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How to Plan a Successful Scientific Conference

Published on 07 Aug 2023

In today's rapidly evolving scientific landscape, conferences play a crucial role in sharing knowledge, forging collaborations , and pushing the frontiers of research. But the road to planning a scientific conference can often be overwhelming (especially if it’s your first time leading an organizing committee).

In this guide, we break down the process into manageable steps, equipping you with the knowledge you need to host an unforgettable event. Buckle up for a crash course on planning a successful scientific conference that's bound to have your attendees buzzing with excitement!

What is a scientific conference?

A scientific conference is a structured gathering where researchers share insights and discoveries in their respective fields, foster collaborations, and keep up-to-date with cutting-edge research.

Scientific conferences can have a variety of topics, they tend to be larger in size and wider in scope than symposiums, which are more focused on a particular subject or issue. They are also different from professional conferences as they are aimed at academia and the scientific community.

The hallmark of a great scientific conference is the quality and relevance of its content, paired with a dynamic, inclusive environment that encourages meaningful connections and exchanges. Having good coffee doesn’t hurt either!

13 Steps to plan a great research conference

Planning a research conference requires strategic vision, careful execution, and a meticulous attention to detail. Let's dive into the key steps you’ll want to consider as an organiser:

1. Define your theme and objectives

Every great scientific conference starts with a clear purpose. Set clear objectives, whether it's facilitating knowledge exchange, providing networking opportunities, or showcasing innovative research. Consider your target audience, which may include researchers, academics, postdocs and graduate students, industry professionals, or a combination. This is also a good time to discuss the theme of your academic conference as it will inform other decisions and promotional plans you may make later on.

2. Form a conference planning committee

Assemble a diverse conference planning committee with expertise in the event's subject area. Assign core responsibilities to different members of the team, from program development and logistics to marketing and financial management. This distribution of roles helps ensure that every aspect of the upcoming event is given the attention it needs.

3. Build your event budget

Creating an event budget is crucial to ensure the financial success of your scientific conference. Estimate your expenses, including venue costs, speaker fees, marketing, catering, audiovisual equipment, and staff. Allocate funds wisely, as even the smallest overlooked details, like those sneaky coffee break expenses, can add up!

Identify the financial resources you have available and consider other potential revenue sources such as registration fees, sponsorships, and grants. Set registration fees that cover your expenses and determine sponsorship packages to attract funding from organizations interested in supporting scientific research and innovation.

4. Choose your conference format

Choosing a scientific conference format isn't your typical 'this or that' scenario—it's a 'this, that, or both!' Choose from a traditional in-person conference, a digitally savvy virtual one, or the best of both worlds: a hybrid model. Each format has its unique advantages, so choose the one that best suits your audience, budget, and objectives.

• In-person conferences offer traditional networking opportunities and more varied sponsorship options.
• Virtual conferences provide access to wider audiences and cost savings. It’s also a more popular approach post-pandemic.
• Hybrid conferences combine these benefits, enabling both physical attendance and online participation. But, they’re a bit more work (it’s like planning two events in one).

Whatever conference format option you choose, make sure you find event management software that can support it.

Fourwaves offers software solutions for a variety of conference formats.

5. Set a date and secure an event venue

Selecting an appropriate date and venue is critical for the success of your conference. Consider factors such as the availability of potential attendees and speakers, accessibility, and cost. Avoid date clashes with significant events or holidays (nobody wants to choose between Christmas dinner and a keynote speech!).

When choosing a venue, determine whether you need to book a conference center, hotel, and/or university facilities. Ensure the chosen venue has the necessary infrastructure, including audiovisual equipment, internet connectivity, and sufficient space for sessions, exhibitors, and networking. Also, remember to evaluate whether it aligns with your chosen conference format.

6. Select your scientific conference software

Choosing an efficient conference planning tool is essential for streamlining administrative tasks. Look for an abstract management platform that allows you to manage registrations, speaker submissions, poster sessions, scheduling, and attendee communication. Research available options, considering features, user-friendliness, pricing, and customer support.

Luckily, there’s plenty of software out there that is designed specifically for scientific events.

Fourwaves is the Swiss Army knife of scientific conference management tools, complete with nifty features such as registration, abstract management, peer-review, virtual poster presentations, and collaboration capabilities. It’s the backstage crew that keeps your event running smoothly.

7. Find the right keynote speakers and presenters

Keynote speakers play a vital role in attracting attendees and enhancing the quality of your scientific conference. Identify experts and thought leaders in your field who can deliver engaging and informative presentations. Reach out to them early in the planning process, providing details about your conference and the benefits of participation. Consider diverse perspectives and ensure the speakers align with the conference theme and goals.

In addition to your keynote speakers, you’ll need other presenters to bulk out your scientific conference program. So set up your peer review software and start accepting submissions to your conference early. Then, use that same software to facilitate the review and selection of high-quality presentations.

8. Plan your event program

Create a detailed event schedule that outlines session topics, speaker presentations, networking breaks, poster sessions, debates, and any additional activities. Allocate sufficient time for each session and ensure a balance between different topics and presentation formats. If it's a multi-day conference, create tracks or parallel sessions to cater to diverse interests.

Be sure to craft a conference program that balances riveting keynote speeches, illuminating workshops, and engaging panel discussions. And don’t forget to incorporate social events and networking breaks—these are your conference's intermissions, where attendees can mingle and mull over the knowledge they've gained.

Fourwaves conference management software can help you design and display an easy-to-navigate event schedule.

9. Secure conference sponsorships

Grab the attention of potential sponsors with attractive, tiered packages that offer a variety of options for visibility and benefits. Conference sponsors can include companies, research institutions, government agencies, or even individuals. And remember, sponsors aren't just ATMs—they're partners who can add value to your scientific conference in a myriad of ways, so keep them in the loop and cater to their needs. Follow up with sponsors regularly to ensure their questions are answered and their contributions are acknowledged.

10. Set up your conference registration system

Set up an online event registration system to collect attendee information, process payments, and issue registration confirmations. Consider segmenting registration fees based on attendee categories, such as early bird rates, student rates, or group discounts.

Once you’ve opened registrations, keep a watchful eye on registration numbers and remember—creating a sense of urgency (i.e. “Just a few tickets left!”) can trigger a flurry of last-minute sign-ups.

11. Create an event website

Develop an event website to provide attendees with information about the conference. Include details such as the conference theme, dates, location, registration process, abstract submission guidelines, and important deadlines. Once you’ve determined your program, upload this to the event site as well.

Make sure the website is user-friendly, visually appealing, and mobile-responsive. Using a tool like Fourwaves can simplify the process of making an event website and allow for seamless registration and abstract submission.

An example of conference website on Fourwaves.

12. Arrange other conference logistics

From ensuring the availability of necessary facilities at the venue to organizing catering and transportation, efficient logistics management is key to a successful conference.

• Coordinate with the chosen venue to ensure availability of lecture halls, breakout rooms, audiovisual equipment, and Wi-Fi. Arrange catering services for meals, snacks, and beverages during the conference.
• Organize transportation options, if necessary, for participants traveling to the conference.
• Plan for accommodation. Research and negotiate with hotels near the conference venue to secure room blocks at discounted rates. Provide clear instructions on how participants can book accommodation within the room blocks.

These small and easy-to-overlook details can often make or break the conference experience for your attendees.

13. Promote your scientific conference

Effectively promoting your scientific conference is crucial for attracting attendees and ensuring its success. Utilize various marketing channels, including social media, email newsletters, academic networks, and relevant mailing lists. Create compelling content that highlights the conference's unique features, keynote speakers, and session topics. Encourage speakers and attendees to share the event with their networks (On their Linkedin for example). Leverage partnerships with professional associations and research organizations to extend your reach.

Additionally, consider offering early-bird registration discounts, organizing webinars or panel discussions related to the conference topic, and reaching out to media outlets or academic publications for coverage. This way you’ll reach as much as the scientific community as possible.

A great promotional plan needs a seamless registration process to match. Fourwaves offers features to help you turn leads into attendees with the click of a button.

Get started planning your scientific conference today

Embarking on the journey of planning a scientific conference might seem daunting. So start by taking it one step at a time and giving careful attention to each part of the process. Set yourself up with the right resources and tools, and you’ll be well on your way to organizing an event that provides a valuable platform for knowledge exchange and networking within your field.

To help you get started, Fourwaves event software includes a suite of features tailored for scientific conference organizers. We're an experienced, enthusiastic partner that streamlines your planning process and we support you in hosting an event that leaves a lasting impact. So, what are you waiting for? Get started planning your scientific conference today!

Book a 1-on-1 demo to discover how you can use Fourwaves for your scientific conference, or try it yourself . 

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Conference Objectives

The objectives of a research conference can vary depending on the specific goals and focus of the event. However, here are some common objectives that research conferences typically aim to achieve:

Knowledge Exchange and Dissemination: One of the primary objectives of our conferences is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and the dissemination of research findings. It provides a platform for researchers to present their work, share insights, and engage in discussions with their peers. By showcasing the latest research, conferences contribute to the advancement of knowledge in a particular field or discipline.

Networking and Collaboration: Our conferences create opportunities for networking and collaboration among researchers, scholars, and industry professionals. These events bring together experts from diverse backgrounds, fostering interdisciplinary connections and potential collaborations. Building networks and forging new partnerships can lead to future research collaborations, joint projects, and academic advancements.

Professional Development: Our Conferences include workshops, panel discussions, and keynote presentations that focus on professional development. These sessions may cover topics such as research methodologies, publication strategies, career advancement, and funding opportunities. The objective is to provide attendees with valuable insights and skills that can enhance their research capabilities and career prospects.

Feedback and Peer Review: Our conferences offer a platform for researchers to receive feedback on their work through oral or poster presentations. This feedback, provided by fellow researchers and experts in the field, can help refine and strengthen the research findings. Additionally, conferences may feature dedicated sessions for peer review, where researchers can receive constructive criticism and suggestions for improving their work.

Knowledge Integration and Synthesis: Our conferences always aim to facilitate the integration and synthesis of research findings within a particular field or across multiple disciplines. We provide a forum for researchers to explore connections, identify gaps, and generate new ideas and theories. Through interactive discussions and collaborative sessions, conferences can contribute to the synthesis of knowledge and the development of innovative approaches.

