The university years plays prime importance in determining your career. The number of classes you attend, your course credits, affiliation with clubs and participation in extracurricular activities (ECAs) defines what skills you would develop. Moreover, for high achievers, ECAs matters as much as attending classes. Hence, these individuals, since the beginning of the university classes, start focusing on matters such as participating in Model United Nations (MUNs), associating with youth clubs as well as attending academic conferences.

While being a part of a club or participating in MUNs give an edge to the personality of students, attending an academic conference is a whole different matter. An academic conference is a congregation of intellectual minds in a particular field, discussing, debating, and reforming practical ideas that can eventually revolutionize the elements of the field.

The high-achievers participate in such academic events to challenge their ideas and gain recognization in international communities. Further, academic institutions, organizations, and universities organize such academic events every year. Such events take different shapes and forms, depending upon its focus area, objective and the number of attendees. Moreover, as such events, although inspiring, consumes times as well as money to participate regularly. Hence, an academician needs to know what types of conferences they are attending.

Academic events are of several types ranging from conferences to symposiums, workshops, and seminars. But what type of conference are these?

Let’s find out!

What are the Types of Conferences?

Although an academic event can take form as a conference, seminars, symposium or workshop, the general outline governing these types of events are the same. However, one can observe a subtle difference in the objective as well as the number of attendees in such events.

Conferences: Conferences are the largest events that can have an audience ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. A conference has a general theme, discussing a wide spectrum of topics. Moreover, domestic as well as international academicians present their research paper, as well as discuss their projects in general. Also, a conference can run for several days.

Seminars: A seminar is a concise version of the conference. Usually, a seminar is conducted at an institution or a university focusing on a specific topic. A seminar differs form a conference in terms of attendees, where a seminar have only tens of attendees. Also, a seminar spans for a very short period, usually a few hours.

Workshops: A workshop, on the other hand, is larger than a seminar and has a specific, action-oriented purpose with participation from a diverse group. While a seminar can at most last for a day, a workshop can last for two or three days. However, it is shorter than a seminar.

Symposium: A symposium is a smaller version of the conference, that invites experts in the related field. Similar to a seminar, it focuses on a specific topic while unlike seminar, a symposium can run for a few days.

After confirming what type of academic event/conference one wants to attend, the next step is finding the right conference.

Find the Right Academic Conference for you!

Despite a large number of academic conferences running each year, a student/academician should focus on the event where s/he can become more productive. Hence, it is imperative to find the best International Academic Conference for you.

There are many ways to find the right academic conferences that you can make the most out of. These events run all over the world while inviting the most respected and reputed personalities in the academic area. While most of these events run throughout the year, it may still be a hassle to find out the right conference.

The most effective ways to find the best international academic conference are:

University’s notice board: Usually, the organizers provide information regarding their conferences on the university’s notice board.

Professors and Head of Departments: Further, the organizers also invites professors and HoDs to attend such international conferences. Flourishing a good relationship with professors can help gain such information.

Local Newspaper: Organizers also publish the details of the conferences in the local newspaper. Subscribing and keeping a regular update can help find the appropriate academic conference.

Social Media: Social Media is one of the most effective means of marketing. Hence, organizers of such international conferences advertise their events on media like facebook, twitter, Instagram, etc.

Conference Websites: Organizations like IEEE, IUPAC, Royal Society, IUBS, etc conducts conferences, that are published on their websites.

Moreover, Academic conferences offer several advantages, from building your career to getting recognization and expanding your network. However, one should be very careful to pick the right type of conference so they can get maximum benefits.