Writing a Conference Report

Another task that I had to do in my ‘manic month’ of conferences was write a conference report…having never been to a conference, and having therefore never written a conference report.

The conference itself was a two-day event with great food, varied papers, and interesting people from all over the world. It wasn’t entirely relevant to my own PhD but it was fascinating nonetheless, and conferences that don’t completely tick all your boxes are still useful for a general awareness of what’s going on in academic thought. For example, at the end of the conference, at a discussion between attendees, it was agreed that there was a gap in academia for that which had been the conference theme.

But getting down to the business of the conference report, let’s go through five simple things to bear in mind.

Firstly, consider who you are writing for.
– In this instance, I was writing for the sponsors of the event (a more detailed affair) as well as for the university website (a more succinct version of the same). In the conference we organised, we had to write a report for our funding body where we were given a template – details to be included of how much money was spent, what the feedback was, what we’d do differently. However, in this case, there was no template and no real guidance so I set to work writing.

Secondly, write how you write.
– I’m a drafter and so I pretty much wrote all my notes down first off. Then I made the document more concise, taking bits out, and adding bits in where needed. When it came to the website version, I cut a lot.

Thirdly, consider details.
– Details needed in a conference report include general information on the running of the event, the chairing of the sessions, and the content of the papers. But what is also useful is a sporadic inclusion of the speaker’s presentation style, his/her humour, or his/her engagement with the audience. Also, some minor details on the venue might be helpful, and the general atmosphere of the conference – relaxed, intense, engaged, questioning etc.

Fourthly, don’t worry if you don’t understand the paper.
– The conference report doesn’t allow for pages of detail and so the conference papers that are harder to understand can perhaps feature as shorter paragraphs – even sentences.

Fifthly, demonstrate threads.
– Try and spot threads in the themes and content of the papers. Make these similarities explicit, foregrounding how the conference has led to wider discussions on subject ‘x’ or question ‘y’. At the end of the report, again, tie together the things that were in common.

The report is there to give an overview of what happened, what was discussed, and what was concluded. It is useful to those who attended, and those who didn’t. It is useful for the organisers and the funders. Overall, it’s a very useful document.

But don’t worry too much about specifics. Enjoy the conference, get stuck in to discussion, and conclusions will follow on naturally.

Organising a Conference

One of the things I’ve been rather busy with over the past couple of months has been organising a conference at my university. 

It was a postgraduate conference in my academic field. The organising committee consisted of 4 post-grad students from a couple of disciplines who didn’t really know what we were supposed to be doing, and one lecturer who whipped us into shape. We started planning in November, stepped it up in January, and then hosted the conference at the end of May. It went really well and we had great feedback. 

However, during the process I realised a lot of things that I would have like to have known at the start. For my benefit (so I can look back over this next time) and hopefully for yours, here are some tips for conference organising:

BEFORE

– Make notes, if you have received funding, of dates and details required by the funding body. They may want an interrim report and/or a post-conference report. Make sure you are aware that these will need doing otherwise they’ll fall through the net. 

– Delegate someone to keep an eye on money – how much you’re being given by funders, how much you’re spending. They can keep hold of receipts in a central place so that the finance report is not a big mess at the end. 

– Hold regular meetings. More shorter meetings are much better than fewer longer meetings. 

DURING

– If you’re on the organising committee, don’t present a paper as well. All of us on our committee presented papers. Some handled it better than others but I would advise that the two are not done together. If you are organising, stick to that. If presenting a paper, then give your time to that. 

– Make sure, if you are chairing a panel, that you are not afraid to stick to the time. A lot of conferences do not stick to the schedule. Make sure beforehand that all the speakers know that they will be stopped after a certain amount of time. 

– Make sure the food is good. If you are providing lunch or snacks, make sure it is top quality – don’t scrimp here. People appreciate good quality catering at events. 

– Enjoy it. Don’t get bogged down in what should be happening, who should be where. Enjoy speaking with people and comparing ideas on academia and on your field. Tell those who have given papers what you thought (be nice), and encourage those yet to give their papers. 

AFTER

– Get feedback. This is not only a great confidence boost for you as you reflect on the success of the conference, but it provides some concrete evidence for the running of the conference and aids you for next time. 

– Write down what you’d do differently or what you’d do the same (hello!). By the time it comes round to another conference committee, you’ll have forgotten otherwise. 

– Get back to work! You’ll have spent so much time on the conference that now you need to get head down and get moving on the PhD. So on that note, I’d better get my head down.