The IAFOR Way: International, Intercultural, and Interdisciplinary
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An IAFOR conference is organised over several days onsite (usually between four and six), and includes hundreds of hours of programming to excite the mind. Added to this is live and recorded access to the online livestream sessions, as well as access to the pre-recorded virtual content and plenary sessions. Many personal and professional partnerships and collaborations have been forged and consolidated through IAFOR conferences over the years, and across the boundaries of nation, culture, and discipline, resulting in a myriad friendships, partnerships, projects, and career opportunities.
An IAFOR conference typically brings together hundreds of people from scores of countries. Like you, they are open and engaged, and like you, they are looking to write their own IAFOR stories. We encourage your active and open participation throughout the event!
Nurturing Global Collaborations; That’s the IAFOR Way*
‘Landing Well’: Registration & Information Desks
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When you arrive at an IAFOR conference, you will be greeted by both friendly regular staff as well as local staff and student interns who often choose to work with us year after year, and whose job is to welcome you, check you into the event, and give you your printed conference guide and name badge. This team is managed by the onsite Conference Manager. Throughout the rest of the conference, our front desks will be your go-to places for any questions you might have about the conference and venue, including local insights and tips. Many of those friendly faces will already be familiar to you if you have been to an IAFOR conference before!
Our Conference Information Sessions/Orientation
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Our Conference Information Sessions are delivered by IAFOR staff, including a member of the Academic Operations Team, and serve as general orientations for people attending the conference. Sessions are particularly aimed at first time IAFOR attendees. Information is provided about the organisation, the design of the conference, and a range of frequently asked questions, from how to get the most out of your conference experience to publishing opportunities, and ways to get more involved. We also give you some key information about the host city and how to make the most of the time you have available.
View the Conference Programme
Welcome & Networking Reception
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Held on one of the conference opening days, the Welcome and Networking Reception is a great opportunity to mingle with fellow delegates and start some conversations, and try a glass or two of something local! Come introduce yourself, try and meet as many people from as many different countries as possible, and if you are presenting in the coming days, invite them to come along and hear your presentation.
Find Out More About the Welcome Reception
Plenary Sessions
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A hallmark of IAFOR events is the world class interdisciplinary plenary programme that is designed to help you situate yourself and your work within wider academic, everyday, and policy contexts. We use the conference location to help frame local and global discussions, and invite delegates to network across the boundaries of nation, culture, and discipline central to our mission. Plenary sessions are also designed to reach across the confines of the university to engage with other professions. Keynote speakers speak from their discipline, but speak to both their peers and those in other disciplines. That’s why, when conferences are held in parallel, we open all plenary sessions to all participants.
Don’t worry if you miss a session or didn’t catch a slide. Our plenaries are all recorded and made available through our online Catch-Up On-Demand portal within 48 hours of the conference’s end, and will also be featured in our Conference Reports and Intelligence Briefings, delivered to your inbox after the conference.
Find Out More About This Year’s Plenary Speakers
Parallel Sessions
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Parallel sessions form the core of the academic conference, and are organised over the latter half of the conference programme, and are so-called because several sessions are run simultaneously. Panels are scheduled and paired together by conference, discipline, and theme for coherence. The parallel sessions are where original research is presented and then discussed by fellow panellists and the audience, and an important opportunity to disseminate, share, and receive feedback. They are a chance for you to hear the latest research in your and related fields, as well as in topics or themes in which you might have interest. These sessions are a great opportunity to learn from fellow international scholars, and present in front of your international peers. Presenters are given a 25 minute slot, which we recommend is spent on a 15 minute presentation followed by a 10 minute Q and A. As a part of IAFOR’s interdisciplinary mission, where conferences are held in parallel, you are encouraged to attend sessions both in your conference and discipline, but also in those in which you have an interest in working.
Poster Sessions
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A poster presentation is a convivial way to present one’s research. It provides a less formal but more interactive presentation experience, as it involves more discussion and dialogue between presenters and their audience, allowing conversations to develop in a more relaxed way. Our poster sessions are well-attended and a lively part of the conference, and are usually organised in 60 minute sessions.
Workshop and Capacity Building Sessions
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Workshops are an ideal way to learn or refine skills or best practices, and IAFOR organises featured workshops and capacity building sessions, as well as encouraging them in the open call for papers. Workshops allow great interactive engagement between delegates, and relaxed opportunities to engage and share, and attendees enjoy the easy ‘takeaways’. If you are delivering a workshop, then make them as interactive as possible; and if you are attending, then participate actively in the sessions!
Find Out More About Workshops
Forum Sessions
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We want to engage and harness both the individual voices and collective intelligence of our conference participants as they respond to questions around zeitgeist issues, which helps us as an organisation be responsive and shape future programmes. Our Forum session does just that, and is an opportunity to be heard on a variety of topics. The Forum session is included in every plenary programme schedule, and all delegates are encouraged to attend and share their perspectives. A write up of the Forum is a key part of the Conference Report and Intelligence Briefing. Our forums produce great insights that reflect the diversity and wealth of experiences present at each of our conferences.
The Spaces In Between: Networking and Making Friends
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Our conferences are designed to offer countless networking opportunities to make and consolidate personal and professional connections, reconnect with colleagues, and meet new friends in a spirit of convivial collegiality. A Welcome Reception is a staple in every conference programme we design, and open for all delegates to attend.
Whether in the plenaries, parallel sessions, workshops, information sessions, or cultural events, we encourage your active and open participation throughout the conference, remembering the importance of the spaces in-between; over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, or the continuation of conversations and relationships outside the conference.
Cultural Events
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As two of our three watchwords are ‘international’ and ‘intercultural’, we take advantage of the physical location of each conference to try and offer delegates a taste of the host city or country, with cultural events scheduled within the programme. This might include a Karate demonstration or calligraphy workshop in Japan, Hula in Hawaii, or a Rumba Catalana performance in Barcelona. These events are of course designed only to whet the appetite for further exploration outside of the conference walls… and outside of the conference programme times, of course!
Find Out More About This Year’s Cultural Event
The Conference Dinner
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The Conference Dinner is a separately ticketed event, and is an opportunity to engage with fellow delegates over some delicious food in some memorable locations. The conference dinners are always lively spaces for great times, whether in a Tokyo skyscraper, a traditional Kyoto inn, or a fancy London club!
Find Out More About the Conference Dinner
Interviews
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If you follow IAFOR on social media, then you will see that not only do we publish our plenary and featured content online, but we also conduct interviews with plenary speakers at the conference. Look out for members of the academic team!
Find Out More IAFOR Interviews
From years, to a week, to a lifetime!
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An IAFOR conference typically takes around a year to organise, and in the case of launching a new event, takes a lot more; from the initial exploratory meetings with partners and stakeholders through conceptual work on the academic, programme, and design side, to the parallel work on venue search. By the time websites are launched, contracts are signed, and calls sent out, the academic and programme team and advisers are looking to build a strong, responsive programme that will inspire engaging plenary content as well as submissions from all around the world. This year or more of preparation must all come together in a week of great activity and excitement, as hundreds of people from scores of different countries come from around the world in a celebration of international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary insight, scholarship, and friendship… and result in personal and professionals relationships that may last a lifetime!
