A practical guide to Biologists @ 100

With one week to go until Biologists @ 100, we can’t wait to see everyone there! Do you want to know more about the conference venue, the social events and where to find out more about the programme? Together with preLights and FocalPlane, we’ve recorded a video to walk you through the practicalities of the conference.

First-time conference attendee? Not sure what to prepare? Check out this ‘Beginners’ Guide to Scientific Conferences‘ from Jen Annoh, who will be attending the conference as a reporter for the Node, focusing on the cell and developmental biology scientific track of the programme.

Full transcript

Hi, I’m Helen, and I’m the Community Manager of FocalPlane.

Hello, I’m Joyce, I’m the Community Manager of the Node.

Hi. My name is Reinier, and I’m the preLights Community Manager.

We’ve made this short recording to tell you about our upcoming conference, Biologists @ 100. We’re really excited to have you join us for this special conference celebrating our 100th anniversary, and we hope that this recording helps you make the most of your experience. Let’s dive in.

So, starting with the venue. Biologists @ 100 will be at ACC Liverpool. On our conference website, you’ll be able to find all the information about travel and travelling to the conference venue. The ACC Liverpool entrance is actually not facing the river, so if you see the river, the entrance of the ACC Liverpool is on the other side. Hopefully this photo will help you to find how to get into the conference venue. There is an atrium where you enter and collect your badge.

The main auditorium is where most of the plenary talks will happen. Then the catering, exhibition and posters, will all happen in the big hall called hall two, which is in the basement. There will be lunchtime sessions held in a small theatre inside this hall. A little bit more about the exhibition hall; you will be able to find out more about the Company at our stand, and you’ll also be able to visit all the sponsor booths. Around the conference venue, you’ll find some discussion tables where you can tell us about your views on the future of publishing and help shape our journals. In the exhibition hall, there will be a sustainability area where you can find your tree in the Forest of Biologists, if you’ve ever published or reviewed for us, and you can chat to people and give suggestions about making science more sustainable. There will also be an image gallery, displaying images from the Node and FocalPlane image competition, and you’ll be able to vote for your favourite image.

As Joyce mentioned, there will be lunchtime lectures. The first one will be on Tuesday, called climate change challenges and solutions in biology. The panellists are passionate about this topic and will tell us a bit more on how to integrate sustainability in our day-to-day work. Do make sure to check it out. On Wednesday, we have a talk from Katherine Brown, Executive Editor of Development. She’ll talk about scientific publishing, and specifically, the future of scientific publishing. Then on Thursday, it will be the three of us talking about the community sites, what we do, and how you can get involved. So, please do drop by if you have any questions.

You can find us quite easily because we’ll be wearing these beautiful T-shirts. Also, we’ll have lime-green lanyards, as will our colleagues. So, you should be able to find those quite easily. Also, you’ll be able to see our conference reporters walking around the venue. They are representing the different community sites. There’s three of them, so it’s Jen, representing the Node, Jonathan for preLights and Margarida for FocalPlane.

To find out all you need to know about the conference, we’ll have a dedicated conference app, and this will have the full programme. You’ll also be able to access the abstracts for the poster sessions, find speaker information, and read about our sponsors. If there are any changes that happen during the conference, then this will be the place to find out. The conference app also has a chat function, which can be a great way to contact people and arrange to meet, so you can optimise your networking experience.

Going back to the programme, when you signed up, you’ll all have seen the wonderful diversity of speakers that we have through the sessions. The preliminary program is up on our website, and as I mentioned, the full program will be available on the app. Because this is a special conference incorporating all of the Company journals and all of the themes that link to the biology that we publish, there are a number of different strands. Importantly, we’ve made it possible for you to move between the strands. There’ll be signposts around the venue helping to direct you to the correct rooms. The sessions are running concurrently, and you will be able to move between lectures, but if you are moving in the middle of a session, we do recommend, that you sit towards the end of a row and try to minimise the disruption as you move around.

Now on to posters. All posters can be put up for the entire duration of the conference. If you have a poster, you should receive some communication about your number and when you’ll be presenting. This will tell you when you’ll need to stand by your poster during the two evening poster sessions. You’ll need to put your poster up before the morning break on Tuesday 25 March. The posters should be grouped together by topic, so if you’re interested in a specific topic, you can go and find all the related posters.

Something else that is important: food and drinks. Every day, tea and coffee will be served. There’ll be two refreshment breaks, and there will be hot food at lunch. This will all be vegetarian or vegan for sustainability reasons.

Onto other fun stuff. There will be two social events on Monday. First, there will be the welcome reception at the Museum of Liverpool, which is a 10-minute walk through the Albert Dock from the conference venue. This will be followed by the ECR dinner at Revolución de Cuba in the Albert Dock, which is a 10-minute walk from the welcome reception and a five-minute walk from the conference venue. Then on Wednesday, we’ll have the gala dinner, which is at St George’s Hall. There will be shuttle buses from the conference venue to take you to the dinner. These will start at 7pm and return shuttles will run from 10pm.
 
Are you attending a scientific conference for the first time? Well, we’re preparing a pre-conference 101 guide for you, together with Jen, the conference reporter for the Node. Jen has been collecting some tips from people who have been to conferences, and on the screen here, you can see some tips from our preLighters, including, ‘don’t be afraid to talk to you people’ and ‘introduce yourself and your research to others’. For the full 101 guide, check out Jen’s post on the Node. The link is in the video description below.

Okay, so that’s everything from us. Hopefully we’ve given you a little flavour of what to expect at the Biologists @ 100 conference. Please come and chat to us whilst you’re at the conference, we’ll be happy to hear from you. So, that’s everything and we’ll see you in Liverpool.

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