Scientific programme management is actually a whole separate arm of eventing, but for informational purposes, I will give you a brief overview on the field here.
Scientific programmes relate to conferences within the medical and technical industry. It involves the selection of related industry committees, and working with them to put together the programme for a scientific-based conference.
Usually the committee for a scientific conference is selected by the outgoing committee from the previous year, and is headed up by a chairperson who is well-respected in the industry. This person has the final say on decisions made by the committee.
Committee members are leaders in their field, ground breakers in research and innovation, and are chosen to lead up a specific theme or “track” of the conference.
Firstly, the topic of the conference is chosen by the committee as a whole. They select what aspect of the industry the conference will be focusing on that year – for example “Medical Supply Chains” or “Government-planned rollout for TB Medications.”
Medical conferences can have up to 8 tracks, although I have worked on some that have had only 3. Each track is a different theme or area that is relevant to the industry, for example: Community, Basic Science, or Clinical Science. Within each track, the committee selects sub-sections or themes, and topics which will be covered within that track.
Once the conference topic has been selected, a call for papers, or abstracts, as they are known, is sent out to the industry – to all universities and other institutions within that field. Abstracts are presentations which have been prepared by individuals in the industry, regarding their research or discoveries.
Usually the call for abstracts has a certain set of related criteria, for example – no longer than 400 words, no attachments, graphs or tables, and should not have been presented before.
A deadline is set to call for abstracts. Once all abstracts are received, the programme coordinator tidies up and prepares the papers, and eliminates incomplete submissions, duplicates and so forth.
The committee then meets for two to three days, to work through each abstract which has been submitted in their track. It is a laborious process, as there are often thousands of applications, but eventually the committee comes out with the top papers for their track, and these are then organised into the sub-topics.
The programme manager then contacts each of the selected abstract authors, offering them a slot to present as part of a panel at the conference. Often, presenting live at the conference goes hand-in-hand with logistical or financial challenges, and if presenters are not able to make it, the slot is allocated to the next person on the list.
Abstracts which are not given presentation slots are encouraged to present an A1 poster at the conference. Poster presenters are encouraged to make their showcases colorful, informative and attention-grabbing.
All oral and poster presentations are given credit in the conference programme. Being invited to present is a great honor amongst students at universities and other tertiary institutions, as the possibility of having key players in the field exposed to their research, could lead to great job prospects and opportunities, once their studies have been completed.
Scientific Conferences are a specialty in their own right and I would not recommend electing to manage a Scientific Conference unless you have experience in this field, or are prepared to bring on board experienced programme managers.