Academic and Industry Engagement: Our conferences always strive to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Our Conferences include sessions or panels that facilitate dialogue and collaboration between researchers and industry professionals. This engagement can lead to the translation of research into practical applications, fostering innovation and driving societal impact.

Inspiration and Motivation: Attending our conference can be a source of inspiration and motivation for researchers. Exposure to cutting-edge research, engaging presentations, and interactions with esteemed researchers can inspire attendees to pursue new research directions, explore novel methodologies, or address pressing societal challenges. Our Conferences can reinvigorate researchers' passion for their work and provide fresh perspectives.

These objectives collectively contribute to the overall impact and success of a research conference, creating an environment that fosters collaboration, knowledge advancement, and professional growth within the research community.

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The Aim and Objectives of Conference

The main objective of the scientific conference is to create space for presentation of current results of scientific work in the field of contemporary public administration, public economy, social and regional policy. The conference is also a space for creating collaborative links between academics and professional practitioners and their workplaces, aiming at long-term sharing of knowledge and discussions of highly current issues. The main topics of the conference are:

• Public Administration, Administrative Law, Public Policy
• Information and Information Technology in Public Administration
• Public Sector Management
• Current Issues and Challenges in the Effective Development of Regions

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Conference Objectives

Learn more about the conference objectives of STECONF

The Conference Objectives of STECONF

The primary goal of STECONF is to provide an engaging platform and immersive learning experience to its diverse audience in order to help shape the future of the fields of science, technology, and engineering .

Each event is organized with the following aims:

Maximize the learnings.

Provide an agenda that covers research that's relevant, authentic, and original. Facilitate discussions and learning sessions by using various presentation formats: in-person presentations, poster presentations, virtual presentations, roundtables, workshops, etc.

CREATE DYNAMIC NETWORKING

Make sure that all attendees have an opportunity to engage in discussions outside of lectures and presentations. Set up networking events, use technology to facilitate easy introductions, and create both formal and informal opportunities for networking.

ENSURE ACCESSIBILITY

Use technology to enable anyone in the world to attend the event, be it in-person or virtually. Those who are not able to travel to the event must be able to seamlessly experience the content of the event through virtual presentations. Make sure to provide visa support to those who are able to travel to the venue but require a visa in order to enter the host country

MAXIMIZE THE REACH

Make sure that the research presented at the event reaches as many people as possible through the principles of open-access publishing. Promote the research throughout the network and various marketing channels.

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Are you looking to attend an academic event in the field of science, technology, or engineering? Are you interested in finding the right platform to present your latest research and make sure it reaches a wide network of peers? Browse through STECONF events – you are guaranteed to find the right one.

4th Global Conference on Agriculture

3rd International Conference on Innovation in Renewable Energy and Power

3rd World Conference on Mechanical Engineering

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Maximizing your Conference Experience

Attending an in-person national conference is an invaluable experience for professional and academic development. careful planning is essential to maximize your conference experience and get the most out of it. the following sections offer strategic advice to help you successfully prepare for, participate in, and follow up after the conference., before the conference:.

Thoroughly review the conference schedule, including keynote speakers, panel discussions, and other activities. Try to identify sessions that align with your interests and goals.

Check conference resources by looking for any readings that conference organizers provide. These tools can help you deeply understand the conference material and prepare for available sessions or workshops.

You should be able to define what you hope to achieve from attending. Set specific objectives for the conference and ask yourself why I am attending.

Try to set networking and development goals, such as learning about a specific field and connecting with speakers or panelists who might help guide your experience.

Conduct online research on attendees and speakers you would like to meet using tools like LinkedIn to familiarize yourself and be able to discuss areas of shared interest with them.

Be sure to update your resume before the conference as companies and universities will be in attendance looking for potential interns and employees.

You can use an interactive tool like VMock  to update your resume and get continuous feedback to refine and develop it.

Bring a few hard copies of your resume and business cards in case you meet with a professional who may be able to offer you the opportunity you seek.

Create a concise but compelling elevator pitch that introduces you, your interests, and your career goals. This is a great way to introduce yourself to new contacts and potential employers.

Be ready to modify your pitch depending on the situation and the audience.

For a successful experience, careful planning is essential. Allow enough time to plan your trip—individually or with a group—and look up any potential conflicts with your classes.

Remember you are a student first and build in time to study at the conference if you have deadlines and priority projects for school.

Prioritize your education while taking advantage of this great professional development opportunity.

Bring essential items like notepads, pens, and a portable charger. Carry a light bag to hold any materials you might receive. 

Dress comfortably yet professionally, and wear appropriate footwear for lots of walking.

Remember to bring a light sweater or scarf to the convention center, as the large open spaces can often get chilly.

Familiarize yourself with the community of students and professionals you will encounter through conference online platforms.

Introduce yourself to new people and even suggest attending sessions together. This could be the first step in establishing your own network.

OSU provides many resources and tools that can help you prepare and sharpen your conference materials such as guides to writing a resume for a variety of majors and degrees.

Seek support from the Writing Center in developing professional materials to highlight your strengths through resumes and elevator pitches.

Visit the Career Development Center to have your resume professionally reviewed and formatted as well as improve your communication skills before attending the conference.

During The Conference:

Attend keynote speeches, relevant sessions, and exhibit booths that you think will help toward your goals. 

Participate in different workshops and presentations related to your field of interest to discover new jobs and opportunities.

Do not be afraid to socialize with people outside of your area of interest. Maybe they can put you in touch with people in their network.

Show genuine interest in what others say and follow up with thoughtful questions to demonstrate engagement.

Be sure to thoroughly document your conversations and connections at the conference, as these notes will help you lay the groundwork for meaningful follow-up emails by referencing back to specific topics or projects you discussed.

You can use our " How to Take Research Notes " guide, which offers tips for an efficient note-taking process.

Actively engage at the conference resources like career fairs hosted at the conferences to connect with potential employers and learn about job or internship opportunities.

Proactively introduce yourself to representatives from organizations that align with your interests by inquiring about potential projects and sharing your enthusiasm for their mission.

Approach speakers and exhibitors to discuss, exchange contact information, and even share your resume if possible. Let them know who you are and what are your interests.

Take advantage of Q&A sessions by asking thoughtful questions and networking with professionals who might guide you with your goals.

Be flexible with your schedule to accommodate serendipitous meetings, conversations, and last-minute adjustments not on your scheduled activities.

Rather than dining with your acquaintances, disperse among different tables and introduce yourself to other attendees.

Inquire politely about others' work and try to find common ground while learning from new perspectives.

Share a bit about yourself and your experiences but avoid dominating the conversation.

Familiarize yourself with formal dining etiquette to navigate professional lunches at conferences with confidence and make a strong impression. 

Do not forget to thank hosts and new contacts for their time.

After The Conference:

Review and summarize your notes and identify key takeaways.

Reflect on your conference experience by writing down what you have learned from the people you met and the sessions you attended and see how they met your goals.

Reach out to the contacts you made during the conference through personalized emails or other platforms, like LinkedIn or the conference app, within 24-72 hours.

Express your gratitude for their time and reiterate your interest in the potential opportunities they offered you.

Our email etiquette resource includes tips for writing effective follow-up emails to make the right impression with your new contacts. 

Add any new skills or knowledge you gained from this experience.

If you took part in the conference as a speaker or presenter, be sure to list this on your resume, especially if you won an award. Highlighting these accomplishments increases your future opportunities.

Share your conference experience with colleagues and team members through conversations and social media.

Create posts or blogs highlighting the most valuable takeaways and how they relate to your field of interest.

Post the photos you took at the conference on social media and LinkedIn. Sharing such moments will help you remember the positive interactions and reconnect with new contacts from the event.

Cultural Awareness for International Conference Attendees

When attending conferences in the United States, international students may encounter differences in cultural communication styles and social norms compared to their home countries. Therefore, it is important to be aware of these potential variances to make a positive impression.

• International students need to understand the basic norms of the conference location. For example, in the United States, handshakes and verbal greetings like "Hello" or "Hi" are customary for introductions. 
• Remember to allow comfortable space during personal interactions while maintaining eye contact with a smile.
• As these conferences bring together people from many different cultures, try to carefully observe the behaviors of others from various backgrounds in order to respectfully adapt to interactions.
• Embrace your unique identity by balancing attire suited to the occasion with aspects reflecting your culture, as authentic representation of diverse backgrounds is often encouraged at many conferences.

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• Research Objectives | Definition & Examples

Research Objectives | Definition & Examples

Published on July 12, 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on November 20, 2023.

Research objectives describe what your research is trying to achieve and explain why you are pursuing it. They summarize the approach and purpose of your project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement . They should:

• Establish the scope and depth of your project
• Contribute to your research design
• Indicate how your project will contribute to existing knowledge

Table of contents

What is a research objective, why are research objectives important, how to write research aims and objectives, smart research objectives, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research objectives.

Research objectives describe what your research project intends to accomplish. They should guide every step of the research process , including how you collect data , build your argument , and develop your conclusions .

Your research objectives may evolve slightly as your research progresses, but they should always line up with the research carried out and the actual content of your paper.

Research aims

A distinction is often made between research objectives and research aims.

A research aim typically refers to a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear at the end of your problem statement, before your research objectives.

Your research objectives are more specific than your research aim and indicate the particular focus and approach of your project. Though you will only have one research aim, you will likely have several research objectives.

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Research objectives are important because they:

• Establish the scope and depth of your project: This helps you avoid unnecessary research. It also means that your research methods and conclusions can easily be evaluated .
• Contribute to your research design: When you know what your objectives are, you have a clearer idea of what methods are most appropriate for your research.
• Indicate how your project will contribute to extant research: They allow you to display your knowledge of up-to-date research, employ or build on current research methods, and attempt to contribute to recent debates.

Once you’ve established a research problem you want to address, you need to decide how you will address it. This is where your research aim and objectives come in.

Step 1: Decide on a general aim

Your research aim should reflect your research problem and should be relatively broad.

Step 2: Decide on specific objectives

Break down your aim into a limited number of steps that will help you resolve your research problem. What specific aspects of the problem do you want to examine or understand?

Step 3: Formulate your aims and objectives

Once you’ve established your research aim and objectives, you need to explain them clearly and concisely to the reader.

