Monday, January 27, 2014

Poster sessions for a more interactive conference

What is done at conferences by many scientists, a few historians, and almost no genealogists?

It's the "poster session," a chance to talk with people rather than at them about your project. 

Why don't more genealogy conferences (or even institutes) take this up?







Photo credit: Quinn Dombrowski's photostream, http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/8184051144 : viewed 22 January 2014. Per Creative Commons.



Harold Henderson, "Poster sessions for a more interactive conference ," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 27 January 2014 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

7 comments:

Kerry Scott said...

I love this idea. It would be a great icebreaker at things like the get-together on the night before SLIG. You come with a "how I solved this problem" poster, and people can come say hello and talk to you about it. It makes it easier to approach someone if you already have a topic at hand.

The posters could then move to that middle area where the breakfast is, so that the people who missed them on Sunday night could still see and learn from them.

Yep, I love it.

Harold Henderson said...

Thanks, Kerry -- I hadn't thought of it this way, but it could be a great "nerd mixer." Any odds on which conference or institute will actually give this a whirl?

Michelle Goodrum said...

My daughter, in a scientific field, participates in these regularly. It's an excellent idea for our field too!

Unknown said...

Harold, your question is which institute has a director crazy enough to give anything a try? Really? Crazy seems to be my middle name! :P

Sonja Hunter said...

Another reason why poster sessions are great is that shy people who wouldn't feel comfortable asking a question in a lecture hall filled with people will do so in the relaxed environment of the poster session. It also provides an opportunity to learn something about a wide variety of topics.

Melissa Johnson said...

I think this would be perfect for APG. It could be a great medium to display results of studies that have been done on market segments, how successful certain marketing tactics are, client demographics, statistics on rates, etc. Lots of different uses. Great idea!

Lisa S. Gorrell said...

How do these actually work? Do the posters basically speak for themselves and you are there to answer questions or do you give a mini lecture over and over as people come by? And Sonja, I think people too shy to give a lecture might like to try this mini lecture to a smaller group.