playbooks

Conference Strategy

Purpose

Scientific conferences are an important part of the scientific enterprise. We attend scientific conferences to disseminate our work, exchange ideas, learn about new fields and approaches, meet new people, catch up with old friends, hone our scientific communication, and have fun.

How to decide attendance

So you’re thinking of attending a conference? Great! Ask yourself these questions to see if it makes sense to attend:

1. Is the conference reputable and generally well-attended?
2. Are you interested in the topic and program?
3. Is the topic directly relevant, directly adjacent, or complementary to your work?
4. Would attendance advance your work and/or career in a meaningful way?
5. Are there opportunities for you to present your work?
6. Are there opportunities for you to receive valuable feedback on your work?
7. Is now an appropriate time to talk about your work?
8. Would attending the conference significantly disrupt any other existing commitments/responsibilities?
9. Are there remote attendance options?

It is not always an appropriate time to attend a conference. Sometimes, our time is more valuable wrapping up a project, focusing on new work, or preparing for an even greater opportunity.

If you are thinking about attending a conference, please reach out to Greg (PI) to discuss if attendance makes sense.

In nearly every case, it only makes sense to attend a conference if you are presenting. Presentation is a requirement for the Waylab to cover the costs of conference attendance (with one exception - see below).

In order of value, presentations include:

1. Invited keynote
2. Invited seminar
3. Organizing committee for workshop/panel
4. Accepted seminar
5. Lightning talk
6. Poster

The invited talks sometimes may include an honorarium.

Conferences on our radar

CytoData

• https://society.cytodata.org/
• This is our field’s primary conference; the work is directly relevant to the lab, many of these folks are primary users of our software.
• A small, close-knit community that is rapidly expanding.
• The conference is international; one year it is in the US, the next year it is in Europe.
• There are not always poster sessions, the format changes from year-to-year.

SBI2

• https://sbi2.org/
• This is a directly adjacent field that is often more focused on image data collection than image data analysis (although recently the analysis has come into greater focus).
• The attendees of this conference are mixed evenly between academia and industry.
• We would love for this community to use our software.
• This conference is always in Boston.

SLAS

• https://www.slas.org/
• This is a bit further away from our field than SBI2, and contains more industry attendees.
• The topics are very diverse, but focused on biological imaging.
• We would love for this community to use our software.

Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing

• https://psb.stanford.edu/
• A general-purpose bioinformatics and computational biology conference that is typically very well attended by senior academics and influential thinkers.
• The conference is always on the Big Island of Hawaii, occurring yearly in January.
• The topics are always topical, and change yearly.
• It typically only makes sense to attend this conference if you have an accepted paper, accepted talk, or organize a workshop.
• Travel awards are available, and presenting students have great odds at acceptance.

NF Conference

• https://www.ctf.org/get-involved/nf-conference
• This is a biological domain conference focused on Neurofibromatosis (NF)
• We attend domain conferences like this one when we have new and unique insights and/or innovative approaches to share with the community

Neurips

• https://nips.cc/
• This is a huge, general machine learning conference
• Often there are biomedical application workshops, which we can present our work in
• Many sessions are helpful and can directly inspire future projects
• Travel awards are available, so please apply

CVPR

• https://cvpr2022.thecvf.com/
• One of the top computer vision conferences in the world
• Very similar to Neurips, but focused on computer vision theory, models, and applications
• There are general paper submissions available, but this is very competitive

ASCB

• American Society for Cell Biology
• Great conference that focuses on cell biology processes and mechanisms
• There is a strong emphasis on microscopy techniques and applications as this is a powerful tool for studying cells
• Larger conference

How to guide (attendance and reimbursement)

:exclamation: Waylab Specific: This may not apply to other labs!

The lab will cover all reasonable costs for conference attendance. This includes transportation, meals, registration, and incidentals. Please ask questions.

Please save receipts as they could be required.

We use a service called Concur to track reimbursements and travel requests. Concur is where you will document all conference related expenses that require reimbursement.

Note: When prompted to include the 6-digit SpeedType, please use 63503956 as this will charge the Way Lab account.

The steps for paying/reimbursement include:

1. Decide if attendance makes sense and is authorized
2. File a “Travel request” on Concur
   1. Follow this step-by-step guide here: https://tinyurl.com/pre-travel
   2. See https://www.cu.edu/psc/training/booking-travel/requesting-approval-travel for details
3. Check if there is a travel award, and apply if so!
   1. This is important! It looks great on your CV and saves the lab money.
4. Register for the conference
   1. Note: Sometimes the order of this step is slightly different, but this is recommended to do after getting your pre-travel request approved.
   2. Sometimes registration requires a first step of professional organization membership
   3. There are two methods for registering for conferences:
      1. Book yourself, save receipts
         1. Reimbursed later, after travel
      2. Book with Jenna Tomkinson using the lab procurement card
         1. Paid directly with lab funds
         2. Make sure there is NO TAX
5. Book airfare (if applicable). Please be reasonable in terms of cost!
   1. Use the Concur “Travel” tab and use the “Mixed Flight/Train Search” on the left hand side to look up flights.
   2. Once you have add the information for departure and arrival dates, it will provide all flights available from all airlines
      1. Note: It will show you which airlines that the university prefers and breaks down the available flights by how many stops there are.
   3. Once you find the flights you want, follow ALL STEPS to the end or the reservation will be canceled.
   4. The lab typically does not cover rental cars
6. Book lodging (if applicable)
   1. Often the conference offers a discounted hotel block/code. Use this code and book early to ensure accommodations
   2. You will need to book this yourself and pay this out of pocket
      1. Reimbursed later after travel
7. Save receipts, save receipts, save receipts!
   1. File for reimbursement on concur immediately upon return.
8. AFTER TRAVEL (e.g., once you come back), you will go back into Concur to your approved request to add all expenses.
   1. Typical expenses include:
      1. Per-diem (for food)
      2. Hotel/Lodging
      3. Registration (if paid out-of-pocket)
      4. Transportation (if paid out-of-pocket)
      5. Poster printing

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