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30-503: In modern usage, it has come to mean an academic conference or meeting, such as a scientific conference. The equivalent of a Greek symposium in Roman society is the Latin convivium. The Greek symposium was a key Hellenic social institution. It was a forum for the progeny of respected families to debate, plot, boast, or simply to revel with others. They were frequently held to celebrate

60-799: A "standard size for a drinking group"). If any young men took part, they did not recline but sat up. However, in Macedonian symposia, the focus was not only on drinking but hunting, and young men were allowed to recline only after they had killed their first wild boar. Food and wine were served. Entertainment was provided, and depending on the occasion could include games, songs, flute-girls or boys, slaves performing various acts, and hired entertainment. Symposia often were held for specific occasions. The most famous symposium of all, described in Plato's dialogue of that name (and rather differently in Xenophon's )

90-418: A "symposiarch" ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : συμπόσιάρχης  : symposiárchēs) who would decide how strong the wine for the evening would be, depending on whether serious discussions or sensual indulgence were in the offing. The Greeks and Romans customarily served their wine mixed with water, as the drinking of pure wine was considered a habit of uncivilized peoples . However, there were major differences between

120-838: A Call For Papers (CFP) or a Call For Abstracts, which is sent to prospective presenters and explains how to submit their abstracts or papers. It describes the broad theme and lists the meeting's topics and formalities such as what kind of abstract (summary) or paper has to be submitted, to whom, and by what deadline . A CFP is usually distributed using a mailing list or on specialized online services. Contributions are usually submitted using an online abstract or paper management service. Predatory conferences or predatory meetings are meetings set up to appear as legitimate scientific conferences but which are exploitative as they do not provide proper editorial control over presentations, and advertising can include claims of involvement of prominent academics who are, in fact, uninvolved. They are an expansion of

150-410: A conference is performed by active RFID that may indicate wilfully identified and relatively located upon approach via electronic tags. Conferences are usually organized either by a scientific society or by a group of researchers with a common interest. Larger meetings may be handled on behalf of the scientific society by a Professional Conference Organiser or PCO. The meeting is announced by way of

180-436: A short abstract of their presentation, which will be reviewed before the presentation is accepted for the meeting. Some organizers, and therefore disciplines require presenters to submit a paper, which is peer reviewed by members of the program committee or referees chosen by them. In some disciplines, such as English and other languages, it is common for presenters to read from a prepared script. In other disciplines such as

210-455: A specific strength and was then mixed. Slave boys would manage the krater , and transfer the wine into pitchers. They then attended to each man in the symposium with the pitchers and filled their cups with wine. Certain formalities were observed, most important among which were libations , the pouring of a small amount of wine in honour of various deities or the mourned dead. In a fragment from his c. 375 BC play Semele or Dionysus , Eubulus has

240-433: Is a mix of pre-recorded and live presentations. Because virtual or hybrid events allow people from different time zones to participate simultaneously, some will have to participate during their night-time. Some virtual conferences try to mitigate this issue by alternating their schedule in a way so that everyone has the chance to participate at day time at least once. Prospective presenters are usually asked to submit

270-466: Is an event for researchers (not necessarily academics ) to present and discuss their scholarly work. Together with academic or scientific journals and preprint archives, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers. Further benefits of participating in academic conferences include learning effects in terms of presentation skills and "academic habitus ", receiving feedback from peers for one's own research,

300-461: The predatory publishing business model, which involves the creation of academic publications built around an exploitative business model that generally involves charging publication fees to authors without providing the editorial and publishing services associated with legitimate journals. BIT Life Sciences and SCIgen are some of the conferences labeled as predatory. Academic conferences are criticized for being environmentally unfriendly, due to

330-424: The sciences , presenters usually base their talk around a visual presentation that displays key figures and research results. A large meeting will usually be called a conference, while a smaller is termed a workshop. They might be single track or multiple track , where the former has only one session at a time, while a multiple track meeting has several parallel sessions with speakers in separate rooms speaking at

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360-464: The Roman and Greek symposia. A Roman symposium ( convivium ) served wine before, with and after food, and women were allowed to join. In a Greek symposium, wine was only drunk after dinner, and women were not allowed to attend. The wine was drawn from a krater , a large jar designed to be carried by two men, and served from pitchers ( oenochoe ) . Determined by the symposiarch, the wine was diluted to

390-711: The amount of airplane traffic generated by them. A correspondence on Nature.com points out the "paradox of needing to fly to conferences" despite increased calls for sustainability by environmental scientists. The academic community's carbon footprint is comprised in large parts by emissions caused by air travel. Few conferences enacted practices to reduce their environmental impact by 2017, despite guidelines being widely available: An analysis of academic conferences taking place in 2016 showed that only 4% of 116 conferences sampled offered carbon offset options and only 9% of these conferences implemented any form of action to their reduce environmental impact. More conferences included

420-418: The chief function of Attic pottery was for use in the symposium. An amphora was used as a jug to hold the wine and usually one single cup was passed amongst the men. Cups used at symposiums were not as nearly intricate as amphoras. Pottery used at symposiums often featured painted scenes of the god Dionysus, satyrs, and other mythical scenes related to drinking and celebration. Poetry and music were central to

450-516: The conference proceedings . Usually a conference will include keynote speakers (often, scholars of some standing, but sometimes individuals from outside academia). The keynote lecture is often longer, lasting sometimes up to an hour and a half, particularly if there are several keynote speakers on a panel . In addition to presentations, conferences also feature panel discussions , round tables on various issues, poster sessions and workshops. Some conferences take more interactive formats, such as

