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The business of academic conferences: a complete overview

An academic conference is basically a gathering of researchers in the same field of study. In this gathering, they present the findings of their research study and get themselves updated with the latest innovations in their field. An academic conference has different names, such as academic congress, research conference, academic meeting, and symposium.

These conferences are usually organized by companies or academic societies of independent scholars. However, every academic conference is monitored by a scientific committee that reviews the quality of papers submitted to the conference.

Academic conferences are not just restricted to people in academia. They can be either small meetings held for local scientists or large global events that include the participation of thousands of international scientists.

An academic conference may include highly-specific topics restricted to a particular discipline or it may be an interdisciplinary conference that presents perspectives of academics from related fields. Industry professionals from different disciplines may also be invited to attend academic conferences.

The content of most academic conferences is intellectually stimulating, so researchers should always make it a point to attend such conferences. Young researchers get acquainted with research happening outside their field of study.

It is an excellent platform to socialize with researchers outside your field of specialization. Thus, you can build long-lasting relations with new researchers and increase the possibility of international collaborations. However, many people still do not know the list of benefits an academic conference can offer.

Most people working in industry attend professional conferences to get acquainted with industry trends and market summary. On the other hand, academic conferences are based on a totally different wavelength.

Usually, academic conferences are filled with abstract presentation, keynote speakers, innovative research studies, and poster presentations. To ease the anxiety of researchers attending an academic conference for the first time, let’s dig into the world of academic conferences.

How is an academic conference conducted for researchers?

Because academic conferences serve as a platform for presenting the most innovative research studies in a field of study, academics come across latest developments in their field of specialization. This means that participants who attend such conference also get a chance to present their work to a wider audience.

An academic conference is lined up with a list of short presentations that captivate the attention of the audience. In some large conference, organizers may arrange “parallel sessions” that run simultaneously through the conference.

With the evolution of academic publishing, the format of academic conferences has also undergone transformations. Because industrial conferences have gained immense popularity among professionals, academic conference has also become a bit more flexible in their selection process.

Now-a-days, academic conference have also become interactive and include debate sessions to engage the attention of participants. Nevertheless, most academic presentations can be classified in the following categories:

Plenary sessions: In most academic conferences, papers are accepted from parallel streams. However, all participants are requested to attend the plenary session. A plenary session includes a keynote session, different types of presentations or panels.

Keynote session: Most delegates are attracted to the keynote session of an academic conference. In this session, keynote speakers present the scope of the entire conference and encourage the collective endeavor of academics participating in the conference.

Panel sessions: A particular topic is selected for debate and discussion in the academic conference. Panelist are invited to moderate the debate of multiple researchers. They can issue statements or simply answer questions put forth from the audience. The goal of panel sessions is to facilitate the exchange of viewpoints presented by experts on a particular topic.

Oral sessions: In this session, several presenters give a small talk on their selected papers, which are based on a common theme. Every presenter has to complete their speech within a short duration of time, usually 10 minutes. After each presentation, additional time is allotted for a quick question-and-answer session with the audience.

Poster sessions: Physical or digital posters of researchers are usually displayed in the conference hall filled with academics. These posters are displayed for a long time and at the same platform in the conference room. There are no time constraints observed for poster sessions. The conference delegates take their own time to peruse through different posters and they then discuss the presented research work with the authors.

Workshops: Most academic conferences have lectures, tutorials, and workshops on following subjects: science communication, how ESL researchers can get their work published in international English journals. Most graduate students and young researchers benefit a lot by attending such workshops. This is because they are in the nascent stage of their research careers and are not really adept at scientific writing. By attending such writing workshops, they can really understand the complexity of academic publishing.

Harrisco is a top academic editing company that organizes academic conferences on various topics. All conference papers are published as proceedings by Harrisco. A few of the selected papers of high-quality are published completed in our selected SCI journals. Harrisco has been in the business of academic conference since 2017. Its latest conference is scheduled to be held in August. The conference website is www.iknc.org

The reviewing committee has strict selection standards to ensure that our conference are aimed at the scientific community of international repute. Harrisco edits all selected papers prior to publication in academic journals. The academic conferences have prestigious keynote speakers from reputed institutions across the world.  Come, let’s explore the world of academic conferences. Let’s build the future of our budding researchers.

