Large multi-panelled conferences are hard to keep up with. There is so much going on simultaneously that it can be disorientating, even alienating. One of the ways of dealing with this…
Large multi-panelled conferences are hard to keep up with. There is so much going on simultaneously that it can be disorientating, even alienating. One of the ways of dealing with this is by recruiting ‘conference moles’. Moles have the task of listening to public conversations and discussions taking place in panels, workshops and around the meeting, and reporting them back to delegates. The term ‘mole’ is borrowed from the days of espionage when spies would hide in organisations and report back clandestinely. But conference moles are public, recognised and acknowledged. They get to wear special badges identifying them as such. Particularly enthusiastic moles where mole coloured jump suits and mole-masks.
Conference moling provides feedback to participants about the conference as a whole and a chance to sit back and reflect on the broader significance and implications of the conference. Moling is best done in small teams – that way we can be in more than one place at one time. The moles co-ordinate their panel attendance to ensure that they are well distributed through the conference. Moles also spend much time discussing together, exploring how the ideas they have encountered fit into broader themes and issues. Being a mole is a privilege and a joy. It gives you a really rich understanding of the conference.
In detail moles perform three tasks:
First, they actively use twitter/mastodon/bluesky other social media to report on what is going on in different parts of the conference, using hashtags to promote threads and retweeting, replying and building threads and conversations. Indeed, these feeds allow us to create two conferences. One that happens physically in the rooms, corridors, gardens, bars and restaurants, and another that happens virtually (here is a good example).
Second, they enjoy more traditional reflection every evening over food and drinks to digest all that we are learning and the themes which are emerging.
Finally, we report our learning back to the conference, in plenary, at the end of the final day, and invite the audience’s own thoughts.
All this makes moling hard work. There are breakfast meetings every morning and discussions every evening. It is meant to be intense – it rewards concentrated time and effort. But it also provides a really rich understanding of the conference as a whole. It’s a task particularly well-suited to researchers. However, the best moling teams bring together a diversity of experience, age and background.
If you are interested in taking part please contact Dan Brockington (daniel.brockington@uab.cat) who will be facilitating this year’s team. Please do this as soon as possible.
We are looking for people to take part, and who are prepared to co-lead. And if all this talk of social media alarms you, then please note prior experience is not essential. It helps, but you can learn on the job.
Kindly,
POLLEN24 Organizers