2 - The decision: to run or not to run

Summary

Are you sure?

Experience and commitment

The preceding examples suggest that the prospective organizer of a scientific meeting had better look before leaping. To run a major meeting without prior experience would be foolish, no matter how much your friends encourage you. If you hope to muddle through, you are inviting disaster. Remember: the reputation from an unsuccessful meeting may stick with you for a long time.

For the novice, there are several ways to gain experience. One is to assist in the preparation of a major convention. Just carrying a minor responsibility, watching the progress of the preparations, and learning how unexpected problems are handled provides invaluable insights.

Another way to start out is to organize a special session, or a small symposium for a major meeting. Dealing with six speakers from the first letter of invitation to the receipt of the last manuscript is a good introduction to handling different, and more likely difficult, personalities.

You can also try it the harder way. The first scientific meeting I organized was a regional conference with more than a hundred participants. I had no experience, and major problems arose during the first morning: (1) The registration desk had been set up too late; some participants never returned to pay their fees. (2) Students and some of the faculty of the host institution appeared unexpectedly, refused to pay fees for an event in ‘their’ lecture room, and caused overcrowding. (3) The service in charge of coffee and cookies appeared when the morning break was over, almost at lunch time.