You’ll lay out your aims and objectives at the end of your problem statement, which appears in your introduction. Frame them as clear declarative statements, and use appropriate verbs to accurately characterize the work that you will carry out.

The acronym “SMART” is commonly used in relation to research objectives. It states that your objectives should be:

• Specific: Make sure your objectives aren’t overly vague. Your research needs to be clearly defined in order to get useful results.
• Measurable: Know how you’ll measure whether your objectives have been achieved.
• Achievable: Your objectives may be challenging, but they should be feasible. Make sure that relevant groundwork has been done on your topic or that relevant primary or secondary sources exist. Also ensure that you have access to relevant research facilities (labs, library resources , research databases , etc.).
• Relevant: Make sure that they directly address the research problem you want to work on and that they contribute to the current state of research in your field.
• Time-based: Set clear deadlines for objectives to ensure that the project stays on track.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
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• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Research objectives describe what you intend your research project to accomplish.

They summarize the approach and purpose of the project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement .

Your research objectives indicate how you’ll try to address your research problem and should be specific:

Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .

Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.

I will compare …

A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.

Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.

Scope of research is determined at the beginning of your research process , prior to the data collection stage. Sometimes called “scope of study,” your scope delineates what will and will not be covered in your project. It helps you focus your work and your time, ensuring that you’ll be able to achieve your goals and outcomes.

Defining a scope can be very useful in any research project, from a research proposal to a thesis or dissertation . A scope is needed for all types of research: quantitative , qualitative , and mixed methods .

To define your scope of research, consider the following:

• Budget constraints or any specifics of grant funding
• Your proposed timeline and duration
• Specifics about your population of study, your proposed sample size , and the research methodology you’ll pursue
• Any inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Any anticipated control , extraneous , or confounding variables that could bias your research if not accounted for properly.

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Preparing and Presenting Effective Research Posters

Associated data.

APPENDIX A.2. Comparison of Research Papers, Presentations, and Posters—Contents.

Posters are a common way to present results of a statistical analysis, program evaluation, or other project at professional conferences. Often, researchers fail to recognize the unique nature of the format, which is a hybrid of a published paper and an oral presentation. This methods note demonstrates how to design research posters to convey study objectives, methods, findings, and implications effectively to varied professional audiences.

A review of existing literature on research communication and poster design is used to identify and demonstrate important considerations for poster content and layout. Guidelines on how to write about statistical methods, results, and statistical significance are illustrated with samples of ineffective writing annotated to point out weaknesses, accompanied by concrete examples and explanations of improved presentation. A comparison of the content and format of papers, speeches, and posters is also provided.

Each component of a research poster about a quantitative analysis should be adapted to the audience and format, with complex statistical results translated into simplified charts, tables, and bulleted text to convey findings as part of a clear, focused story line.

Conclusions

Effective research posters should be designed around two or three key findings with accompanying handouts and narrative description to supply additional technical detail and encourage dialog with poster viewers.

An assortment of posters is a common way to present research results to viewers at a professional conference. Too often, however, researchers treat posters as poor cousins to oral presentations or published papers, failing to recognize the opportunity to convey their findings while interacting with individual viewers. By neglecting to adapt detailed paragraphs and statistical tables into text bullets and charts, they make it harder for their audience to quickly grasp the key points of the poster. By simply posting pages from the paper, they risk having people merely skim their work while standing in the conference hall. By failing to devise narrative descriptions of their poster, they overlook the chance to learn from conversations with their audience.

Even researchers who adapt their paper into a well-designed poster often forget to address the range of substantive and statistical training of their viewers. This step is essential for those presenting to nonresearchers but also pertains when addressing interdisciplinary research audiences. Studies of policymakers ( DiFranza and the Staff of the Advocacy Institute 1996 ; Sorian and Baugh 2002 ) have demonstrated the importance of making it readily apparent how research findings apply to real-world issues rather than imposing on readers to translate statistical findings themselves.

This methods note is intended to help researchers avoid such pitfalls as they create posters for professional conferences. The first section describes objectives of research posters. The second shows how to describe statistical results to viewers with varied levels of statistical training, and the third provides guidelines on the contents and organization of the poster. Later sections address how to prepare a narrative and handouts to accompany a research poster. Because researchers often present the same results as published research papers, spoken conference presentations, and posters, Appendix A compares similarities and differences in the content, format, and audience interaction of these three modes of presenting research results. Although the focus of this note is on presentation of quantitative research results, many of the guidelines about how to prepare and present posters apply equally well to qualitative studies.

WHAT IS A RESEARCH POSTER?

Preparing a poster involves not only creating pages to be mounted in a conference hall, but also writing an associated narrative and handouts, and anticipating the questions you are likely to encounter during the session. Each of these elements should be adapted to the audience, which may include people with different levels of familiarity with your topic and methods ( Nelson et al. 2002 ; Beilenson 2004 ). For example, the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association draws academics who conduct complex statistical analyses along with practitioners, program planners, policymakers, and journalists who typically do not.

Posters are a hybrid form—more detailed than a speech but less than a paper, more interactive than either ( Appendix A ). In a speech, you (the presenter) determine the focus of the presentation, but in a poster session, the viewers drive that focus. Different people will ask about different facets of your research. Some might do policy work or research on a similar topic or with related data or methods. Others will have ideas about how to apply or extend your work, raising new questions or suggesting different contrasts, ways of classifying data, or presenting results. Beilenson (2004) describes the experience of giving a poster as a dialogue between you and your viewers.

By the end of an active poster session, you may have learned as much from your viewers as they have from you, especially if the topic, methods, or audience are new to you. For instance, at David Snowdon's first poster presentation on educational attainment and longevity using data from The Nun Study, another researcher returned several times to talk with Snowdon, eventually suggesting that he extend his research to focus on Alzheimer's disease, which led to an important new direction in his research ( Snowdon 2001 ). In addition, presenting a poster provides excellent practice in explaining quickly and clearly why your project is important and what your findings mean—a useful skill to apply when revising a speech or paper on the same topic.

WRITING FOR A VARIED PROFESSIONAL AUDIENCE

Audiences at professional conferences vary considerably in their substantive and methodological backgrounds. Some will be experts on your topic but not your methods, some will be experts on your methods but not your topic, and most will fall somewhere in between. In addition, advances in research methods imply that even researchers who received cutting-edge methodological training 10 or 20 years ago might not be conversant with the latest approaches. As you design your poster, provide enough background on both the topic and the methods to convey the purpose, findings, and implications of your research to the expected range of readers.

Telling a Simple, Clear Story

Write so your audience can understand why your work is of interest to them, providing them with a clear take-home message that they can grasp in the few minutes they will spend at your poster. Experts in communications and poster design recommend planning your poster around two to three key points that you want your audience to walk away with, then designing the title, charts, and text to emphasize those points ( Briscoe 1996 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ; Beilenson 2004 ). Start by introducing the two or three key questions you have decided will be the focus of your poster, and then provide a brief overview of data and methods before presenting the evidence to answer those questions. Close with a summary of your findings and their implications for research and policy.

A 2001 survey of government policymakers showed that they prefer summaries of research to be written so they can immediately see how the findings relate to issues currently facing their constituencies, without wading through a formal research paper ( Sorian and Baugh 2002 ). Complaints that surfaced about many research reports included that they were “too long, dense, or detailed,” or “too theoretical, technical, or jargony.” On average, respondents said they read only about a quarter of the research material they receive for detail, skim about half of it, and never get to the rest.

To ensure that your poster is one viewers will read, understand, and remember, present your analyses to match the issues and questions of concern to them, rather than making readers translate your statistical results to fit their interests ( DiFranza and the Staff of the Advocacy Institute 1996 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ). Often, their questions will affect how you code your data, specify your model, or design your intervention and evaluation, so plan ahead by familiarizing yourself with your audience's interests and likely applications of your study findings. In an academic journal article, you might report parameter estimates and standard errors for each independent variable in your regression model. In the poster version, emphasize findings for specific program design features, demographic, or geographic groups, using straightforward means of presenting effect size and statistical significance; see “Describing Numeric Patterns and Contrasts” and “Presenting Statistical Test Results” below.

The following sections offer guidelines on how to present statistical findings on posters, accompanied by examples of “poor” and “better” descriptions—samples of ineffective writing annotated to point out weaknesses, accompanied by concrete examples and explanations of improved presentation. These ideas are illustrated with results from a multilevel analysis of disenrollment from the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP; Phillips et al. 2004 ). I chose that paper to show how to prepare a poster about a sophisticated quantitative analysis of a topic of interest to HSR readers, and because I was a collaborator in that study, which was presented in the three formats compared here—as a paper, a speech, and a poster.

Explaining Statistical Methods

Beilenson (2004) and Briscoe (1996) suggest keeping your description of data and methods brief, providing enough information for viewers to follow the story line and evaluate your approach. Avoid cluttering the poster with too much technical detail or obscuring key findings with excessive jargon. For readers interested in additional methodological information, provide a handout and a citation to the pertinent research paper.

As you write about statistical methods or other technical issues, relate them to the specific concepts you study. Provide synonyms for technical and statistical terminology, remembering that many conferences of interest to policy researchers draw people from a range of disciplines. Even with a quantitatively sophisticated audience, don't assume that people will know the equivalent vocabulary used in other fields. A few years ago, the journal Medical Care published an article whose sole purpose was to compare statistical terminology across various disciplines involved in health services research so that people could understand one another ( Maciejewski et al. 2002 ). After you define the term you plan to use, mention the synonyms from the various fields represented in your audience.

Consider whether acronyms are necessary on your poster. Avoid them if they are not familiar to the field or would be used only once or twice on your poster. If you use acronyms, spell them out at first usage, even those that are common in health services research such as “HEDIS®”(Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set) or “HLM”(hierarchical linear model).

Poor: “We use logistic regression and a discrete-time hazards specification to assess relative hazards of SCHIP disenrollment, with plan level as our key independent variable.” Comment: Terms like “discrete-time hazards specification” may be confusing to readers without training in those methods, which are relatively new on the scene. Also the meaning of “SCHIP” or “plan level” may be unfamiliar to some readers unless defined earlier on the poster.

Better: “Chances of disenrollment from the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) vary by amount of time enrolled, so we used hazards models (also known as event history analysis or survival analysis) to correct for those differences when estimating disenrollment patterns for SCHIP plans for different income levels.” Comment: This version clarifies the terms and concepts, naming the statistical method and its synonyms, and providing a sense of why this type of analysis is needed.