 

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How can researchers benefit from academic conferences

Academic conferences often help researchers in boosting the prospects of their career. Well, conferences often serve as a platform to showcase talent of the researcher community. There are posters, presentations of hundreds of researchers who have gathered under one roof. With a lot of stress on innovation and impact, young budding researchers can definitely learn a lot at academic conferences. Here, we offer ten tips on how researchers can maximize their benefits through academic conferences.

1) Plan ahead of the academic conference: Researchers should take a look at the abstracts ahead of the conference. This will certainly help them in managing their schedule, especially when they are hard-pressed for time.

2) Spend time with researchers outside your network: Although it is nice to spend time with scientists at the lab, researchers should always make an effort to reach out to researchers who are outside their network. This can help them foster long-lasting relations for foreign collaborations. This may be difficult for researchers who are in their early stage of career, like first year graduate students. For example, students can find it easy to connect with a professor who appears at the same academic conference.

3) Request the principal investigator for introduction to their colleagues: Students in grad school and young post-doc researchers may not really be comfortable to start a conversation with senior colleagues in their research network. In such cases, the help offered by principal investigators would be really useful as they are indeed aware of your research interests and work. They can introduce you to senior colleagues working in your related field of study.

4) Always keep a copy of the conference schedule with you: Researchers should always avoid attending conferences behind the schedule. Arriving late at a conference means that you miss important presentations and talks of keynote speakers. Having a copy of the conference schedule in our pocket definitely helps!

5) Network and learn during the conference: One of the best things that a conference offers is the opportunity to build relationships professionally. While working in a laboratory, researchers can easily build relationships through daily conversations. However, the scope of your professional network need not be limited to a lab. At a conference, you can simply introduce yourself to strangers sitting next to you. Remember having small conversations with researchers from different cities and countries can definitely take you miles in your career.

6) Enquire about the work of other researchers: Many presentations are shown in academic conferences. There may be instances where these presenters could be sitting just beside you in the conference. Do not miss an opportunity to strike a conversation about their work. Remember that your first question should always be related to their presentation. There’s no need to blabber about your own work. It will surely show up in the course of the conversation.

7) Researchers should take notes in the conference: There will be many opportunities to listen to conversations and sessions at conferences. Although most researchers are brilliant and have a sharp memory, it is easy to forget the nuances of the exchanged conversations.

Therefore, we recommend researchers to make small notes through their day as they are busy listening to talks and engaged in serious conversations with people in their new professional network. By taking notes, researchers can retain their level of alertness throughout the conference.

8) Share contact information with other researchers: While you try to connect with someone having the same research interest, it is always preferable to share your contact information with them and develop a long-lasting relationship.

9) Act on what you learned in the conference: Researchers will definitely some time to process the information received in a conference. This is because a lot of innovative ideas and concepts are impinged into your mind within a short span of one day. To avoid an overload of information, researchers should refer to the short notes that they compiled during the conference. They can then recollect the ideas meant to be implemented in their laboratory.

10) Establish contact with new connections: Although a researcher makes many connections with new people at a conference, it is always important to reach out to them after the conference is over and you are back to working at the lab. One of the easiest ways to reconnect with new people would be through email. A relationship can be built up simply by having a conversation through email. Remember, recommendations given by these connections would be useful in gaining a new research grant or to overcome the hurdles faced in your current research study.

So, are you ready to face the next academic conference?

Now that we have presented you a blue-print for being successful at an academic conference, do you really feel ready to take up the challenge of the next conference? Conference planning and organization involves a lot of effort, both in terms of money and time. These two things are precious to any researcher. By following our strategy, researchers can really make conferences beneficial to their career and laboratory.

Nevertheless, researchers should always plan ahead of the conference and should attend only those that add value to their research. They should what to really expect in an academic conference. With this approach, researchers can gain useful opportunities and connections meant to make a breakthrough in their work and life.

Harrisco is a top academic editing company that is organizing the 3rd IKNC conference in August. The conference is based on various topics of humanities, civilization, public health, nanotechnology, and chemistry. Take a look at the conference website www.iknc.org. The last date for Abstract submission is 10th July. The conference would be held in South Korea, but overseas researchers can attend the conference virtually through our webinar. We fully understand the travel restrictions imposed by COVID-19.

