tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481277762471114452.post5362228802639110810..comments2024-03-20T12:56:48.451-05:00Comments on Better Posters: Freedom to change from your abstractZen Faulkeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07811309183398223358noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481277762471114452.post-52061646242338552482019-09-12T12:40:48.721-05:002019-09-12T12:40:48.721-05:00I work in a STEM association (healthcare related, ...I work in a STEM association (healthcare related, if it matters) that offers hundreds of posters each year at our annual meeting. Like many associations, we select abstracts a few months before the event and then have authors present on site. Please consider the situation from our side: we recruit several scientists to screen your abstract and select it (in our case, screeners use a score card with specific criteria, and we reject hundreds of proposals a year that don't meet their standards). The association then releases the abstracts to attract attendees. Roughly half of our attendees search our website and mobile app by keyword, and choose the abstracts they'll visit (instead of going to a session in some cases) based on what they read. When you appear on our floor and deliver a poster that is wildly different from the abstract you submitted, it upsets our attendees (we now require abstracts to include data because of this, and no one is allowed to change a title or abstract after acceptance). You also waste the time of screeners, who in some cases were your best connection to a new job or publication. I don't think anyone minds when you expand on your topic or share a surprising realization. Just keep in mind that your poster is part of a program an association has promised to other professionals your field. They're making choices based on what you said you'd present. Try not to disappoint them! (Good luck with your posters, everybody!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com