To explain a statistical method or assumption, paraphrase technical terms and illustrate how the analytic approach applies to your particular research question and data:

Poor : “The data structure can be formulated as a two-level hierarchical linear model, with families (the level-1 unit of analysis) nested within counties (the level-2 unit of analysis).” Comment: Although this description would be fine for readers used to working with this type of statistical model, those who aren't conversant with those methods may be confused by terminology such as “level-1” and “unit of analysis.”

Better: “The data have a hierarchical (or multilevel) structure, with families clustered within counties.” Comment: By replacing “nested” with the more familiar “clustered,” identifying the specific concepts for the two levels of analysis, and mentioning that “hierarchical” and “multilevel” refer to the same type of analytic structure, this description relates the generic class of statistical model to this particular study.

Presenting Results with Charts

Charts are often the preferred way to convey numeric patterns, quickly revealing the relative sizes of groups, comparative levels of some outcome, or directions of trends ( Briscoe 1996 ; Tufte 2001 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ). As Beilenson puts it, “let your figures do the talking,” reducing the need for long text descriptions or complex tables with lots of tiny numbers. For example, create a pie chart to present sample composition, use a simple bar chart to show how the dependent variable varies across subgroups, or use line charts or clustered bar charts to illustrate the net effects of nonlinear specifications or interactions among independent variables ( Miller 2005 ). Charts that include confidence intervals around point estimates are a quick and effective way to present effect size, direction, and statistical significance. For multivariate analyses, consider presenting only the results for the main variables of interest, listing the other variables in the model in a footnote and including complex statistical tables in a handout.

Provide each chart with a title (in large type) that explains the topic of that chart. A rhetorical question or summary of the main finding can be very effective. Accompany each chart with a few annotations that succinctly describe the patterns in that chart. Although each chart page should be self-explanatory, be judicious: Tufte (2001) cautions against encumbering your charts with too much “nondata ink”—excessive labeling or superfluous features such as arrows and labels on individual data points. Strive for a balance between guiding your readers through the findings and maintaining a clean, uncluttered poster. Use chart types that are familiar to your expected audience. Finally, remember that you can flesh out descriptions of charts and tables in your script rather than including all the details on the poster itself; see “Narrative to Accompany a Poster.”

Describing Numeric Patterns and Contrasts

As you describe patterns or numeric contrasts, whether from simple calculations or complex statistical models, explain both the direction and magnitude of the association. Incorporate the concepts under study and the units of measurement rather than simply reporting coefficients (β's) ( Friedman 1990 ; Miller 2005 ).

Poor: “Number of enrolled children in the family is correlated with disenrollment.” Comment: Neither the direction nor the size of the association is apparent.

Poor [version #2]: “The log-hazard of disenrollment for one-child families was 0.316.” Comment: Most readers find it easier to assess the size and direction from hazards ratios (a form of relative risk) instead of log-hazards (log-relative risks, the β's from a hazards model).

Better: “Families with only one child enrolled in the program were about 1.4 times as likely as larger families to disenroll.” Comment: This version explains the association between number of children and disenrollment without requiring viewers to exponentiate the log-hazard in their heads to assess the size and direction of that association. It also explicitly identifies the group against which one-child families are compared in the model.

Presenting Statistical Test Results

On your poster, use an approach to presenting statistical significance that keeps the focus on your results, not on the arithmetic needed to conduct inferential statistical tests. Replace standard errors or test statistics with confidence intervals, p- values, or symbols, or use formatting such as boldface, italics, or a contrasting color to denote statistically significant findings ( Davis 1997 ; Miller 2005 ). Include the detailed statistical results in handouts for later perusal.

To illustrate these recommendations, Figures 1 and ​ and2 2 demonstrate how to divide results from a complex, multilevel model across several poster pages, using charts and bullets in lieu of the detailed statistical table from the scientific paper ( Table 1 ; Phillips et al. 2004 ). Following experts' advice to focus on one or two key points, these charts emphasize the findings from the final model (Model 5) rather than also discussing each of the fixed- and random-effects specifications from the paper.

Presenting Complex Statistical Results Graphically

Text Summary of Additional Statistical Results

Multilevel Discrete-Time Hazards Models of Disenrollment from SCHIP, New Jersey, January 1998–April 2000

Source : Phillips et al. (2004) .

SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program; LRH, log relative-hazard; SE, standard error.

Figure 1 uses a chart (also from the paper) to present the net effects of a complicated set of interactions between two family-level traits (race and SCHIP plan) and a cross-level interaction between race of the family and county physician racial composition. The title is a rhetorical question that identifies the issue addressed in the chart, and the annotations explain the pattern. The chart version substantially reduces the amount of time viewers need to understand the main take-home point, averting the need to mentally sum and exponentiate several coefficients from the table.

Figure 2 uses bulleted text to summarize other key results from the model, translating log-relative hazards into hazards ratios and interpreting them with minimal reliance on jargon. The results for family race, SCHIP plan, and county physician racial composition are not repeated in Figure 2 , averting the common problem of interpreting main effect coefficients and interaction coefficients without reference to one another.

Alternatively, replace the text summary shown in Figure 2 with Table 2 —a simplified version of Table 1 which presents only the results for Model 5, replaces log-relative hazards with hazards ratios, reports associated confidence intervals in lieu of standard errors, and uses boldface to denote statistical significance. (On a color slide, use a contrasting color in lieu of bold.)

Relative Risks of SCHIP Disenrollment for Other * Family and County Characteristics, New Jersey, January 1998–April 2000

Statistically significant associations are shown in bold.

Based on hierarchical linear model controlling for months enrolled, months-squared, race, SCHIP plan, county physician racial composition, and all variables shown here. Scaled deviance =30,895. Random effects estimate for between-county variance =0.005 (standard error =0.006). SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.

CONTENTS AND ORGANIZATION OF A POSTER

Research posters are organized like scientific papers, with separate pages devoted to the objectives and background, data and methods, results, and conclusions ( Briscoe 1996 ). Readers view the posters at their own pace and at close range; thus you can include more detail than in slides for a speech (see Appendix A for a detailed comparison of content and format of papers, speeches, and posters). Don't simply post pages from the scientific paper, which are far too text-heavy for a poster. Adapt them, replacing long paragraphs and complex tables with bulleted text, charts, and simple tables ( Briscoe 1996 ; Beilenson 2004 ). Fink (1995) provides useful guidelines for writing text bullets to convey research results. Use presentation software such as PowerPoint to create your pages or adapt them from related slides, facilitating good page layout with generous type size, bullets, and page titles. Such software also makes it easy to create matching handouts (see “Handouts”).

The “W's” (who, what, when, where, why) are an effective way to organize the elements of a poster.

• In the introductory section, describe what you are studying, why it is important, and how your analysis will add to the existing literature in the field.
• In the data and methods section of a statistical analysis, list when, where, who, and how the data were collected, how many cases were involved, and how the data were analyzed. For other types of interventions or program evaluations, list who, when, where, and how many, along with how the project was implemented and assessed.
• In the results section, present what you found.
• In the conclusion, return to what you found and how it can be used to inform programs or policies related to the issue.

Number and Layout of Pages

To determine how many pages you have to work with, find out the dimensions of your assigned space. A 4′ × 8′ bulletin board accommodates the equivalent of about twenty 8.5″ × 11″ pages, but be selective—no poster can capture the full detail of a large series of multivariate models. A trifold presentation board (3′ high by 4′ wide) will hold roughly a dozen pages, organized into three panels ( Appendix B ). Breaking the arrangement into vertical sections allows viewers to read each section standing in one place while following the conventions of reading left-to-right and top-to-bottom ( Briscoe 1996 ).

• At the top of the poster, put an informative title in a large, readable type size. On a 4′ × 8′ bulletin board, there should also be room for an institutional logo.

Suggested Layout for a 4′ × 8′ poster.

• In the left-hand panel, set the stage for the research question, conveying why the topic is of policy interest, summarizing major empirical or theoretical work on related topics, and stating your hypotheses or project aims, and explaining how your work fills in gaps in previous analyses.
• In the middle panel, briefly describe your data source, variables, and methods, then present results in tables or charts accompanied by text annotations. Diagrams, maps, and photographs are very effective for conveying issues difficult to capture succinctly in words ( Miller 2005 ), and to help readers envision the context. A schematic diagram of relationships among variables can be useful for illustrating causal order. Likewise, a diagram can be a succinct way to convey timing of different components of a longitudinal study or the nested structure of a multilevel dataset.
• In the right-hand panel, summarize your findings and relate them back to the research question or project aims, discuss strengths and limitations of your approach, identify research, practice, or policy implications, and suggest directions for future research.

Figure 3 (adapted from Beilenson 2004 ) shows a suggested layout for a 4′ × 8′ bulletin board, designed to be created using software such as Pagemaker that generates a single-sheet presentation; Appendix C shows a complete poster version of the Phillips et al. (2004) multilevel analysis of SCHIP disenrollment. If hardware or budget constraints preclude making a single-sheet poster, a similar configuration can be created using standard 8.5″ × 11″ pages in place of the individual tables, charts, or blocks of text shown in Figure 3 .

Find out well in advance how the posters are to be mounted so you can bring the appropriate supplies. If the room is set up for table-top presentations, tri-fold poster boards are essential because you won't have anything to attach a flat poster board or pages to. If you have been assigned a bulletin board, bring push-pins or a staple gun.

Regardless of whether you will be mounting your poster at the conference or ahead of time, plan how the pages are to be arranged. Experiment with different page arrangements on a table marked with the dimensions of your overall poster. Once you have a final layout, number the backs of the pages or draw a rough sketch to work from as you arrange the pages on the board. If you must pin pages to a bulletin board at the conference venue, allow ample time to make them level and evenly spaced.

Other Design Considerations

A few other issues to keep in mind as you design your poster. Write a short, specific title that fits in large type size on the title banner of your poster. The title will be potential readers' first glimpse of your poster, so make it inviting and easy to read from a distance—at least 40-point type, ideally larger. Beilenson (2004) advises embedding your key finding in the title so viewers don't have to dig through the abstract or concluding page to understand the purpose and conclusions of your work. A caution: If you report a numeric finding in your title, keep in mind that readers may latch onto it as a “factoid” to summarize your conclusions, so select and phrase it carefully ( McDonough 2000 ).

