Collecting panels in Ex Ordo

This article explains how Ex Ordo can be used to collect panels/symposium/session contributions to your conference. The specific needs of each conference will be different, but this is to ensure you understand the different ways you can approach these formats. The end solution will be the result of balancing all the various factors from the form design to the Programme display.

We will use the word panel to describe the event and panellists to refer to people taking part, however the same logic applies to symposia and their contributors etc. 

Ex Ordo System Design Explained

The Ex Ordo is primarily designed to collect presentations. These can be of any kind of format (e.g. Oral, Poster, Lightning Talk etc.) but the system is focussed on collecting a list of presentations which can then later be assigned to sessions. Authors create one individual submission with the submission content and author information. This can later be accepted and placed into a session as needed by the organiser.

The collection of panels is different. This requires the session or event itself to be entered as one submission with a summary, all panellists and their individual content clearly outlined. It then needs to be reviewed as one entity and then scheduled in the Programme as a distinct event.

As you can see there are number of differences between the two formats - there can be more depending on the conference. 

The Ex Ordo system is designed to collect single presentations/submissions. This means our system does not handle the concept of other types of collection requirements perfectly. It is possible, but there are number of decisions to be made depending on your needs. 

Step 1: Defining your requirements

The first thing is to make a list of all the information you need from your panels. For this you need to think about the content itself but also the event and panellist information. You will then use this when making decisions later about the Programme display and your submission collection.

You then need to decide which information is important for the review and which information is only needed for the final Programme. The system uses Initial Submissions to collect material for the review and Final Submissions to collect material for the Programme. 

Step 2: Decide on the session display in the Programme

How the Ex Ordo system displays sessions

The Programme layout impacts how your delegates interact with and understand the content of your conference. It's important to ensure you have all the information necessary on display for the delegates so they can find and understand relevant content for each panel.

You cannot add a submission to the Programme without creating a session for it. So as an organiser, you will (1) manually create your session and (2) assign in the accepted submissions. You can see an example of a session filled with Oral submissions below. All of the individual presentations is the content as entered by your authors. 

Challenges with panels

If you collect your panel as one entry, you will still need to (1) manually create a session for this submission and (2) manually copy the session information over from their submission. Your session will also display as one whole presentation (see 3) - the different parts of the panel will not be clear and distinct at first glance:

Option 1: Submitters enter multiple submissions instead of one submission

Instead of asking for the panel to be entered as one submission, you can ask for each individual part of it to be submitted separately. 

1. This means the panel submitter will have to go through the submission workflow a number of times - this is extra work for the submitter.
2. You will need clear instructions for the panel submitters so they are aware of their exact steps. 
3. You will have multiple entries on your list related to the same panel.
4. It will cause extra administrative work during the review to ensure these submissions are reviewed by the same reviewer. 

This is how one submission will look on your list (left) vs. multiple submissions (right):

This is how the workaround will display in your Programme, with clear and distinct presentations for your panel. 

Option 2: Admins enter multiple submissions after the review

Instead of asking the submitter to enter multiple submissions from the start, the administrators take it upon themselves to split out the submissions once reviewed. It will have the same resulting display as the first workaround above. 

1. It will cause extra administrative work between the review and building the Programme - each panel will have to be manually split out in the system. This will affect planned timelines.
2. The splitting of the submissions up into separate parts needs to be carefully timed to coincide with panellists needing access to edit their presentation once reviewed. 
3. Once complete, there will be multiple entries on your list related to the same panel.

Step 3: Decide on your presentation display in the Programme 

How the Ex Ordo system displays presentations

As your delegates search around, they will want to read more detail about each individual presentation, whether it's an Oral or part of a panel. Again, the Ex Ordo platform is designed to display individual presentations. 

We have a fixed template for which information is displayed and how. What you see on the presentation depends on what you ask for in the submission form. We have broken down our presentation display into the different fixed sections.

1. Title of the presentation. This is the title of the submission in the system.

2. Abstract. This is the text as entered into the text box of each submission.

3. Presenter(s). This shows the name, affiliations and biographies of each presenter in the system as collected in the default fields in the workflow. No other information is displayed.

4. Author (s).  This shows the name and affiliations of each presenter in the system as collected in the default fields in the system. No other information is displayed.

5. Submission Information: These will show any topics or custom questions you have asked in the submission workflow. These fields can show any kind of text or extra files you may have asked from authors.

6. Paper Upload:  This will show the paper file of the submission. 

Challenges with panels

As you can see, the presentation display is a fixed template. There is clearly defined places for author information and content information. Most conferences would like to collect multiple abstracts/files for the panels and have the panellists clearly defined beside their content. Having only one submission for the whole panel means this kind of breakdown is not possible.

Option 1: Collect multiple submissions 

This ensures each part of the panel is displayed as a separate entity. You can also ensure the presenter of each part of the panel is clear and their content is clearly defined.

Option 2: Use custom questions to display content/author information

If you wish to still have one submission, you will need to use custom questions to collect the different parts of the individual content. 

1. This means it will not be clear who contributed which part of the panel.
2. It will require our intervention to build a book with this content or potentially it's not possible at all.
3. Custom content is not synced to the Ex Ordo Mobile app.

Step 4: Confirm reviewing process

Once you have decided what information you are collecting and where it is being asked, you then need to consider the review. Your panels will need to be reviewed as one entity. If you are collecting each one as an individual submission, then the system will assign the reviewer(s) as needed automatically. 

Challenges with panels

The main challenge will come if you are collecting multiple submissions as you need to ensure you have the same reviewer on each part of the panel. As our system recognises them as separate submissions during the allocation, it will place different reviewers on each part. The only solution is for you to check reviewers on all panels and manually amend to ensure the same reviewers are placed on each.