The state of scholarly events in 2023

20 July 2023

To contextualise the changes we’ve seen in the scholarly events industry over the past few years, we take a deep dive into how societies and associations are connecting and engaging with their communities, specifically through the lens of their research and technical conferences.

Over the course of 15 months (early-2022 to mid-2023), we conducted 27 open-ended interviews with a cross-section of our Ex Ordo customers, scholarly societies, and industry representatives. We asked each about their goals, activities, issues, and challenges. We listened, we learned. We identified several themes and trends. And we compiled a list of the top 10 insights, which we’re happy to share with you below.

The state of scholarly events in 2023

20 July 2023

Industry Trends

Building a cost-effective conference website with WordPress

19 January 2015

Choosing the right solution to build your conference website is a critical step. There are a lot of solutions available to build your site, but if you’re looking for a cost-effective yet flexible one, WordPress is your best bet. (This article is about WordPress.org, not WordPress.com. You can read this article to understand the difference)….

Conference Planning Conference Promotion

Best Practices in Abstract Management [Infographic]

5 January 2015

Over the past few years, we’ve learned a lot from the conferences we’ve supported. We’ve created an infographic with some interesting stats on abstract management.

Conference Planning

Promoting Participation Among Peers: Part II (Interview)

14 December 2014

Recently, we interviewed Adrian Segar, author of Conferences That Work, about participant driven conferences. In the first part of this interview, Adrian gave us insight into where the idea for the book came from and his thoughts on the effects of technology on participant driven events. In part 2, we get advice on how these…

Conference Day

Top 5 Rules To Think About For A Conference Website

15 November 2014

Having the right list of elements to include on your website isn’t enough to make it great. Website design and usability is a complex science that takes time to master. But this doesn’t mean you can’t build a compelling website without all this expertise! The key is to follow some basic rules that will ensure…

Conference Planning Conference Promotion

Promoting Participation Among Peers: Part I (Interview)

10 November 2014

The unconference (or participant-driven conference) is a conference format that promotes peer-to-peer learning and collaboration. All delegates are invited to participate. This can be difficult in academic conferencing where the traditional approach is mostly used. Adrian Segar, the author of Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love, has kindly given his time to talk about participant-driven…

Conference Day

Surviving your First Academic Conference (Interview)

21 October 2014

Attending your first conference as a PhD student can be daunting for anyone. Dr. Inger Mewburn, Director of research training at the Australian National University and editor of The Thesis Whisperer, a blog newspaper dedicated to the topic of doing your thesis, has kindly shared some advice on how to approach your first research conference. The Thesis…

Attending