Use at least 14-point type for the body of the poster text. As Briscoe (1996) points out, “many in your audience have reached the bifocal age” and all of them will read your poster while standing, hence long paragraphs in small type will not be appreciated! Make judicious use of color. Use a clear, white, or pastel for the background, with black or another dark color for most text, and a bright, contrasting shade to emphasize key points or to identify statistically significant results ( Davis 1997 ).

NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY A POSTER

Prepare a brief oral synopsis of the purpose, findings, and implications of your work to say to interested parties as they pause to read your poster. Keep it short—a few sentences that highlight what you are studying, a couple of key findings, and why they are important. Design your overview as a “sound byte” that captures your main points in a succinct and compelling fashion ( Beilenson 2004 ). After hearing your introduction, listeners will either nod and move along or comment on some aspect of your work that intrigues them. You can then tailor additional discussion to individual listeners, adjusting the focus and amount of detail to suit their interests. Gesture at the relevant pages as you make each point, stating the purpose of each chart or table and explaining its layout before describing the numeric findings; see Miller (2005) for guidelines on how to explain tables and charts to a live audience. Briscoe (1996) points out that these mini-scripts are opportunities for you to fill in details of your story line, allowing you to keep the pages themselves simple and uncluttered.

Prepare short answers to likely questions about various aspects of your work, such as why it is important from a policy or research perspective, or descriptions of data, methods, and specific results. Think of these as little modules from an overall speech—concise descriptions of particular elements of your study that you can choose among in response to questions that arise. Beilenson (2004) also recommends developing a few questions to ask your viewers, inquiring about their reactions to your findings, ideas for additional questions, or names of others working on the topic.

Practice your poster presentation in front of a test audience acquainted with the interests and statistical proficiency of your expected viewers. Ideally, your critic should not be too familiar with your work: A fresh set of eyes and ears is more likely to identify potential points of confusion than someone who is jaded from working closely with the material while writing the paper or drafting the poster ( Beilenson 2004 ). Ask your reviewer to identify elements that are unclear, flag jargon to be paraphrased or defined, and recommend changes to improve clarity ( Miller 2005 ). Have them critique your oral presentation as well as the contents and layout of the poster.

Prepare handouts to distribute to interested viewers. These can be produced from slides created in presentation software, printed several to a page along with a cover page containing the abstract and your contact information. Or package an executive summary or abstract with a few key tables or charts. Handouts provide access to the more detailed literature review, data and methods, full set of results, and citations without requiring viewers to read all of that information from the poster ( Beilenson 2004 ; Miller 2005 ). Although you also can bring copies of the complete paper, it is easier on both you and your viewers if you collect business cards or addresses and mail the paper later.

The quality and effectiveness of research posters at professional conferences is often compromised by authors' failure to take into account the unique nature of such presentations. One common error is posting numerous statistical tables and long paragraphs from a research paper—an approach that overwhelms viewers with too much detail for this type of format and presumes familiarity with advanced statistical techniques. Following recommendations from the literature on research communication and poster design, this paper shows how to focus each poster on a few key points, using charts and text bullets to convey results as part of a clear, straightforward story line, and supplementing with handouts and an oral overview.

Another frequent mistake is treating posters as a one-way means of communication. Unlike published papers, poster sessions are live presentations; unlike speeches, they allow for extended conversation with viewers. This note explains how to create an oral synopsis of the project, short modular descriptions of poster elements, and questions to encourage dialog. By following these guidelines, researchers can substantially improve their conference posters as vehicles to disseminate findings to varied research and policy audiences.

CHECKLIST FOR PREPARING AND PRESENTING AN EFFECTIVE RESEARCH POSTERS

• Design poster to focus on two or three key points.
• Adapt materials to suit expected viewers' knowledge of your topic and methods.
• Design questions to meet their interests and expected applications of your work.
• Paraphrase descriptions of complex statistical methods.
• Spell out acronyms if used.
• Replace large detailed tables with charts or small, simplified tables.
• Accompany tables or charts with bulleted annotations of major findings.
• Describe direction and magnitude of associations.
• Use confidence intervals, p -values, symbols, or formatting to denote statistical significance.

Layout and Format

• Organize the poster into background, data and methods, results, and study implications.
• Divide the material into vertical sections on the poster.
• Use at least 14-point type in the body of your poster, at least 40-point for the title.

Narrative Description

• Rehearse a three to four sentence overview of your research objectives and main findings.
• Summary of key studies and gaps in existing literature
• Data and methods
• Each table, chart, or set of bulleted results
• Research, policy, and practice implications
• Solicit their input on your findings
• Develop additional questions for later analysis
• Identify other researchers in the field
• Prepare handouts to distribute to interested viewers.
• Print slides from presentation software, several to a page.
• Or package an executive summary or abstract with a few key tables or charts.
• Include an abstract and contact information.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Ellen Idler, Julie Phillips, Deborah Carr, Diane (Deedee) Davis, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this work.

Supplementary Material

The following supplementary material for this article is available online:

APPENDIX A.1. Comparison of Research Papers, Presentations, and Posters—Materials and Audience Interaction.

Suggested Layout for a Tri-Fold Presentation Board.

Example Research Poster of Phillips et al. 2004 Study.

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• Open access
• Published: 02 August 2012

A scoping review about conference objectives and evaluative practices: how do we get more out of them?

• Justin Neves 1 , 2 ,
• John N Lavis 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 &
• M Kent Ranson 7  

Health Research Policy and Systems volume  10 , Article number:  26 ( 2012 ) Cite this article

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Large multi-day conferences have often been criticized as ineffective ways to improve social outcomes and to influence policy or practice. Unfortunately, many conference evaluations have also been inadequate in determining the impact of a conference on its associated social sector, with little evidence gathered or analyzed to substantiate or refute these criticisms. The aim of this scoping review is to investigate and report stakeholders’ objectives for planning or participating in large multi-day conferences and how these objectives are being evaluated. We conducted a scoping review supplemented by a small number of key informant interviews. Eight bibliographic databases were systematically searched to identify papers describing conference objectives and/or evaluations. We developed a conference evaluation framework based on theoretical models and empirical findings, which structured the descriptive synthesis of the data. We identified 3,073 potential papers for review, of which 44 were included in this study. Our evaluation framework connects five key elements in planning a conference and its evaluation (number in brackets refers to number of themes identified): conference objectives (8), purpose of evaluation (7), evaluation methods (5), indicators of success (9) and theories/models (8). Further analysis of indicators of success identified three categories of indicators with differing scopes (i.e. immediate, prospective or follow-up) as well as empirical links between the purpose of evaluations and these indicators. Conference objectives and evaluations were largely correlated with the type of conference (i.e. academic, political/governmental or business) but diverse overall. While much can be done to improve the quality and usefulness of conference evaluations, there are innovative assessments that are currently being utilized by some conferences and warrant further investigation. This review provides conference evaluators and organizers a simple resource to improve their own assessments by highlighting and categorizing potential objectives and evaluation strategies.

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Introduction

Billions of dollars are spent on large multi-day conferences every year in the hope that bringing together different stakeholders will foster collaboration and more broadly improve social outcomes [ 1 ]. Given the complexity of some of the issues discussed at these large multi-day conferences, many organizers have struggled to establish clear objectives for their conferences and ultimately, how their conferences will influence policy and practice [ 2 , 3 ]. Furthermore, most conferences lack comprehensive evaluation strategies and as a result, their success based on pre-determined objectives is rarely captured [ 4 , 5 ]. This has led numerous stakeholders to question the usefulness of such large, expensive and time-consuming conferences [ 3 , 6 , 7 ] and the quality of the associated evaluations [ 8 ]. However, before the effectiveness of these large multi-day conferences can be determined, we must first establish what the objectives of large conferences are, as defined by their stakeholders, and how they are being evaluated.

While there is a fair amount of research on the impact of smaller educational meetings, including a Cochrane systematic review [ 9 ], the study designs (randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or non-randomized controlled trials) that are typically employed by these types of evaluations may not always be feasible for large multi-day conferences. Though RCTs may provide robust conclusions regarding the effects of large conferences on social sector outcomes, political and fiscal imperatives may preclude randomization, as conference attendance often requires an invitation or abstract submission as well as adequate finances. The considerable size (sometimes thousands of attendees) and variance in the country of origin of participants also makes follow-up of outcomes logistically difficult. Finally, the budget allocated to conference evaluations is usually minimal, preventing the use of relatively expensive controlled trials (as opposed to end-of-conference surveys). Consequently, there is a significant need for robust, published research to improve the quality and effectiveness of conference evaluations [ 10 , 11 ].

Many studies have asserted the importance of rigorous conference evaluations, especially surrounding the inclusion of participants’ objectives and perspectives in the evaluation process [ 12 , 13 ], yet we found little research on how this may be achieved in practice. A few papers have studied the relationship between factors such as attendee satisfaction and intention to return and this paper will expand upon these studies by providing tangible examples of conference evaluations that have utilized such concepts [ 14 , 15 ]. The overall paucity of research on the subject may be due to the fact that few conferences conduct evaluations and even fewer publish their results.

The aim of this study is to explore stakeholders’ objectives for planning or participating in large multi-day conferences and how these objectives are evaluated across various social sectors. Objectives of the study are threefold: 1. to develop a practical framework connecting key elements of large multi-day conference evaluations; 2. to highlight some innovative examples of evaluations; and 3. to provide preliminary recommendations for conference organizers in building a comprehensive conference evaluation.

A scoping review of the literature and qualitative key informant interviews were conducted to develop a practical framework for conference evaluations. An iterative approach was taken when reviewing the literature and conducting the interviews, allowing the evidence obtained to shape further research and to develop the evaluation framework simultaneously. Producing the framework concurrently with data collection allowed insight from various stakeholders to be used at all stages of its development. Methods were carried out in accordance with a study protocol completed on 25 May 2011.

Literature review

Search strategy.

