Find synonyms and arrange them in pairs.

1. participant 2. accommodation 3. speaker 4. to take place 5. exhibition 6. scientific associate 7. head 8. deputy director 9. to take the floor 10. to present a paper 11. seminar 12. overview paper 13. concurrent session 14. round table discussions

a. to submit a paper b. display c. assistant director d. round tables e. attendee f. reporter g. chief h. workshop i. housing j. research associate k. review paper l. parallel session m. to be held n. to speak

Text 1: Academic conference

An academic conference is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.

Generally, work is presented in the form of short, concise presentations lasting about 10 to 30 minutes, usually including discussion. The work may be bundled in the written form as academic papers and published as conference proceedings. Often there are one or more keynote speakers (usually scholars of some standing), presenting a lecture that lasts an hour or so, and which is likely to be advertised before the conference. Panel discussions, roundtables on various issues, workshops may be a part of the conference.

Prospective presenters are usually asked to submit a short abstract of their presentation, which will be reviewed before the presentation is accepted for the meeting. Some disciplines require presenters to submit a paper of about 12-15 pages, 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 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 the same time.

Depending on the theme of a conference, social or entertainment activities may also be offered; if it’s a large enough conference, academic publishing houses may set up displays offering books at a discount. At larger conferences business meetings for learned societies or interest groups might also take place.

Academic conferences fall into three categories:

- the themed conference, small conferences organized around a particular topic;

- the general conference, a conference with a wider focus, with sessions on a wide variety of topics. These conferences are often organized by regional, national or international learned societies, and held annually or on some other regular basis;

- the professional conference, large conferences not limited to academics, but with academically-related issues.

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 Organizer.

Answer the following questions.

1. What is an academic conference?

2. What do conferences provide together with scientific journals?

3. What is the usual schedule for a presentation?

4. What is a workshop?

5. What are the forms of presentations?

6. What kinds of papers can be submitted to a conference?

7. What may be offered at a large conference?

8. What is the difference between the themed, general and professional conferences?

9. Who are usually the organizers of conferences?