480-578: The drinking of assigned quantities of wine, and the oversight of a master of the ceremonies appointed for the occasion from among the guests. Another Roman version of the symposium was the convivium . Women's roles differed in Roman symposia as well. Roman women were legally prohibited from drinking wine as a matter of public morality. Men were expected to control their own wine consumption, but women were not given this authority. Academic conference An academic conference or scientific conference (also congress , symposium , workshop , or meeting )

510-404: The god of wine Dionysos describe proper and improper drinking: For sensible men I prepare only three kraters : one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more – it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults;

540-424: The household. The participants, or "symposiasts", would recline on pillowed couches arrayed against the three walls of the room away from the door. Due to space limitations, the couches would number between seven and nine, limiting the total number of participants to somewhere between fourteen and twenty seven (Oswyn Murray gives a figure of between seven and fifteen couches and reckons fourteen to thirty participants

570-418: The introduction of youth into aristocratic society. Symposia were also held by aristocrats to celebrate other special occasions, such as victories in athletic and poetic contests. Many archaic poetic sources were written by members of the social elite communities, and so may not be completely representative of the whole local society. Symposia were usually held in the andrōn (ἀνδρών), the citizen quarters of

600-543: The participant driven " unconference " or various conversational formats. Academic conferences have been held in three general formats: in-person, virtual or online and hybrid (in-person and virtual). Conferences have traditionally been organized in-person. Since the COVID-19 pandemic many conferences have either temporarily or permanently switched to a virtual or hybrid format. Some virtual conferences involve both asynchronous and synchronous formats. For example, there

630-577: The pleasures of the symposium. Although free women of status did not attend symposia, high-class female prostitutes ( hetairai ) and entertainers were hired to perform, consort, and converse with the guests. Among the instruments women might play was the aulos , a Greek woodwind instrument sometimes compared to an oboe . When string instruments were played, the barbiton was the traditional instrument. Slaves and boys also provided service and entertainment. The guests also participated actively in competitive entertainments. A game sometimes played at symposia

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660-457: The possibility to engage in informal communication with peers about work opportunities and collaborations, and getting an overview of current research in one or more disciplines . Conferences usually encompass various presentations . They tend to be short and concise, with a time span of about 10 to 30 minutes; presentations are usually followed by a discussion . The work may be bundled in written form as academic papers and published as

690-489: The program. Business meetings for learned societies , interest groups , or affinity groups can also be part of the conference activities. Academic conferences typically fall into three categories: Increasing numbers of amplified conferences are being provided which exploit the potential of WiFi networks and mobile devices in order to enable remote participants to contribute to discussions and listen to ideas. Advanced technology for meeting with any yet unknown person in

720-566: The same cushions. The Sarcophagus of the Spouses , found in the Etruscan region dating to 520–530 BC, depicts a man and women lounging together in the context of a banquet, which is a stark contrast with gendered Greek drinking parties. As with many other Greek customs, the aesthetic framework of the symposium was adopted by the Romans under the name of comissatio . These revels also involved

750-489: The same time. However, there are no commonly shared definitions even within disciplines for each event type. There might be no conceivable difference between a symposium, a congress or a conference. The larger the conference, the more likely it is that academic publishing houses may set up displays. Large conferences also may have a career and job search and interview activities. At some conferences, social or entertainment activities such as tours and receptions can be part of

780-497: The seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness. In keeping with the Greek virtue of moderation, the symposiarch should have prevented festivities from getting out of hand, but Greek literature and art often indicate that the third- krater limit was not observed. Symposiums are often featured on Attic pottery and Richard Neer has argued that

810-604: The use of teleconferencing after the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person conferences suffer from a number of issues. Most importantly, they are fostering the existing social inequality in academia due to their inaccessibility for researchers from low income countries, researchers with care duties or researchers facing visa restrictions. Richard T. Neer Richard Theodore Neer is William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor in Art History, Cinema & Media Studies and

840-808: The word "symposium" has come to refer in English to any event where multiple speeches are made. Etruscan art shows scenes of banqueting that recall aspects of the Greek symposia; however, one major difference is that women of status participated more fully in this as in other realms of Etruscan society . Women were allowed to drink wine and recline with men at feasts. Some Etruscan women were even considered "expert drinkers". Additionally, Etruscan women were often buried with drinking and feasting paraphernalia, suggesting that they partook in these activities. The most apparent distinctions between Greek and Etruscan drinking parties appear in Etruscan art. Etruscan paintings show men and women drinking wine together and reclining on

870-441: Was kottabos , in which players swirled the dregs of their wine in a kylix , a platter-like stemmed drinking vessel, and flung them at a target. Another feature of the symposia were skolia , drinking songs of a patriotic or bawdy nature, performed competitively with one symposiast reciting the first part of a song and another expected to improvise the end of it. Symposiasts might also compete in rhetorical contests, for which reason

900-460: Was hosted by the poet Agathon on the occasion of his first victory at the theater contest of the 416 BC Dionysia . According to Plato's account, the celebration was upstaged by the unexpected entrance of the toast of the town, the young Alcibiades , dropping in drunken and nearly naked, having just left another symposium. The men at the symposium would discuss a multitude of topics—often philosophical or political. A symposium would be overseen by

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