We systematically searched eight databases from January 2000 until May 2011 in order to provide coverage across a range of social sectors. We defined "social sectors" specifically, as a broad field of work with the mandate to improve the overall wellbeing of society. Databases were selected in consultation with a WHO librarian based on previous cross-sectoral, social science literature reviews. We searched CINAHL for allied health, EconLit for economics, ERIC for education, Global Health for international public health, PAIS for public affairs/political sciences, PsycINFO for psychology, Pubmed for biomedical and life sciences, and CSA Social Services Abstracts for social sciences. A search strategy was developed based on keywords/MeSH terms of seminal papers of which we were already aware. Search strategies employed in previous reviews related to themes within the scope of this study were also consulted. Where MeSH terms could not be used, we utilized related database specific descriptors as well as basic keyword searches. The strategy was tested and reviewed with a WHO librarian and edited to include specific evaluation techniques as well as general terms (See Additional file 1 for complete search strategy). Grey literature was obtained through searching certain databases (ERIC, Global Health and PAIS), as well as other relevant sources provided by key informants. All citations were exported into Reference Manager.

Selection criteria

Articles included in this scoping review needed to explicitly present objectives or evaluative techniques for large multi-day conferences but this did not need to be the focus of the paper. We defined “large multi-day conferences” as a meeting lasting more than one day with at least 100 attendees. For the purposes of this review, the term stakeholders was adopted from knowledge translation literature and includes funders, researchers, knowledge brokers (i.e. conference organizers), policymakers and citizens (i.e. civil society). We excluded professional conferences of a single for-profit corporation, as goals of these conferences seem to typically focus more on profit making than knowledge exchange and sector strengthening. We also excluded online conferences and papers that solely focused on specific conference sessions. We acquired full text articles for papers that did not include an abstract or that did not specifically mention length or number of participants in the abstract, unless the citation could be excluded based on information presented in the title or abstract.

Data extraction and synthesis

Given the broad scope of this review and limited timeline, it was determined ex-ante that a maximum of 200 randomly selected citations from the search results in each database would be screened. Since screening was database specific, duplicates were only removed once this process was complete. Ten percent of titles/abstracts were independently screened by KR and JN and inter-rater reliability was measured using Cohen`s Kappa to determine if moving to one reviewer could be justified (kappa value, κ >.80). A single investigator (JN) conducted the data extraction, recording data on objectives or evaluation methods as well as other key characteristics (i.e. size, social sector) of large multi-day conferences presented in each of the included articles. Wherever possible, objectives or evaluations relating to a specific stakeholder group were noted. While not explicitly within the scope of this review, we tried to include any assessment of specific evaluation techniques or innovative evaluative methodologies to begin to gauge the quality of large multi-day conference evaluations. We described the data through a narrative synthesis culminating in the creation of a practical framework for conference evaluations.

Key informant interviews

Qualitative interviews with the stakeholders (as defined in "selection criteria", above) took place throughout this project and served to both gain insight into their objectives for, and perspectives on, large multi-day conferences and to supplement the findings of the literature review. A purposive sample of 12 stakeholders from differing backgrounds was selected based on participation in one of several conferences determined through discussion with colleagues. An initial interview guide was developed and modified iteratively as new themes emerged from the scoping review or preceding interviews. Detailed notes were taken and recorded in Microsoft Word for analysis. Themes were coded as they became apparent and reviewed upon completion of all key informant interviews to ensure that themes were relevant.

Our searches identified 3,073 potential papers for review, of which 1,105 papers were screened in accordance with our predetermined cap of 200 papers per database (Global Health, PAIS, PsycINFO and Social Services each produced less than 200 references). Following title and abstract review, 113 full text papers were acquired for further screening. Two papers were excluded as they were duplicates and 57 were excluded as they were found, upon closer examination, not to meet inclusion criteria. Nine papers identified for full text review could not be retrieved and therefore, were documented for future studies and analysis but excluded from the framework (see Additional file 2 ). In total, 44 publications were included in this review (Figure 1 ).

Literature search process flow chart.

Conference evaluation framework

We iteratively developed a practical framework of key elements of a conference evaluation and incorporated our findings from the literature to provide concrete examples of what objectives and evaluative practices have been utilized (Figure 2 ). Our evaluation framework connects five key elements in planning a conference and its evaluation: conference objectives, purpose of evaluation, evaluation methods, indicators of success and theories/models. Given that some papers reported multiple themes for certain categories, the total number of papers in each category does not necessarily match the total number of papers reviewed.

Conference evaluation framework. A = Academic conference, P = Political (Governmental) conference, B = Business conference. Number in brackets correspond to total articles that reported utilizing the specific objective or evaluative practice. Numbers in color correspond to article citations. Dashes are used as placeholders when no citations are coded for a category [ 38 – 60 ].

Differences between conference types

Variations in evaluative strategies were found based on the type of conference being assessed, which we categorized by Rodgers’ conference definitions: academic – formal presentation of scientific research through lectures, workshops and posters, usually organized by a specific society of an academic field; political (i.e. governmental) – gathering of governmental officials and/or policymakers for discussion of issues from a political perspective; or business – private organizations facilitating conferences of various stakeholders to discuss a specific issue or emerging concern [ 16 ]. Academic and business conferences shared some overlapping characteristics (i.e. disseminating research) but business conferences tended to include a wider audience. Out of the 44 papers included in the framework, 21 were categorized as academic conferences, 13 as political conferences and 10 as business conferences. Academic conference evaluations, as a whole, tend to focus much more on learning and knowledge exchange, while political and business conferences concentrate on product creation and sector outcomes. This is particularly clear when looking at the respective objectives and indicators. In terms of specific objectives, academic conferences strongly favoured facilitating dynamic knowledge acquisition and transfer (6/21), political conferences seemed to focus on developing guidelines as the main objective (6/13) and business conferences had a fairly broad spectrum of purposes.

Theories/models

The authors of two papers in this review argued that including theoretical research into the development of a conference evaluation is extremely beneficial, as it helps to provide a structured framework for data collection and analysis [ 4 , 17 ]. In most instances, theories were used to validate the indicators being evaluated or to help determine the purpose of the assessment and ultimately, ensure that the results of the evaluation were useful. Only eight studies reported using theories in the planning of their evaluations, which are summarized in Table 1 .

Wiessner et al. [ 18 ] presented the only theory in this review that was created specifically for conference settings, which they entitled “New Learning”. The tool aims to provide evaluative data for the conference as well as learning opportunities through the evaluation (i.e. personal reflection) for the Academy of Human Resource Development conferences and other similar professional and academic conferences. Being a conference-specific theory, the authors incorporated conference evaluation methods based on “New Learning” principles, which were utilized in two other papers in this review [ 17 , 24 ]. The evaluation simply asks “What did you learn and how?” allowing participants to reflect on their own experience and share this with the organizers. The strength of this tool is in its straightforward administration and rigorous qualitative coding. The authors propose that "New Learning" changes how evaluations (mostly in an academic conference setting) are conducted and utilized, stressing the importance of "how" and "why" questions, rigorous data analysis and the dissemination of findings. Furthermore, “New Learning” is argued to be an effective guide when using broad qualitative strategies with the goal of producing results encompassing all stakeholder perspectives [ 17 , 18 , 24 ].

Jaffe, Knapp and Jeffe [ 19 ] utilized behavioural theories to create indicators specific to the purpose of their evaluation at the National Paediatric Emergency Medicine Fellows' Conference. Using the theory of planned behaviour, the team developed an end- of-conference survey to determine intentions to engage in seven targeted behaviours, instead of following up with participants in the subsequent years. Other theory-based behavioural determinants such as knowledge, social norms and confidence were evaluated to increase the robustness of results gained. Survey questions were detailed and focused, but for simplicity, required only a Likert scale (1 to 5) rating. Quantitative responses to questions such as “How likely are you to engage in new research on a topic of focus in a breakout session?” combined with information about the participants’ understanding of the topics covered, can provide insight into a conference’s impact on future research. The International AIDS Conference utilizes a similar approach based in the theory of reasoned action; a precursor to the theory of planned behaviour [ 5 ].

Purpose and indicators of success

Expanding on the conference evaluation framework, Figure 3 empirically describes the links made in the literature between the purpose of an evaluation and the indicators that can be measured to help address specific goals of the assessment. The figure also breaks down indicators by immediate, end-of-conference indicators, prospective indicators and follow up indicators, which can be traced back to the purpose to help evaluators decide when is best to administer their evaluation. Publication rates were the most utilized indicator of success, likely because academic conferences were the most prominent type of conference included in the review and because of the simplicity of the evaluation. While assessing knowledge acquisition and exchange was reported as a primary goal in eight studies, there were no indicators that were directly associated with this purpose; though one paper reasoned that changes in practice post-conference may be attributed to knowledge acquired at the conference [ 25 ].

Indicators described in relation to purpose and time of evaluation. Arrowed lines display connections utilized by evaluations included in the review. Thicker lines correspond to a greater number of articles.

Measurement of basic indicators can also be a straightforward way to improve the usability of traditional conference surveys. General conference performance assessments, often called reaction evaluations [ 5 ] since they mainly target undeveloped reactions to events, were reported as the overall purpose of evaluations in 10 out of 44 papers (23%), while four conferences failed to identify an overall purpose for evaluation. These simple evaluations have been criticized as "opinion-level" [ 18 ] or "smile sheets" [ 24 ] and fail to address issues from participant perspectives [ 8 ]. A few studies used basic prospective indicators, such as intention to act or return, as simple additions to their surveys to add additional data on possible impact of the conference. As discussed in the theories section, many behavioural theories suggest intention as a precursor to behaviour, therefore incorporating evaluative questions based on future intentions is likely to be a good predictor of behavioural change and impact on practice. Moreover, intention to act was the only indicator to be utilized by all three conference types. There were no prospective indicators for conference impact on policy changes discovered in this review.

• Evaluation methods

Figure 2 displays the most utilized methods by type, with searches for research and policy documents being used in 12 papers. In terms of time of evaluation, 9 out of 44 papers [ 5 , 25 – 32 ] reported utilizing follow-up surveys or interviews to either estimate the conference’s impact on stakeholders or gain feedback for future conference planning. Generally, evaluation methods seemed to be decided upon implicitly as the purpose, theories and indicators were chosen, thus it fits that a few key examples of methodologies have already been briefly presented in previous paragraphs, such as qualitative methodologies associated with “New Learning” evaluations.

