possible create advertising. The necessary information about the ongoing conference begins to be posted about a year before it starts. What would such information look like and how should it be presented?
It is now difficult to imagine our century without the Internet, and it is difficult to imagine holding any significant event without creating your own website. To date, most major international conferences have switched to registering applications for participation through the conference website. In the event that your site is not yet fully ready at the time of the information message, you should prepare a page with the most necessary information. This page is reflected in the information message and contains data that shows the date of the conference, as well as when other information messages will be available on the site.
We now proceed to the design of the informational message, which will eventually become the hallmark of your conference. It should be designed in such a way that it is purely informative, well remembered, and not defiant. Design can be in color or black and white. It would be useful to use the services of a designer who will help you design the conference message and emblem.
The format of the information message may be different, but it is mandatory to indicate the following in it:
Conference name, venue, date, and logo.
- information about where and how the registration of participants will be carried out, as well as the deadlines for submitting your materials.
- who is the organizer of the conference, contact telephone and fax numbers, addresses - electronic and postal, as well as the address of the conference website, where you can get more detailed information.
- in what language the conference will be held, as well as where and how the conference materials will be published.
In some cases, the informational message indicates the composition of the organizing committee, the names of famous scientists who agreed to participate in your conference. You can also indicate the amount of the registration fee and the account number by which it can be paid. It is also reported about the planned events of the conference - meetings, seminars, excursions. The site, if necessary, indicates possible options for the accommodation of conference participants, as well as visa support.
The question of where the conference will be held should be discussed separately. It must be a building or institution that can be easily found on a city map, and where transport routes pass - taxis, trams, trolleybuses, etc. Most often they give directions from railway stations and airports. Otherwise, you will have to organize transport for the arrival and departure of the conference participants and meet them at the places of arrival. You should also pay attention to the location of hotels, they should be located as close as possible to the conference venue. It is advisable to hold the conference on the territory of the organizer's office, in this case you will not have to pay for the rental of premises, which is quite significant from the financial point of view.
After all these issues have been resolved, try to spread the word about your conference. Here you can use all available means - thematic magazines, the press, the Internet system. Be sure to compile a list of e-mail and postal mailing addresses for informational messages for all organizations that work in this industry. This list should be retained for future conferences. After the end of the conference, this list must be supplemented with new addresses of participants. Information about your conference should also be posted on the website http://www.konferencii.ru. Such information will allow you to significantly expand the circle of conference participants.
4. Organizational stage
So, it's done. Applications from future conference participants begin to arrive at your address. Also, you will immediately be asked questions, additional problems will appear, you will have a large range of tasks that you will need to solve by the beginning of the conference. Every day, a large number of people will be involved in the process of preparing the conference, who will subsequently take a direct part in organizing the process of holding the conference. You have already created an organizing committee, working commissions, and you have begun to carry out organizational work with the heads of the commissions. At such meetings, general issues are resolved and tasks are clearly set for the heads of the commissions, who, as they are completed, inform you about the implementation. Current issues on the work of the commissions are resolved in the working order. The chairman of the organizing committee at this stage exercises control over the work of the commissions, coordinates controversial issues and makes the necessary decisions.
Now let's take a look at the conference program. In the event that a lot of applications for participation have been received, and the program committee does not recommend excluding them from the conference program, then you need to organize parallel work in sections of different topics. You should take into account the fact that the opening of the conference should be plenary, no matter how many sections you have presented. Introductory remarks, in all cases, must be given to the most famous scientist or high official from the organizers of the conference. After that, several world-famous scientists give their reports. These reports highlight the problems of development of various areas of science, demonstrate the actual results from the use of scientific achievements, and analyze their possible use in the future.
It must be remembered that the number of reports or plenary reports within the sections should not be too large, because due to the abundance they simply will not be remembered. Do not overload the sections with long work, it is better to organize it in several stages, with coffee breaks. Place reports within sections close by topic so that the section participants can evaluate and compare the benefits of the results published in the reports. Practice shows that the first and last speeches are best remembered, therefore, the work of the section should begin and end with the most interesting reports.
After the conference program is drawn up, start sending out invitations to conference participants. Inform them about the format of presentations - oral, plenary, poster, as well as what equipment will be provided to them. In the invitation, indicate the date and time of the report and its duration, as well as all the necessary information that the conference participants will need.
It is impossible to foresee all the situations that you will face, but you must be prepared for everything. Depending on how the organizing committee thinks through all the questions and situations with you, the less trouble will arise. Certainly not without errors. But it is well known that only those who do nothing do not make mistakes.
5. Conference
You have done an excellent job with the tasks. Your efforts contributed to the success of the conference.
The moment came when the conference ended. The empty halls were removed, and the participants went to their addresses. But for you the conference is not over yet. After all, it is necessary to sum up, prepare reports on the conference, as well as a number of other materials, the delivery of which is provided for by rules, contracts and laws. You need to analyze the significance of the conference, as well as the level of presentations provided. Finally, prepare and post the information on the conference website. For yourself, you should analyze and note all the mistakes and failures, if any. Finally, do not forget to thank the organizing committee for its work. After all, people should always come first. Without their help, you would never have been able to successfully host such an event. And at the very end - review and discard all materials that are no longer needed, and ... it should be a rule for you - plan the year of the next conference.
The main rule of organizing a conference and attracting a large number of people is the mass dissemination of information on several resources and portals. The conference must be well planned. An interesting theme of the event, relevant and necessary information - all this will draw the attention of the audience to the project.
To attract about 100 applicants per day, you only need to disseminate information about the conference, give maximum detailed description programs and issues to be considered. The demand for good deals is always high.
Today, the format of the conference is widespread, and the issue of preparing the event is very relevant.
Preparation for the conference is divided into several stages:
- Drawing up and coordination of the conference plan;
- Coordination of the financial plan;
- Choice of conference venue;
- Conference style development;
- Inviting people to a conference.
First of all, a conference is a statement about a product or service to a specific group of listeners. If the conference is held by the Scientific Research Center, or the Department of the Institute, then the main group of listeners are students of higher educational institutions.
It is possible to attract students to attend the conference en masse by disseminating information in institutes and universities, through the dean's office. Information should be presented in such a way as not only to interest visitors, but also to encourage action. The event plan should include an explanation of the topics for the guests of the conference, and answers to questions from the audience. If the conference format calls for some students to speak at the microphone, this should also be included in the plan.
Types of scientific conferences in demand
There are many different types of scientific conferences, but not all of them attract students. The most interesting and in demand are:
How to run a successful conference
Conference organizers
Scientific Research Centers, Scientific Research Institutes and Departments of the Institute and University can act as organizers of the conference, the main thing is that a professor (Doctor of Science) is at the head.
Formats of participation in conferences
Scientific conferences can be held in person and in absentia. Each of them have their own advantages and disadvantages. The face-to-face format of the conference will allow gathering all people interested in developing and listening to the topic in one place. They talk to each other, ask questions, get to know each other. However, not everyone can visit it, because conferences are usually held in large cities.
After registration on the page you should place an ad. This site is the best of several such online directories, it is more convenient, and is very popular among Internet users.
Features of attracting listeners through scientific platforms:
- Control over information about events;
- Easy page access for students. The site with information about the conference opens when you enter such queries as: "scientific conferences", "scientific conferences" ... topic ..", "scientific conferences in ... "city";
- Free accommodation;
- Automatic newsletters to subscribers every week;
- 24/7 support.
How to organize a conference and attract 100 applicants in 1 day updated: September 3, 2019 by: Scientific Articles.Ru
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