Ideas in Motion: launching a research poster session without the poster

Summary

The goal of this blog post is to provide insights into organizing a community-building research event.



What was the motivation?

About once or twice a year, the members of our lab have an honest conversation to analyze the successes and failures of the group. A recurring question during these conversations is, "How can we make the lab better and what do you want to see more of?" Being a lab on the third floor of the computer science building, we rarely interact with other robotics labs on a daily basis. This was one of the key discussion points: "How can we engage with the community and learn more about everyone's work?" The mechanical, aerospace, electrical, and computer science departments each have robotics projects and often even overlapping work. But because we rarely interact with students in other labs, the overlap means the work goes side by side without helping each other out.


To tackle this problem, I looked at our current options. Coffee hours generally attract attention, but the discussions often become mundane and unproductive. Research talks, while informative, tend to focus on a single person's research and don't attract a big crowd because you end up sitting and passively listening the entire time. What we needed was something that combined being interactive and social while still having some structure.


Looking back at conferences, I realized that poster sessions accomplish this balance well. However, there were two issues with traditional poster sessions: first, conference posters usually show completed projects, which wouldn't encourage collaboration on ongoing work; and second, creating a formal poster puts too much pressure on participants. This is why I proposed a hassle-free poster session instead. The idea was simple: have people present work that is still in-progress using just their laptops with a slide or two for visuals. No fancy posters required. The lab liked this approach, and my colleague and I went about organizing the rest.


Invitation

Here was our invitation e-mail


Hello everyone,


We are excited to invite you to our robotics (cs, electrical, mechanical) research symposium on [Date/Time/Location]. This event aims to foster collaboration among students. If you have an ongoing project or early-stage ideas seeking input, you are perfect for this event. This symposium is scheduled on the day of Prof. Lydia Kavraki's visit and we are happy to announce that Prof. Kavraki will be attending our symposium as well.


Our poster symposium will begin with a lightning talk session, where each presenter will have up to 2 minutes to introduce their project. After the talks, each presenter will have a desk in [Location], where you can continue the discussion and explore potential collaborations. You don't need a physical poster, just your laptop with a slide or two. After the symposium, we will all head over to Prof. Kavraki's seminar [Date/Time/Location].


If you're interested in presenting or attending, please fill out the following form as soon as possible: [Submission Form].


We look forward to learning about your projects and fostering collaborative opportunities. Feel free to reach out to [Name and Email] if you have any questions.


Best Regards,



Schedule

And here was the follow-up


Hello [Name],


Thank you for joining our first research symposium - Ideas in Motion! As mentioned earlier, you'll have 2 minutes to present before the audience joins in the discussion. Here’s the schedule:


  • 2:00–2:05 pm – Opening: Motivation & Goals
  • 2:05–2:15 pm – First Lightning Talks (4 presenters)
  • 2:15–2:30 pm – Q&A with Presenters
  • 2:30–2:42 pm – Second Lightning Talks (5 presenters)
  • 2:42–2:55 pm – Q&A with Presenters

To keep things running smoothly, please update our shared deck by replacing the slide with your name on it by your own content. We've arranged the presentation order so that presenters with similar interests are in different sessions, giving you a chance to engage with peers in related fields. please encourage your peers to attend as well.


Thanks!


Outcome

We had 9 speakers present their work and about 20 other students show up. The department also provided us with cookies and drinks. The Q&A sessions were lively and engaging. It was a terrific balance of formal to informal, structured and unstructured. I would 100% do this event again. And that is not so far off. The department observed this effort and is interested in making this even more large-scale with some funding. Therefore, we will have another one by the end of the semester.



Lessons for next time

  • Give the speaker notice when they have 15 seconds left to ensure nobody goes over the allotted time limit.
  • Provide more structure to the presenters. Have them present some open-ended questions that they want feedback on.
  • Engage the faculty more actively in the event.

Thanks for reading and please let me know if you decide to organize something like this in your community as well.