This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Sci is flying out tomorrow to take part in (and blog about) the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego. I will be blogging on behalf of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, so it'll be all things pharmacology from here on out! Make sure to check out the blog and follow along on Twitter! See you in San Diego!
But perhaps I have emailed you, and asked to blog your poster, and perhaps you are considering emailing me about your latest and greatest work...and you pause. What IS this conference blogging, exactly? What is it for?
Well, look no further. Because this post (a re-post from my previous blogging of the Society for Neuroscience Meeting) is all about explaining what I'm planning for the conference, how I'm going to go about it, and what you can look forward to as a scientist when I blog your poster or talk. And because the more you know, the better prepared we will all be!
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I covered much of this information in a guest post over at the Science of Blogging, where I talked about tips for blogging a conference. But that post is from a blogger's point of view, whereas this one will be from the perspective of you, the scientist.
So this is how it goes:
1. Over the next few days, I will either contact you, or you can contact me (scicurious at gmail) with your poster/presentation details. I will set up a time to come by your poster, and possibly also to meet with you for 30 minutes before or after your presentation.
2. If we meet up, I would like to hear from you about your work in detail. I will be reading the abstract that you submitted ahead of time, but If you could bring a copy of your poster or presentation (or send it ahead of time!) that would be wonderful! I will NOT use any of the graphs, tables, or images that you send in any post I may write up. What I will do is use your poster to give my my writing context and help me to remember and understand what we've talked about and the significance of your findings.
2a. If you are a student presenter (or heck, a postdoc!), you may want to bring your advisor along while we talk, if you are worried. Additionally, if your advisor requires credentials, let me know and I will provide them.
3. Once I'm done grilling you (gently!) about your work, I'll head back, and start writing! I will try to get the post done before the next day.
4. And when the post is done...I will send it to you for any corrections that you may have. I have to use a fast turnaround time, so you may only have 12 hours to see and edit the work. If you have any edits, this is when you need to let me know!
5. Then the post goes live! I will send you a link to your work and you can share it with your world, put it on your lab website, whatever you want. If you didn't get a chance to make edits before, you still can now, and if you have concerns, I will address them whenever I can.
And now you might be wondering, what is this for?? Well, aside from letting me take a good look at the latest and greatest science, I want to share it with the world. I want people to see what we scientists are doing and how we are doing it, and what it all means. The more people in general understand what we do, the more support we can get, and the more people can learn how their bodies work and what happens when things go wrong. And isn't that a good thing?
So if you're interested, send me your info! I am blogging all things Pharmacology this year, but other good science will always turn my head. :) I'd love to see what everyone has to offer!