We are considering trying a new idea out for NHC in San Diego next year. Almost everyone who goes to the National Homebrewer's Conference attends some of the formal technical sessions where "expert" speakers give a formal presentation to a room full of hundreds of people.
Most professional conferences also have a less formal type of presentation called a poster session, where anyone can share with an idea or the findings of some research with a smaller group of people.
Basically, it works like this: poster session presenters will prepare a brief abstract regarding their idea and submit it to the poster session committee. Once accepted, prepare a poster up to 4 ft by 4 ft to present your idea. Use graphics, photos, and text so the poster is self explanator even if you are not standing by it. Posters will be displayed in a room adjacent to the hospitality suite or in the hallway outside the suite during the conference for people to review.
Poster session presenters will commit to a schedule of at least two 1-hour time periods when they will be standing by their posters to discuss the poster with conference attendees. You can be there more often than that, but we want to have at least 2 hours during the conference where people can communicate directly with you about your presentation.
Please spread the word. For this idea to be successful, we will need at least 10 people to prepare posters to display. Contact me directly if you have an idea for a poster.
Some suggestions:
Present a new gadget that makes your brewing life easier
Present an innovative brewing technique you would like to share
Present an experiment you conducted and the results found. Particularly if you can pass out samples of your experimental beer as you discuss.
Any other ideas for possible poster presentations, post them here or contact me directly if you are interested.
I'd like to be able to send out a few abstracts with the promotional materials going out in September, so let's set that as a starting point. You don't have to have a poster ready to go by then, just 100 words or less describing your idea.
The actual deadline for the registering for a poster session at the conference would be in the early spring sometime.
Thanks,
-Travis Hammond
travishammond@hotmail.com
