An academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers (not necessarily academics) to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.
Presentations are generally followed by discussions, in which participants exchange reactions and critiques. This exchange of ideas distinguishes the conference from other non-interactive forms of scholarly communication. Academic conferences are also places where scholars and professionals develop friendships and professional relationships. Today, developments in technology have begun to allow for Internet-based conferences.
Overview
Generally, a work is presented in the form of a short, concise presentation lasting about 10 to 30 minutes, which is usually followed by a discussion. The works may be collected, revised and published as the conference proceedings. Often conferences feature one or more keynote speakers (usually scholars of some standing), whose presentation can last from 15 minutes to an hour. Panel discussions, roundtable discussions on various issues, or workshops may be a part of the conference; in particular, conferences related to the performing arts feature workshops.
Prospective presenters are usually asked to submit a short abstract, which will be reviewed before the presentation is accepted for the meeting. Some disciplines require presenters to submit a paper of about 12-15 pages, which is peer reviewed by members of the program committee or referees chosen by them.
In some disciplines, such as English and other languages, it is common for presenters to read from a prepared text. In other disciplines such as the sciences, presenters may use visual presentations to display figures and diagrams.
A large meeting will usually be called a conference, while a smaller meeting is termed a workshop. They might be single track or multiple track, where the former has only one session at a time, while a multiple track meeting has several parallel sessions with speakers in separate rooms speaking at the same time.
Depending on the theme of the conference, social or entertainment activities may also be offered. In a large enough conference, academic publishing houses may set up displays offering books at a discount. At larger conferences, business meetings for learned societies or interest groups might also take place.
Academic conferences fall into three categories:
- Theme-based conferences organized around a particular topic
- General conferences that feature sessions on a wide variety of topics. These conferences are often organized by regional, national, or international societies, and are held on a regular basis
- Professional conferences or any large conference not limited to academics, but with academically-related issues
Web conferencing
Web conferencing is used to conduct live meetings or presentations via the Internet. In a web conference, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the Internet. This can be either a downloaded application on each of the attendees computers or a web-based application where the attendees will simply enter a URL (website address) to enter the conference.
A webinar is a neologism to describe a specific type of web conference. It is typically one-way, from the speaker to the audience with limited audience interaction, such as in a webcast. A webinar can be collaborative and include polling and question and answer sessions to allow full participation between the audience and the presenter. In some cases, the presenter may speak over a standard telephone line, pointing out information being presented on screen and the audience can respond over their own telephones. There are web conferencing technologies on the market that have incorporated the use of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) audio technology, to allow for a truly web-based communication. Webinars may (depending upon the provider) provide hidden or anonymous participant functionality, enabling participants to be unaware of other participants in the same meeting.
In the early years of the Internet, the terms “web conferencing” was often used to describe a group discussion in a message board and therefore not live. The term has evolved to refer specifically to live or “synchronous” meetings.