Balancing Conversations and Presentations in Science Conferences

In a recent blog post, I suggested 5 ways to create truly collaborative science conferences that move forward both research and policy in significant ways:

1. Stay closely aligned to the purpose of the meeting.

2. Deliberately include more time for personal conversations and connection.

3. Encourage shorter talks that have clear takeaways.

4. Find ways for scientists to contribute other than by doing presentations.

5. Choose activities that invite everyone to actively shape the outcome of the meeting.

The previous post discussed suggestion 1, how being clear about the purpose of the meeting or conference will influence every decision regarding the event, from who should attend to what they will do.

In this blog post, let’s take a look at suggestions 2 and 3, which are related because including more time for conversations likely will mean less time for presentations.  

How do we balance presentations and conversations in science conferences?

Start with conversations

Most scientific conferences I have attended are heavy on presentations. Now, if our sole purpose is to share information, then back-to-back presentations are fine.

However, if our purpose is in any way to have people make sense of what they are hearing, to work together, to make decisions or to forge a plan, we need to provide more opportunities for people to talk. And, we can't leave it to happen by chance between presentations!

It’s a best practice to start every meeting with a few minutes of conversation, whether the meeting is short or long, in person or online. Once participants have talked, they tend to pay more attention and they will speak up and contribute more through the whole meeting.

We can implement this practice immediately in any meeting, even conferences. We can start the conference with connecting conversations, and then move to keynote speakers, plenaries or subject matter sessions. Early conversations can help participants discover who they want to talk to while there is still time to talk with them.

Here are three suggestions for how one might start a conference with conversations (and there are countless others):

• Ask participants to pair up and share answers to a question related to the theme of the conference but that touches on something personal to them, such as “When did you start getting interested in this topic?” or “What excites you about this topic?” or “What would you like to have happen?”
  

• Use a Liberating Structure such as “Impromptu Networking”. 1-2-4-All or Mad Tea. If you have not heard of Liberating Structures before, they are seriously fun, easy to learn and lead meeting structures (activities) that enhance relationships and trust. Learn more about liberating structures here and how start using them here.
  

• Ask everyone to introduce themselves in large groups. Depending on the time you have available, you can break the meeting into groups of 20 to 50 people, and give each person 1 to 2 minutes to introduce themselves and share something personal that others might want to know. For example, you may follow Adrian Segar’s instructions for roundtable introductions that invite every participant to quickly answer three questions: “How did I get here?” “What do I want to have happen?” and “What experience do I have that others might find useful?”

The point is, any meaningful conversations will do, whether the participants are in pairs, small groups or large groups. What matters is to get people talking with each other as soon as possible.

Weave conversations into the conference

Here are some other ways we can prioritize conversations and interactions at science conferences:

• Avoid lunch time speakers and suggest lunch conversation topics instead;

• Ask speakers to consider running workshops instead of presentations;

• Designate times on the agenda for discussing questions that emerge during the meeting;  

• Alternate sets of three or four session speakers with an equal amount of time for discussion among the session’s listeners;

• Arrange chairs around small tables instead of in long rows;

• Designate spaces for conversation near the center of the action, not in far-away peripheral spaces; and,

• End the conference with time for people to think about what they learned or are taking away, and encourage them to have a conversation about it with others. 

By integrating planned moments of connection into our agenda, we acknowledge

that meaningful engagement isn't a byproduct of breaks and socials alone. In this way, conversations can accelerate how we share, debate, and progress in our scientific understanding.

Encourage short, focused presentations  

You may now be wondering “how we can make the time for curious and collaborative conversations, when there is so much interesting science to learn about?”  

This brings us to suggestion 3, which is to structure presentation sessions to retain the most valuable parts of presentations while also shortening the presentations themselves.

We do this by giving speakers specific instructions before the conference. After explaining the purpose and desired outcome of the meeting and who will be in the audience, encourage them to:

• Cover only the information those listeners/participants need to better understand the purpose;

• Speak with clarity, without diminishing the complexity or importance of what they share, so that the participants can understand why the science matters;

• Include ways for the audience to interact with each other and the speaker; and

• Keep their presentation to a certain number of minutes, say 10 minutes.

When we limit the number of presentation minutes, we encourage speakers to be succinct and clear. We must also empower session moderators to stop speakers that go on too long.

As meeting planners, we might also have to make some tough choices. We may need to choose speakers who can present the essential scientific concepts in everyday language, those who can distill what's essential without oversimplification. It may even mean not asking a famous scientist to speak, who is attractive to and understood only by his/her peers rather than by the participants. We might also decline offers to speak that come from people whose primary purpose is to be seen rather than to communicate and to support the participants.

Here's some questions we can ask ourselves

Let’s say we are planning a meeting where scientists intend to scope out research needs and to ask policymakers for funding the research. We will need to have conversations that are not merely about networking, but rather about laying foundations upon which transformative research and science-based policies can be built.

In the early stages of planning this meeting, we, the organizers, can ask ourselves questions like these:

• What exactly do policymakers need to know to make informed policy decisions?

• Who is doing research directly related to the topic, and who is best qualified to share the information needed? 

• How can we encourage each presenter to help listeners with much less scientific knowledge to understand the policy implications of their talk?

• Could speakers share detailed scientific concepts in poster sessions instead of in presentations? Will poster sessions add to the understanding of policy makers, or not?

• What can we do to help everyone trust others enough to feel comfortable asking “dumb” questions?

• What discussion questions and activities will create connections, spark innovation and generate better results?

• What structures can we use to support participants to share their insights effectively and efficiently?

• How can we arrange seating to promote conversations?

• What is the best mix of presentations and conversations needed to accomplish our goals? 

Conversations help advance science

By putting both presentations and conversations in service to a scientific meeting’s purpose, every lecture, every discussion, and every planning choice can help or hinder scientific collaboration both during the conference and after it ends.

The simple but profound shift from lecture-heavy formats to richer, dialogue-centric gatherings can transform our science meetings from mere information exchanges to crucibles of curiosity and innovation.

By thoughtfully allocating less time to lectures and more time to constructive and meaningful conversations, we can not only help participants to connect to each other but also engage them personally with the science, which will ultimately move science forward.

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Photo Credits: Two men talking: Joel Danielson on Unsplash

People sitting around a conference table: Evangeline Shaw on Unsplash