Behind the Scenes with IPC Technical Conference Coordinator Toya Richardson

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Richardson: So far, so good! We had a relaxed submittal process at the start, but that's abstract submissions. They come in slowly and then as we get closer to the deadline it seems like all of a sudden people realize, "Oh I've got to meet this deadline." Then they all seem to come in at once with their abstract submissions. Sometimes we get so many that we fill up the sessions and then we no longer have room for late submittals.

We have all the sessions figured out [for the 2016 conference] and most of the moderators set up. We received more than enough good papers so now we just need to weed through and see where they fit in and where they don't fit in. We also have to look at our poster submissions.

Goldman: How many posters do you like to have?

Richardson: I like a room full. They typically have been located right where the keynote sessions take place. There is a waiting area with tables and chairs set up. It’s a comfortable area for people to take time and browse through the posters.

Goldman: It’s a great set-up. A lot of people look at the posters while waiting for lunch or sessions to start.

Richardson: I think it's another opportunity for speakers to come and present their work but in a different way. Maybe it's not speaking with a sit-down audience, but they get a chance to do a face-to-face and one-on-one with people and explain what it is that their company is doing, and that's good. I know some speakers only want to be in the technical conference, but I think it's just another opportunity for the speaker to get more exposure for their work.

Goldman: People can do both?

Richardson: Yes they can do both – they can present a poster and speak in the technical conference. We can get up to as many as 35 posters, depending on the size of the room. We always have to be mindful of the occupancy standard of course so that we don't cover up walkways, entrances, or exits.

I'm always happy to have as many as we can get. Those tend to come to us the same way—they trickle in faster as we get closer to the event.

Goldman: After the conference is over, there must be a lull for you. What happens once a conference ends?

Richardson: It’s funny you say that, because it feels like it's never over (laughs). But after the conference actually ends, I take all of the information from the technical conference attendees and compile it and get the feedback from our surveys that we put out for each session and for each moderator, speaker, etc.

Then, I send the results to the speakers and moderators so that they can see what the attendees had to say about their paper or the session—what they liked, maybe some things that they didn't like. Sometimes people include their information so that we can contact them. That's what happens right after the conference—and then it pretty much starts all over again with the submissions for the following year.

Goldman: You mentioned once about surveying your speakers. Do you do that now? Do you survey your speakers and get information back from them also?

Richardson: I wouldn't really call it a formal survey process. I just talk to them about how their presentation went and how they felt. I know sometimes with a survey you don't get a chance to really express all of your thoughts. Sometimes when it's a survey you don't bother to put it all on paper.

I think it’s very important for a speaker to have that experience. Maybe it's their first time speaking. Did we meet their expectations, or what did they think the process was going to be like? How did they feel after they presented? Maybe they've spoken somewhere else and it was a different experience. I just want to get the pros and the cons of their experience of speaking at an IPC conference.

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