James’ evaluation of the ALL WELL conference [ 30 ], was the only study to include a control group in the evaluation and one of the few to directly relate a specific impact to the conference happenings. The ALL WELL conference, promoting coordinated school health programs, conducted a follow-up evaluation in 1992 and 1999 of attendees of at least one conference between 1988–1991 and it illustrates a detailed process for evaluating sector (albeit regional) impact. Employees of 98 school districts who had participated in ALL WELL were matched with a comparison group from 98 districts without an employee in attendance. Incorporating baseline data as well as the participant- and control-group questionnaires from the 1992 and 1999 follow-up periods, the conference was able to quantitatively state that there were significantly more school wellness programs, with greater variety of activities in school districts, where employees attended ALL WELL. Due to the multiple follow-up evaluations, certain indicator trends can also be measured.

A novel publication rate analysis methodology was described in the Bank Structure Conference impact study [ 33 ]. Many of the included studies used literature (grey and/or peer reviewed) searches to assess the use of conference outputs in research or political agendas in their evaluation methods and this particular paper provides a tool to quantify conference impact in relation to the impact of associated sector journals. Using formulas modeled from journal impact factor (JIF) calculations, conference impact factor (CIF) estimates were developed. An absolute impact factor (i.e. total citations gained once conference papers are published) as well as a relative impact factor (i.e. comparison of CIFs to JIFs of prominent sector journals) was generated for each of the calculations. Literature searches took place between 2 and 26 years post-conference; however, searches were limited to articles published within two years of each conference. The study also revealed that most conference abstracts in social sciences fields take roughly five years to be published, which the authors argue should be taken into consideration when analyzing publication rates. Given the criticism of conference abstracts for poor quality and low publication rates [ 34 – 36 ], this tool can provide valuable evidence of these conferences' impact on future research.

A specific component of conference evaluation methods that is problematic when assessing the success or impact of large conferences is response rate, though the papers in this review offered little in the way of tangible suggestions for improvement. Overall, response rates averaged between 30 and 40%, while the number of total participants varied greatly between conferences. The authors also noted that as evaluations became more detailed in the questions asked, response rates diminished, though this may be due to lengthier evaluations.

In total 10 interviews were conducted, with individuals identified based on participation in four different conferences. The majority of interviewees contacted had attended the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (Montreux 2010) but the interviews were not conference-specific and themes emerged were based on entire professional careers. Of the interviewees, 5 were organizers, 4 were researchers and 1 was a funder. Themes emerging were coded for all interviews to determine overall findings although comparisons between groups were limited to organizers and researchers. Interviews provided insight into specific experiences at conferences and how stakeholders viewed evaluations in comparison to the literature.

Stakeholder objectives

The major objectives from participants of large multi-day conferences are the dissemination of research, networking/professional development and increasing visibility of a specific field of work. The objectives were consistent in a large portion of the interviews though there were slight differences in primary versus secondary objectives. Organizers seemed to focus largely on dissemination of conference outputs and building awareness and understanding as primary objectives, which line up directly with findings from the literature. Networking and professional development were often discussed in the interviews but usually as an important part of any conference and not necessarily as explicit objectives from their viewpoint. Researchers tended to focus on learning objectives, such as capacity building through workshops or seminars, consistent with objectives of academic conferences, and all four researchers placed a strong emphasis on the importance of conferences as an arena for young researchers to develop and network. One funder discussed dissemination of research as a clear goal but focused on small group interactions and networking specifically by holding small group meetings as satellites to the conference.

Stakeholder perspectives on current evaluations

There was a dichotomy between evaluations presented in the literature and stakeholders experiences with conference evaluations. Only one of the interviewees (an organizer) was explicitly aware of an evaluation that directly influenced future conference development and none of the stakeholders had ever reported participating in any type of assessment beyond a standard reaction evaluation at the end of the conference. Furthermore, four of the interviewees had rarely or never filled out an evaluation at a conference but all were familiar with basic end-of-conference surveys.

A few key findings emerged from the majority of interviews, both in terms of the importance stakeholders placed on certain issues and how many participants independently agreed. For example, eight stakeholders referenced the importance of attendance tracking as an indicator of success. Some were specifically interested in attendance trends, including significant fluctuations, and a few mentioned analyzing participants' intention to return. There was also substantial emphasis placed on establishing diversity in a conference setting, specifically increasing the prevalence of low- and middle-income country attendees and working towards balancing the power of typically dominant groups. It is also extremely important to have “the right people attending”, as one interviewee cited the need for a mix of different levels of politicians at a conference to truly influence policy changes, for example. The interviewee provided the example that ministers need to be involved but are often too busy to participate directly in their country’s program development and implementation, so other policymakers and grassroots decision-makers should also participate in the conference, as they will be the ones actually implementing policies. Almost unanimously, stakeholders wanted to be more involved in conference planning processes to ensure that stakeholder objectives are being considered. A few such participants voiced their concern with the lack of formal conference evaluations or uncertainty as to whether current evaluations are truly being used to guide future conferences.

There was a general consensus that post-conference interviews would be the most beneficial addition to current evaluative techniques, reasoning that the impact of a conference can be established more effectively and that it allows participants to reflect in hindsight on the successes and weaknesses of the conference. One participant provided the example of always asking himself, “What did I do with all those business cards?” and a follow up evaluation would allow him to provide his feedback. A tangible example proposed by a majority of stakeholders was the implementation of follow-up telephone interviews into evaluation strategies. It was proposed that the specific time can be variable but should allow enough time for participants to have incorporated aspects of the conference into their work (approximately a year) and should take place during the planning of future conferences so that feedback can be utilized directly in this process.

What was not agreed upon was whether paper or electronic surveys were more effective as the main source of data collection. Supporters of paper submissions reported higher response rates, while proponents of electronic surveys felt that they provide the opportunity to tailor evaluations to different stakeholders. One organizer provided the specific example of using electronic surveys to provide separate surveys to specific target groups including funders and presenters. This was a strategy that many interviewees agreed was very beneficial, which was not represented in the overall conference literature.

There was little insight on specific indicators that could be used to demonstrate conference success, with all but two informants expressing concern with trying to predict the distal impact of a conference, given the myriad of possible other influences and barriers to conference impact. This being said, when asked to describe what makes a conference successful overall, achieving pre-determined conference goals and building momentum for the field were clear themes that emerged.

This scoping review provides a comprehensive framework of conference objectives and evaluations based on the findings of 44 included studies, supplemented by key informant interviews to gain stakeholders’ perspectives. Our conference evaluation framework connects five key elements in planning a conference assessment and identifies eight conference objectives, seven purposes of evaluation, five evaluation methods, nine indicators of success and eight theories/models described in the literature. Citations to corresponding papers in each category, separated by the type of conference evaluated, are also included in the framework (Figure 2 ). Figure 3 augments the framework by describing the scope of indicators of success (i.e. immediate, prospective or follow up) reported in this review and presenting empirical links between purposes of evaluations and these indicators. Key informants and the literature primarily recognized the importance of follow up components to an evaluation and prospective indicators as techniques to improve the utility of the assessment, respectively. Unfortunately, limited information was found about improving response rates for conference evaluations, however, there are multiple reviews surrounding this topic more generally [ 23 ].

Several strengths and weaknesses in this study should be considered. First, a study protocol was developed preceding the collection of data to provide a methodological framework and it was reviewed by all authors to ensure a high level of scientific rigor in the study. Second, the inclusion of multiple social databases in our search strategy also significantly adds to the strength and scope of this research, as findings of this review can be inform further investigation across a variety of social sectors. As an example of the potential for cross-sector learning, “New Learning” was developed uniquely for conference contexts and can arguably be applied to any sector. Third, through key informant interviews, we were able to gain insight into many unpublished conference evaluations and compare the theoretical strategies or evaluation “success stories” in the literature to what stakeholders want from conference assessments. One of the limitations of the study is the overrepresentation of organizers and researchers in the key informant interviews. This bias limited the comparisons between stakeholders and left out perspectives from key groups such as civil society, which is a group that some organizations have struggled to integrate into the current global governance structure. The interviewees largely came from academic backgrounds. Second, due to time constraints and limited resources for acquiring non-English texts, nine papers could not be retrieved for full text analysis, therefore potentially relevant information may have not be included in this study. These studies have been identified and cited for future research.

To our knowledge, this review is the first study to systematically analyze conference objectives and evaluation strategies across social sectors and map current practices. Previous studies, including a Cochrane review on the impact of workshops and seminars, aimed to determine the effectiveness of conferences but failed to address how current conference evaluation methodologies can be improved tangibly. Moreover, the Cochrane study largely reviewed randomized control trials focusing on continuing education conferences and healthcare outcomes whereas this study analyzed qualitative conference assessments not limited by the focus of the conference or specific outcomes.

Our framework can be used primarily as a simple tool to guide conference evaluators in selecting their objectives, methods, theoretical base etc. Secondly, it can be used to quickly identify seminal papers that may relate to any predetermined evaluation strategies that organizers or evaluators may have. It is also our hope that through this review, novel theories, study designs and methods can garner increased attention in the literature as well as in practice at conferences. For example, Ajzen, the architect of the theory of planned behaviour, has developed a tool to aid evaluators in creating questionnaires surrounding behavioural outcomes [ 37 ] but has been rarely utilized in the conference setting.

Future research is recommended concerning the evaluation of the utility of this framework. Research should assess the success of the evaluation strategies presented in this framework, in order to begin to provide concrete information on best practices. To facilitate the further analysis of the relationships between different stakeholder objectives and overall conference goals, more key informant interviews are needed with a wider variety of respondents, especially representatives of civil society. Finally, with this review being a logical first step, there must be an increase in motivation by conference planners to produce rigorous evaluations and by evaluation methodology researchers to provide tangible, accessible examples for organizers.

Conclusions

Conference participants and evaluation researchers have criticized the lack of rigor and development in conference assessment methodologies. We hypothesized that providing a framework for organizers to efficiently acquire seminal papers related to their conference could help improve the quality of conference evaluations. This scoping review, the first of its kind, provides a valuable first step in translating research on assessments of large multi-day conferences into practice by identifying and mapping current conference objectives and evaluation strategies. Seminal examples were highlighted in the review but warrant further analysis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Tomas Allen for his guidance and support in developing the search strategy for this review. We also thank the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research for financing the publication fees.

