What Is a Symposium?

What makes a meeting a symposium

Most symposiums share these traits, whatever the field:

• One theme

  Every talk addresses the same subject, such as a disease area, a research method or a policy question.

• Expert speakers

  Speakers are researchers or practitioners presenting their own work, often chosen through a call for abstracts or by invitation.

• Time for discussion

  Each talk or panel ends with questions, and many programs add a moderated discussion that links the talks together.

• A specialist audience

  Attendees are faculty, students, clinicians or professionals in the field, so talks can go deep without long introductions.

• A record of the work

  Many symposiums publish abstracts, posters, proceedings or recordings afterwards.

Symposium vs. conference, seminar, colloquium and forum

The names overlap, and organizers do not always use them strictly. As a rule of thumb:

A sample one-day symposium agenda

A one-day symposium usually alternates themed sessions with breaks, and gives posters and discussion their own time rather than squeezing them between talks. Use this as a starting point:

How to plan a symposium

Academic and professional symposiums run on a longer lead time than most events, because speakers are chosen through submissions. Allow six to nine months for a first edition.

1. 1

   Form a committee and set the theme

   Agree the theme, the audience, the format (in person, virtual or hybrid) and who decides on speakers.

2. 2

   Book the date and venue

   Avoid clashes with the major conferences in your field and with exam periods. Check room sizes for plenary sessions and a space for posters.

3. 3

   Open a call for abstracts

   Publish the theme, topics, submission format, word limit, deadline and how abstracts will be reviewed.

4. 4

   Review and build the program

   Score submissions, group accepted talks into themed sessions, assign chairs and decide which work fits a poster better than a talk.

5. 5

   Open registration

   Set rates for each kind of attendee, such as members, non-members and students, and an early registration deadline.

6. 6

   Brief speakers and chairs

   Send talk lengths, slide formats, slide deadlines and how questions will run. Chairs need speaker bios and a timing plan.

7. 7

   Run the day

   Keep sessions on time, record attendance where certificates depend on it, and collect questions for the panel discussion.

8. 8

   Publish and follow up

   Share slides, posters or proceedings, send an attendee survey, and thank speakers and sponsors.

Call for abstracts template

The call for abstracts is usually the first public announcement of a symposium. Copy this and fill in the brackets:

Subject: Call for abstracts: [Symposium name], [Date], [City or Online]

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to submit an abstract to [Symposium name], a one-day symposium on [theme], hosted by [organization] on [date] at [venue or online].

The symposium brings together [researchers, clinicians, practitioners] working on [topic area]. We welcome submissions on:
- [Topic 1]
- [Topic 2]
- [Topic 3]

Format: Accepted abstracts will be presented as a [15-minute talk / poster]. Early-career researchers and students are encouraged to apply.

How to submit: Send an abstract of up to [number] words, with title, authors and affiliations, to [email or link] by [deadline].

Review: Abstracts will be reviewed by the organizing committee. Decisions will be sent by [date].

Registration: Registration opens [date]. [Member, non-member and student rates apply.]

Questions: [Contact name], [email].

We look forward to your submission.

[Name]
On behalf of the [Symposium name] organizing committee

Running a symposium on Eventdex

Eventdex runs the event around the talks: registration, the program, posters, check-in and the questions in the room.

• Registration by attendee type

  Prices by registrant type (member, non-member, student), early bird tickets and promo codes for special cases.

  Event registration software

• Sessions, tracks and panelists

  Create each seminar with its track, room, panelists, description and attachments, or import the whole program from a spreadsheet.

  Conference management software

• E-poster walks

  Posters online and in the mobile app, so attendees can view them during the day and download them later.

  Virtual event platform

• Session attendance

  Scan badges at the door of each session to know who attended which talk.

  Onsite event management

• Questions from the floor

  Attendees submit and upvote questions during each session, and the moderator picks them for the discussion.

  Live Q&A widget