Presenting, reporting or volunteering at a conference
Conference participation can include proposing a presentation, reporting sessions for colleagues and taking a role in programme planning or delivery.
Presentation proposals
AMWA's call for proposals published in 2012 used an online submission form and offered traditional and newer session formats, promoting presentation as a way to increase the visibility of a specialty or business.
Session reports
Reporting can provide writing experience and a portfolio piece while sharing conference material with members unable to attend. AMWA's 2007 invitation requested 500–750 words on an open session the writer planned to attend, with possible credit towards its professional development certificate. Calls in 2008 and 2009 also invited first-time attendees to describe the experience so others could judge the value of attending. In 2010 the opportunities included the conference blog, serving attendees as well as people following from elsewhere. Further invitations sought speaker or open-session coverage in 2015 and reports from the 2017 Orlando conference.
EMWA first invited members to cover key sessions at its May 2018 Barcelona conference, aiming both to share colleagues' experiences and to develop journalistic skills, with short articles planned for the September journal. Interested volunteers were invited to contact the head office about reporting at later conferences. The freelance business forum also produced a report with an overview, photographs and summaries of the guest presentation and discussion tables, available through the freelance resource centre.
Volunteer coverage after AMWA's 2014 conference served both absent members and attendees who had missed concurrent sessions. After the 2017 conference, reports covered almost every open session, sharing basic topics and trends with members who had not attended. The post-conference issue also directed interested readers to contact presenters. Limited print space required a random selection of reports, with others in an online supplement. The 2018 conference received similar coverage in the Spring 2019 issue, again dividing submitted reports between print and an online supplement.
Live reporting
In 2015 live-tweeting meant reporting a conference in real time on Twitter using its hashtag, within the platform's then-current 140-character limit. Images of the venue, city, delegates, social events, slides and speakers could bring remote followers closer to the experience. Practitioners described benefits including reinforcing learning, engaging attendees, strengthening organisational loyalty, publicising the meeting, widening speakers' audiences and drawing interest to sessions. Hashtag participation also helped people find like-minded attendees and follow highlights from simultaneous sessions. In one 2014 case, a tweet about a missing presentation connector produced two offers of the right cord within thirty minutes.
Live coverage can tell a story through selected images, text and video rather than reproduce an entire talk: one reporter selected the top two or three points, added personal reactions and retweeted useful highlights captured by others. Personal reactions could encourage continued engagement after the event, while retweeting helped manage the pace.
A 2015 checklist recommended the following preparations for live-tweeting:
- Check conference rules for restrictions or conditions.
- Find out when any publication embargo lifts, often at the relevant session time.
- Tell speakers as a courtesy that their presentations will be covered.
- Use the official event hashtag.
- Consider volunteering to report through the organisation's account, recognising that some organisations may need the value explained.
Coverage can add information by linking to a guidance document when quoting a speaker's recommendation. A freelance paid to report a medical meeting can ask the editor whether live social coverage should be included. Organisers can encourage participation through reminders and thank active contributors individually from the organisation's account afterwards. A fully charged phone or tablet and the conference hashtag were recommended preparation.
Programme and volunteer roles
AMWA's 2011 conference committee had a coordinator and leads for special-interest sessions, general-interest sessions, short sessions, posters, breakfast roundtables, coffee-and-dessert discussions, creative readings and local hosting. Members were invited to contact the relevant organisers with topic or speaker suggestions or offers to help plan those parts of the programme.
At the 2014 conference, staff and volunteers offered individual conversations, repeated ten- to fifteen-minute group talks and posters about becoming a workshop leader. In 2007 the journal's registration-area display table offered opportunities to meet editors and volunteers, give feedback, suggest future topics, learn about manuscript contributions and sign up to volunteer, with possible professional-development certificate credit for volunteering.
EMWA's 2018 Barcelona freelance business forum had more than seventy registered attendees and ten roundtable discussions after an opening presentation. Its incoming freelance-section editor had first joined the forum two conferences earlier and, in the previous year, had led a table, written for the section and joined the freelance business subcommittee before becoming editor. Another first-time conference attendee accepted a table-leader role while starting her freelance practice.