How to meet

When scientists get together, what do they do?

Our astronomer has returned from the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society, and is still digesting all he took in there.  He’ll have comments on the science in due course.  But he was struck initially by how different astronomers do different things at the meeting.

He’s not referring to the subject matter in this case.  Of course those who study stars will go to certain talks and those who work with galaxies others (with some overlap); but there are different styles of doing a meeting.  He’s identified a few:

The big task subordinates everything to the important presentation you’re giving.  It could be your first poster paper as a student, or your plenary talk to the whole Society as you receive a life’s-work prize.  It overshadows everything else as you prepare for it, rehearse what you’re going to say, worry about the details of getting to the right place at the right time, and hope that nothing goes wrong.  Afterwards you try to evaluate how it all went.  If you get anything from the rest of the meeting, that’s a bonus.

The state of the art makes a careful study of the schedule and tries to listen to all the talks in a certain field, taking notes and identifying everyone presenting.  Because sometimes several sessions are scheduled at once, this astronomer may be seen bouncing from session to session, quietly cursing those who run over their alloted time.

A related type is the overview.  The aim here is not to specialize in a certain field, but to take advantage of the breadth of the meeting to get a feel for what’s happening in areas outside his or her own.  This type is less worried about the schedule, and may stop in at some talk on a whim.

The sub-meeting astronomer is found in groups discussing things, from the funding of a new telescope to the organization of a many-author paper.  This one takes advantage of the fact that lots of other astronomers will be in the area at once, while getting (say) a half-dozen astronomers spread over eight or twelve time zones on the same phone call is almost impossible.  The meetings may be formal and high-level, or made up of a few colleagues caught on the spot and hustled off to lunch.

The networker concentrates on meeting people, both old friends and new acquaintences.  There may be specific reasons for each, but need not be.  This one may not listen to any talks at all.  Two subsets of this type, with certain differences from the main style, are looking for a job or looking to hire someone.  Another subtype specializes in connecting people who do not (yet) know each other, but should.

Of course the types overlap.  Our astronomer has been each of them at various meetings in the past, and indeed has mixed one or two types in a single meeting.  How you meet, what type you become, depends upon what you want out of the meeting.  Frustration is certain if the aims and the style don’t match.