In Praise of Poster Sessions

At the recent INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) conference, I was a judge for one of the days for the poster session (or “Interactive Session”, as INFORMS prefers).  As a judge, I first spent five minutes each with three participants.  After making recommendations for finalists, the entire judging panel (a dozen or so people) then spent five minutes each with five finalists.  We then crowned a third place, second place, and first place winner.

A week after the conference, I can describe in detail what each of those eight researchers (all students, I believe) did.  I can give you the strengths and weaknesses of the research of the eight posters, and can use them as examples of work that goes on in our field.  If I were hiring, I know at least two or three people I would love to have at the Tepper School.   All this with forty minutes of engagement.

Contrast this with the presentations I saw in the “regular” sessions.  I attended four sessions (not including my own, nor tutorials or plenaries).  Each was ninety minutes long, so that makes six hours.  During that time, I saw about 14 presentations.  I remember about half of them.  I didn’t really get a chance to ask questions, and I tuned out of some once I really understood what they were going to inflict on me.  Again, there were at least two or three people I would love to have at the Tepper School, some of whom are already here (and I didn’t tune out of those!), but, overall, the talks I saw did not turn out to be as memorable as the interactive presentations.

Worse, consider the plight of a student I know.  He was to give a talk in a “regular” session.  There were two people in the room other than the speakers.  Two speakers did not show.  The other talks were on nothing at all similar to what the student had done, so everyone in the room spent his talk reading the bulletin wondering where they would rather be.  No questions, no interaction.

Or another student who ended up with just ten minutes to present because the session chair allowed the other, more senior, people to run over.  Or another student I saw who had a delightful talk curtailed by technological and other issues.  A PhD comic seems particularly appropriate here:

PhD Comics take on Conference presentations

So, I guess my question is: “Why don’t we have more poster interactive sessions?”  Or even all poster sessions, except for the tutorials and plenary presentations.  It is good for the presenter and good for the participants!

Note added:  This also reminds me of having a five minute video as an adjunct to a paper, as this one sent to me by Les Servi.  It is a great way to determine if a paper is worth further study.

INFORMS Conferences and Reading the Tags

It is time again for the highlight of the operations research calendar: the INFORMS Annual meeting.  As always, I will be blogging at the INFORMS site, with a copy here.  But really: check out the INFORMS blogging site.  Lots of bloggers and lots of activity.

Here is my first entry this year:

The INFORMS 2013 conference is ready to start.  I think I was the second registrant to check in, since the doctoral colloquium is starting early tomorrow.

As you look at people’s name badges, you may be struck by the tags associated with them.  For instance, I ended up with seven tags in my registration envelope, which I think is the largest number of tags I have gotten since I was on the board.  Those tags identify participants by some of the special things they are doing at the conference.

informs2013 tagsGoing down though my tags, they run as follows:

  1. Colloquium.  I am speaking at the student colloquium about how to handle the service issues in the profession.  For instance, if you do too much service, you might end up with seven tags in your registration envelope.
  2. Coffee with a Member.  This is a great program that matches up first-time attendees with more seasoned people.  After 4PM, this turns out to be “Beer with a Member”.
  3. I’m going Green.  I chose not to get a printed program (which weighs about 2 pounds).  I am using a really cool app instead.
  4. I tweet @informs2013.  I don’t always tweet, but when I do, I tweet @informs2013.  Like all the cool kids
  5. Blogger.  Like, this thing.
  6. 25+ Year Member.  I’m old…
  7. Fellow.  … who did a few things in order to get that nice yellow tag (which I am unironically proud of).

The most important thing to know about those tags is the following

If you see someone with three or more tags, you can ask them anything.

Anyone with multiple tags is truly (and unironically) part of the community.  So if you are lost, or confused, or just looking for someone to talk to, grab someone with multiple tags.  They are committed to INFORMS.  If you have a question, they will find someone who will have the answer.  If you are lost, they will work to get you found.  And if you don’t have someone else to talk to, they will be happy to talk to you (ask them about their tags).  They will talk about INFORMS and the field so much that you will likely need to find another three-tag member for rescue.  Because they believe in the field and in INFORMS.   And they want you to have a successful conference.

As for seven-tag members, approach them with caution.  They are so into the organization that you might end up on a committee!

I am looking forward to the conference, and hope to make a few more friends in the next few days.