For the past three years IAMCR conferences have been held online. They included plenary sessions, and both live and pre-recorded video sessions but at their core was the Online Conference Papers (OCP) method. OCP prioritised short papers and asynchronous written comments and was well-suited to IAMCR as a global organisation with membership spread across the world’s continents and time zones. Among the advantages of OCP was the low-cost of participation that facilitated diverse participation, the luxury of actually being able to read the papers, participants could read and comment on papers at times that were convenient for them rather than coordinate across dozens of time zones, and, according to many authors, both the quantity and the quality of the feedback offered was better than they would usually expect following a live presentation at a traditional conference.
In Lyon and wherever you are
In 2023 IAMCR will hold a face-to-face conference in Lyon from 9 to 13 July, with plenary sessions, hundreds of paper sessions organised by our sections and working groups, discussions in the hallways and over lunch, and plenty of opportunities (including at a special conference dinner) to discover why Lyon is known as the “gastronomic capital of the world”. However, we are not going to give up the advantages of OCP so in addition to Lyon23 this year’s conference will also include OCP23 that you’ll be able to access online from wherever you are. Lyon23 will take place from 9-13 July while OCP23 will start 26 June.
What does this mean for you?
What it means for you depends on whether you want to attend and present your work at the face-to-face conference in Lyon or not. When you submit the first step is to choose the section or working group you are submitting to and the second is to select the format. If you want to be at Lyon select the format Lyon23 and OCP23 when you submit your abstract. If you don’t want to or can’t be at Lyon, select the OCP23 only. If your situation changes you can change your choice anytime until the 9 February submission deadline or, after that, by sending an email to ocp-support [at] iamcr.org. Whichever option you choose remember that all accepted papers will be automatically included in OCP and the deadline to submit your paper will be 5 June 2023 whether you choose OCP23 only or Lyon23 and OCP23.
What is OCP23?
OCP (Online Conference Papers) is a space for IAMCR members to submit and get online feedback on their research and to get certification for inclusion in the IAMCR 2023 programme without travelling to the conference site. Authors of OCP papers may optionally make presentations of their work available (slides or video).
All abstracts submitted to IAMCR 2023, whether for OCP23 only or for Lyon23 and OCP23, will be peer-reviewed and authors of those that are accepted will be invited to submit conference papers by 5 June 2023. Papers will be arranged thematically, in “panels” of several papers by the sections and working groups who will also allocate chairs and respondents to each “panel”. From 26 June they will be published on the conference website, with all IAMCR members able to contribute their comments and questions and join the discussions. Initial discussion will take place from 26 June to 5 July.
The papers and the discussion platform will remain online for 2 months after the conference, until 9 September 2023.
What about Lyon23?
Authors who attend Lyon23 from 9-13 July will also present their work during the conference’s live paper sessions. The OCP platform will be open during that period and participants at the face-to-face presentations will be encouraged to post comments, questions and reports to the online platform to be seen by everyone, whether in Lyon or at home.
In addition to the paper sessions, Lyon23 will have all the usual trimmings of a face-to-face IAMCR conference – plenary and special sessions, plenty of opportunities for informal networking and catching up with colleagues in the hallways, over lunch, or at social gatherings, a chance to meet publishers and others at the exhibition centre, a gala dinner, and more.