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How to create awesome illustrations in a scientific manuscript

 

There is a famous quote “A picture is worth a thousand words…” This saying is true even in the field of scientific research. Although a scientific paper may have a lot of data to validate the results, but most academics are drawn to a manuscript filled with innovative illustrations. These scientific illustrations are used by authors to communicate their research in a very succinct tone.

Although many scientists present their results and data in a way that is acceptable to reviewers, they do not often pay attention to scientific illustrations. Many a times, they show disinterest as they lack artistic skills needed to render scientific illustrations. Although a researcher need not be an artist to render illustrations, some tips will definitely help them improve their artistic bent of mind.

  1. Authors must consider the context of a scientific study and their target audience

A scientific illustration may be rendered beautifully in a paper, but it must be aligned with the scope and objectives of the paper. Before making a scientific illustration, authors must take into account the target audience of the paper. A scientific illustration must be rendered professionally and accurately. It should be well understood by scholars related to your field of study. In academic conferences and symposiums, most managers want to see illustrations that captivate the attention of the audience. This is because the audience usually consists of students and potential investors.

The authors must also pay attention to the destination of scientific illustrations. For example, scientific illustrations presented in papers and books are such that they act as supporting material. In general, they do not replace the text or content presented in the manuscript. Illustrations are supporting material and not substitutes in this context. However, the purpose of illustrations is more visual in conferences. Preference is given to articles with visual abstract and videos. So, in this context, the illustrations can be used as a substitute for text.

Conference posters must contain visuals that capture the attention of viewers who pass by the panels. The participants should be able to comprehend the visuals with respect to the results presented in the poster. In science communications, it is vital to capture the attention of academics through various types of scientific illustrations: visual abstracts, poster figures, and TOC images. These illustrations are deeply examined by researchers in academia.

2. First make a rough sketch of the illustration

Most authors prepare a rough draft of the manuscript. The same approach applies to scientific illustrations. Authors must be clear about the information they wish to convey through the illustration. Some of the most widely seen illustrations are infographics, experimental layouts, and workflows. All these illustrations can only be rendered after the authors provide a rough sketch to the graphic artist.

The main purpose here is to organize various sections that are intended to be displayed in the illustration. Experimental data is usually reported in the form of technical graphs, which can be created with a suitable software like Microsoft Excel and Word. A graphical representation of result is often used for clear presentation and to prevent instances of confusion among the researchers.

3. Authors should make clear and simple illustrations that are not superficial

A scientific illustration has to be rendered in a simple and clear layout. Authors should avoid unnecessary aesthetic features. To avoid possible confusion, the experimental results may be presented in the illustrations. The audience would definitely find it useful in understanding the scientific concept associated with the data. Nevertheless, simplicity should not be confused with superficiality. The illustrations rendered should be detail-oriented.

Scientific accuracy should never be compromised to incorporate aesthetics. The illustrations should be created in simple colors and should not be excessively gaudy in appearance. In most cases, authors can make use of black and white colors to render their illustrations. However, there may be instances where complex data has to be represented in different colors. Authors should take note of colors that can be easily distinguished by people who are color-blind.

4. Authors should make use of proper software

Just like any other activity, a proper software must be used for graphic designing. In olden times, a simple hand-written sketch was enough for submission in biology papers. Today, scientific journals will not accept a paper that has hand-written graphics. All scientific illustrations must be digitized with proper graphic design software.

If the paper contains only simple infographics or workflows, a presentation software or a vector diagram is enough to render the scientific illustrations. However, a 3D layout is required to effectively present the layout of the instrumentation used in the experiment. Authors should always check the journal’s guidelines before capturing the resolution of an image.

5. Authors must provide supplementary text to support the figures

A scientific illustration is incomplete without supporting text. It is extremely important to include figure legends in academic papers and books. The figure’s caption must be presented clearly in the manuscript. The placement of the figure and the text should be systematic in the manuscript.

In scientific conferences, authors are often required to explain the illustration to the audience. Therefore, all scientific illustrations must be accompanied with suitable oral presentations. A speaker cannot just stand mute in front of an awesome illustration during a conference. The visuals have to be explained creatively to the audience. The authors must be clear about what they wish to communicate through their scientific illustrations.

 Harrisco is the no. 1 academic editing company for researchers in Seoul, South Korea. They provide complete publication support to authors who wish publish their work in top-rated peer reviewed scientific journals. Seek the help of Harrisco in case you have difficulties in rendering your scientific illustrations.