| 5.22.09 |
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| Client Spotlight: EarthQuake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) |
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| Mira works with hundreds of conference clients from all fields of academia. This issue's spotlight is on the |
| Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI), and we have asked questions about planning and preparing |
| for a conference. Thanks to Eloise Gilland for providing her own insight about the challenges of conference planning. |
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| "--it was really nice to be able to rely on a single vendor to support our process from start to finish - |
| from the initial call-for-papers to the final delivery of hardbound proceedings books and CD-ROMs." |
| -Eloise Gilland, Editorial and Publications Manager, EERI |
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MIRA: How many attendees do you have, and from what sort of backgrounds do they hail?
EERI: We expect about 700 papers and about 1,400 attendees at the meeting. They are professionals from a broad range of disciplines, including architecture, structural engineering, seismology, geology, geophysics, geotechnical engineering, societal response, regional planning, emergency response planning, and regulation. About 75% will be from the United States and Canada and the rest from all over the world.
MIRA: Have you noticed an affect on your conference (e.g., submissions received, registration, etc.) because of the U.S. economy?
EERI: Not yet -- we only sponsor national conferences every four years. We've received more abstracts than we expected -- almost 1,400, whereas we had expected 1,000. But authors don't have to pay anything until the paper submission phase. That's when we'll know if the economy has had an effect.
MIRA: If so, how are you planning to address it, if at all?
EERI: Once we know how many papers get submitted, we might have to look at ways to reduce some expenses if we receive fewer than necessary to at least break even
MIRA: What are the challenges of planning a conference such as EERI's?
EERI: The biggest challenge is getting authors, speakers, and volunteer committee members to do things on time. There are always people who need more time at every stage, yet we want to maximize participation. There's a fine line between being accommodating enough and too accommodating, which leads to a lot of stress and working overtime to meet deadlines.
MIRA: What are some advantages you have found in using online abstract management?
EERI: Authors input all their own information, so no staff is necessary to do that, which saves time and avoids the problem of making mistakes. Authors are able to proofread their own work. It saves authors time too, and they don't have to worry about mistakes. The online review process also saves a lot of time.
MIRA: Is there any advice you would share with others in your field? (Whether it's lessons learned or experiences that may help shorten the learning curve.)
EERI: Keep electronic files of all correspondence you send to authors, speakers, and volunteers from one conference to the next, to refresh your memory of what happened. I have updated and re-used it every time. |
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| Has your conference experience been similar or different? Mira welcomes feedback! Email us at amyt@mirasmart.com. |
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| 1.02.09 |
| FASEB selects Mira Digital Publishing for Online Poster Management |
| FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) selects posterSMART™, Online Poster management |
| system, for the 2009 Experimental Biology (EB) conference. St. Louis, MO, January 2, 2009. |
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| Mira Digital Publishing announced today that its posterSMART™ Online Poster management system was selected by |
| FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) for the 2009 Experimental Biology (EB) conference |
| to be held April 18-22, 2009, in New Orleans, LA. Mira Digital Publishing, www.mirasmart.com, is a software and publications |
| provider that began providing submission management tools for the Experimental Biology Conference in 2001. In the 7 |
| years following, the relationship has grown to include other Mira services, including online review, sorting, programming, |
| online access to conference program by attendees, and publication services, such as abstract book composition and abstract |
| tagging. Mira will provide online access to the poster presentations to the 2009 attendees, as well as promote the large |
| format printing and on-site delivery capabilities that Mira now offers. For a list of Mira’s printing capabilities, please visit |
| http://www.mirasmart.com/printing.htm. |
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| “The poster management and printing services that are now available [by Mira] will be another way for our clients to add |
| even more value to their conference presenters and attendees,” said Amy Trapp, Sales & Marketing Manager, Mira Digital |
| Publishing. “We are very excited to announce this new product to the market and are ecstatic to partner with FASEB for |
| this first official deployment.” |
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| About Mira Digital Publishing |
| Founded in 1989 in St. Louis, Missouri, Mira provides software applications and publication services for Scientific, Technical |
| and Medical Associations such as the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, American Society for Civil |
| Engineers, and American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. For more information about posterSMART™ and the |
| rest of the miraSMART™ suite, please visit http://www.mirasmart.com/collection.htm. |
