The 38th Annual Meeting of the Society for Political Methodology hosted virtually by NYU happens July 13 - July 16 (Tues-Fri) 2021, from noon to 6pm East Coast Time. Panels start at Noon, 2pm, and 4pm each day and run for 90 minutes each. On most days the first two sessions are devoted to paper panels, and the last session is for posters (this is slightly different Friday). There are generally 3 concurrent sessions. Paper sessions consist of 2 papers. Poster sessions have 4 to 5 posters. Zoom information will be made available to registered participants prior to the conference.
Details are subject to change.
For additional information contact polmeth@nyu.edu
Virtual Paper Panels
The format of paper panels will be similar to last year’s POLMETH in Toronto. We plan to use Zoom Webinars. Paper presenters, their co-authors (if they choose to) and discussants will be invited to join as panelists.
Registered participants will be able to join as attendees. Attendees will be able to watch the stream of each panel live, interact in the chat, and ask questions with sound during the audience question period.
A host (the chair) will introduce speakers and supervise transitions. Each panel will have a co-host, a PhD student trained to provide logistical support. In general, panels will feature two presenters, for a total duration of 1.5 hours. Unlike conferences like APSA, discussants speak immediately after the author(s). The expected duration for each of the two presentations is as follows:
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Author presentation: 25 minutes
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Discussant: 8 minutes
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Audience questions: 12 minutes
Paper authors should submit papers by email to: polmeth@nyu.edu Please include POLMETH-PAPER-SUBMISSION in the subject header. And please include a plain text abstract in the email.
Barring exceptions, we plan to make the recording of virtual panels available in the future.
Virtual Poster Sessions
Poster sessions will be 90 minutes long, and feature 4-5 posters being presented sequentially (thus the poster presentations will resemble short lightning talks). Each presenter will be invited to summarize their study, followed by a Q&A with the other participants. There will be someone serving as a chair in each session to keep things moving between posters.
Poster presenters should plan on taking from 5-8 minutes to present their paper, leaving the rest of the time for Q and A with the audience.
Posters will be hosted on virtualpostersession.org . If you are presenting a poster, you will (or have already) received an email with instructions. The email will provide you with a login link that you can use to upload your poster. (Please keep this email so that you can access this form at your convenience prior to the conference.) You will be asked to have your poster uploaded a week before the meeting.
Instructions for uploading posters for presenters are available here.
Format for online posters
The poster webpages can accommodate a PDF file, so the poster can be prepared using a format similar to in-person conferences.
There are many sources online for guidance for posters. Kosuke Imai offers a concise set of suggestions here. One benefit of the virtual format is that there is some additional flexibility with respect to poster size. That said, your poster should ideally be readable in a browser without excessive zooming. You can get a sense as to what posters will look like in Virtual Poster Session here. You can also preview your poster once you have uploaded it.
Other sites with guidance on posters:
Scientific Posters (Penn State)
Poster Design (Colin Purrington)
General Poster Design Guides (Toronto)