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Justin Neves & John N Lavis

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Justin Neves

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John N Lavis

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Department of Political Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA

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Authors’ contributions

JN and KR developed the initial purpose and design for the study. JN conducted the literature searches, screened possible papers for inclusion, extracted and synthesized data from included studies and wrote the manuscript (including figures and tables). KR screened 200 papers for inclusion to check inter-rater reliability and revised the manuscript drafts. JNL contributed to the development of the study’s methods and figures presented in the paper as well as revision of the overall manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Additional file 1: search strategy. (doc 33 kb), additional file 2: papers identified for inclusion but could not be obtained/translated. (doc 28 kb), authors’ original submitted files for images.

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Neves, J., Lavis, J.N. & Ranson, M.K. A scoping review about conference objectives and evaluative practices: how do we get more out of them?. Health Res Policy Sys 10 , 26 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1478-4505-10-26

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Received : 24 February 2012

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Published : 02 August 2012

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/1478-4505-10-26

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International Conference on Industrial Psychology aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on all aspects of Industrial Psychology. It also provides a premier interdisciplinary platform for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in the fields of Industrial Psychology.

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OU students, alumni and faculty present research at professional psychology conference

Earlier this month, 13 current Oglethorpe students and three alumni accompanied five faculty to the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) in Orlando, FL. This continued a longstanding tradition of the Oglethorpe psychology department preparing students to submit their own research to peer-reviewed professional conferences.

Isabel Berlin ’24 presents research at SEPA

This year’s student participants were Emily Moore ’24, Jose Valtierra ’24, Sarah Farmer ’24, Alex Nukpi ’24, Porter Deal ’25, Mekela Iorio ’25, Samantha Leblanc ’24, Anabel Dimova ’24, Isabel Berlin ’24, Piper Lashley ’24, Alex Swanson ’24, Nia Kherani ’25, Sarah Clayton ’24 and Brit Rosser ’24. All students attending this year’s conference were awarded Oglethorpe research funding to assist with cost.

Oglethorpe alumni that attended this year’s conference were Kharynton Beggs ’23, Alexa Tringali ’23 and Caidyn Ellis ’23 .

Each Petrel presented their original research with the support and encouragement of faculty mentors Drs. Leah Zinner , Justin Wise , Lisa Hayes, Brooke Bays and Emily Bailey.

A range of research subjects were explored in the poster and paper presentations:

• The Influence of Social and Academic Pressure on Student Morality and Cheating Behavior – Emily Moore, Lisa Hayes
• The Effects of Notetaking Styles and Distractions on Memory – Jose Valtierra, Lisa Hayes
• The Effects of Player Gender and Game Genre on Perceptions of Competence and Aggression in Video Gameplay – Sarah Farmer, Lisa Hayes
• Impact of Face Masks and Pathogen Disgust Sensitivity on First Impressions – Alex Nukpi, Porter Deal, Mekela Iorio, Samantha Leblanc, Anabel Dimova, Lisa Hayes, Brooke Bays, Justin Wise
• Investigating the Effect of Two Mood Induction Procedures on Arousal and False Memory – Alexa Tringali, Justin Wise,
• How the Profile of a School Shooter Affects Blame Attribution – Isabel Berlin, Justin Wise
• On-line vs In-Person Samples in a Personnel Evaluation Study – Kharynton Beggs, Leah Zinner
• The Role of Procrastination, Perfectionism, Social Well-Being, and Cognitive Flexibility in Predicting Anxiety Among College Students – Piper Lashley, Alex Swanson, Nia Kherani, Brooke Bays, Lisa Hayes
• How Adults View Rough Sex and Non-Conforming Gender Roles – Sarah Clayton, Justin Wise
• The Effect of Retention Intervals and Crime Severity on Memory – Brit Rosser, Lisa Hayes
• Stigma and Autism: The Impact of Gender and Diagnosis Label – Caidyn Ellis, Lisa Hayes

“Attending this conference allows students showcase their research at a large professional meeting and interact with experts in the field,” says Dr. Wise.

OU alum Sarah Clayton ’23 presents at SEPA

The projects were completed as part of PSY 320, PSY 321 and PSY 322 (Psychological Statistics and Research Methods I and II, and Advanced Experimental Psychology). One students, Sarah Farmer, conducted her research as part of her Honors thesis — a faculty-guided, independent project allowing students to further explore areas of interest at a high academic level.

“Further, attendance at this meeting affords exposure to the most current research methods and findings that are related to students’ personal research and academic interest areas,” Dr. Wise continued. “Finally, students gain invaluable public speaking experience and intellectual interaction.”

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From coast to coast: first-generation college students present research at California conference

Students, alumni share value of experiential learning for STEM career exploration

By GRACE HOGGARTH '22 on April 4, 2024

Three TU students shared a unique experience when they presented their research to a national audience for the first time at the Western Society of Naturalists conference in Monterey, California in November. 

Senior Jayden Steward ’24, and alumni Troy Stern ’23 and Yuridia Gonzales ’23 research began in professor Will Ryan’s lab researching the evolutionary ecology of marine invertebrates. While in the field, they studied the roles of the environment and landscape on the lifecycles and population structure of sea anemones and hydrozoans in the ocean.

They collected samples of invasive sea anemones in Delaware and then hermit crabs, which play host to a specific kind of colonial hydrozoan, in Virginia.

Their goal was to understand how complex habitats like salt marshes shape connections between populations of these invertebrates, which can only move as far as their hermit crab hosts can walk. Their research also aimed to determine how competition between the colonies living on the same shell influenced the traits of those that survived.

During the conference, TU students presented their research during an afternoon poster session, sat in on panel discussions, listened to individual talks from guest speakers and took part in inclusive discussions for first-generation college students.

Steward and his peers also ventured to the Monterey Bay aquarium and the Pacific Grove monarch butterfly sanctuary and conducted tide pool observations at Asilomar Beach.

For Steward in particular, this professional opportunity offered several firsts: flying in an airplane and exploring the U.S. beyond the East Coast. The biology major found that this was also an opportunity for him to broaden his horizons and visualize what it could be like to work in environments outside of Maryland and explore new career paths.

“It’s really enhanced my academic experience at TU. It’s given me new outlets and even has me considering grad school,” Steward says. “It’s overwhelmingly had a positive impact on my life. Not many college students can say they went to California to present research. I’m really grateful for it.”

Experiential learning and networking opportunities are invaluable for young researchers, particularly first-generation college students, like Steward, Stern and Gonzales.

Alexei Kolesnikov, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry (OURCI), attests, “There is proven value in engaging in research and attending conferences for students. After a conference, students return with a deeper sense of professional identity in their field, a broader view of career options and a more-focused understanding of how their research can lead to further opportunities. Networking during conferences helps students connect with professionals and peers, enhancing their academic and career prospects."

This was true for Ryan when he got involved with the Western Society of Naturalists during his undergraduate career. Years down the line, he is still actively involved and spoke at this year’s conference to share insight into the importance of inclusive, safe and accessible fieldwork for the transgender and broader LGBTQ+ communities.

Ryan wanted to use this opportunity and his research lab to pay it forward to his students and guide them through the hidden curriculum that most first-generation college students are unaware of when they begin their academic journey.

“What I really wanted for them was what this conference had done for me as an undergraduate. I was a first-generation student and didn’t really understand college, let alone academia or how to be a scientist,” says Ryan. “Taking that idealized experimental design and trying to implement it into the world gives you a much greater appreciation for how hard won all the knowledge we have is. Providing students with these opportunities to actually do the work   and see   the way their life would be if they chose this path is the most important thing.” 

The research Steward and his peers participated in was funded by a grant from the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics (FCSM) Endowment. Travel to the conference was jointly funded by the Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry (OURCI), the FCSM and the Department of Biology. Students can explore additional learning opportunities through programs like experiential and advanced learning and TU Research Enhancement Program (TUREP) courses .

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March 28, 2024

Judges sought for Spring Undergraduate Research Conference; presentation schedule available

The  Purdue Office of Undergraduate Research and sponsoring academic units are seeking faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students to help evaluate poster, spoken and virtual presentations for the  Purdue Spring Undergraduate Research Conference .

This year the hybrid spring conference will include nearly 700 posters and research talks representing all academic colleges and schools, with many student presenters planning to present in person. The abstract booklet and presentation schedules are now available. There are many opportunities for judging: 

• In-person poster symposium: April 9 sessions at 9-10 a.m., 10:30-11:30 a.m., noon- 1 p.m., and 1:30-2:30 p.m; Purdue Memorial Union’s North and South Ballrooms
• In-person research talks: April 11, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Stewart Center, Room 214
• Virtual presentations: April 9-12; on the conference website

To register as a judge for the symposium, please complete the registration form on the  Judging Information website  as soon as possible. The Office of Undergraduate Research will offer $20 gift cards for judges who register to receive judging assignments and submit six or more completed evaluations. More information and times will be given after sign-up.

The conference will showcase the research of undergraduate students and is open to the public. Prizes will be awarded from each academic unit participating.

For more information about the Spring Undergraduate Research Conference or the Office of Undergraduate Research, visit  www.purdue.edu/undergrad-research .

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Conference Objectives: Re-Building meaningful connections through practice, advocacy, and research The COVID-19 pandemic created a multitude of challenges for both our professional and patient community; however, these challenges have also allowed us to identify opportunities for growth and transformation. Always ahead of the curve, APOS was founded on the belief that all individuals benefit from coming together to innovate and advance the field of psychosocial oncology through research, practice, training, and advocacy. This annual meeting seeks to emphasize and celebrate these relationships, coming together to share novel solutions for pushing the boundaries of cancer care delivery and practice. Having been apart since 2020, we miss you and are excited to reunite in person once again!

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You are here, improving hmong mental health: workshops to help guide professionals into providing person centered care 2024 cne conference.

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This course offers LIVE (in person) and LIVESTREAM attendance options.

This conference is designed to provide education on the Hmong culture including a historical perspective, roles in the family structure, views of healthcare professionals and mental health disease. Communication strategies will be presented from a cultural humility lens along with how to shift to a personalized approach for best practices.

Course Director:   Denise Rismeyer, DNP, RN, NPD-BC Director of Continuing Nursing Education Assistant Professor of Nursing, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science Department of Nursing Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

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• Outline three aspects of the Hmong culture.
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