Alex:
| Doesn’t the Organizing Committee help with hotel reservations? What do you think of it?
|
Nick:
| They do, but you are right in a way, they are always so busy that you’d better be on the safe side and make your own reservation.
|
Alex:
| Do you think I’ll be able to meet Dr. Green? I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity for years.
|
Nick:
| Well, highly probably, but he hasn’t been feeling well lately, as far as I know. If you had attended the previous conference you would have met him for sure.
|
Alex:
| Anyway, the greatest advantage of such a scientific conference is that we meet other scientists. Actually, I think that making a personal contact with people is sometimes much more important than listening to a talk or reading a paper.
|
Nick:
| I agree. As you know, most conferences arrange a reception at the beginning where people can mix and get to know each other. And the conference dinner at the end usually puts a finishing touch to it.
|
Alex:
| Do you think so? It sounds as though dinners and cocktail parties filled up the whole conference schedule.
|
Nick:
| You know they don’t. And how much time will you have for your paper presentation?
|
Alex:
| No more than 15 minutes, I’m afraid, which is hardly enough to show 6 or 8 slides and discuss the results very briefly. When you think of all the work needed to produce those results … .
|
Nick:
| True, but there’s usually a very strict schedule.
|
Alex:
| I know the chairman will not allow me to exceed my allocated time by more than one minute. There’re as many as 12 or 15 papers in one session and it’s essential to keep to schedule. Is there any social programme at a conference like this?
|
Nick:
| Oh, yes, there will be some sightseeing tours arranged but it is sometimes difficult to fit them in one’s daily programme. It is often hard to choose between seeing local sights and museums and listening to a paper.
|
Alex:
| I understand what you mean.
|