Scientific conference programme template and examples

Programme as structured data

Treat the programme as records, not as a document. A session has a title, a track, a room, a start and end time, a chair and an ordered list of presentations. If you keep these fields separate you can publish the same programme as a web page, a printed booklet and a mobile view without retyping.

Example day

A typical day for a two-track meeting. Adjust the lengths to your own rules.

09:00 Opening and welcome (Main hall) 09:30 Keynote: [Speaker], [Title] (Main hall) 10:30 Coffee and posters (Foyer) 11:00 Parallel sessions 1 Room A: [Session title], chair [Name] Room B: [Session title], chair [Name] 12:30 Lunch 14:00 Parallel sessions 2 15:30 Coffee 16:00 Symposium: [Title] (Main hall) 17:30 Poster session and reception

Timing rules to decide once

Fix the rules before you start filling slots so every session follows them.

• Oral presentation: [12] minutes plus [3] minutes for questions.
• Buffer of [5] minutes between slots for changeover.
• Keynote: [45] minutes including questions.
• Maximum [5] presentations per 90-minute session.
• No session starts before the preceding break has ended.

Chairs and moderators

Name a chair for every session and confirm them by email. Give chairs the list of presentations, the timing rules and the instruction to stop overruns. A programme with unnamed chairs is not finished.

Session types and typical lengths

Name each session type once and give it a standard length, so that the programme is built from repeatable blocks and not from one-off decisions. The lengths below are typical starting points and should be adjusted to your community.

• Keynote or plenary: 40 to 60 minutes including questions, alone in the timetable.
• Oral session: 60 to 90 minutes, four to six talks of 12 to 15 minutes each with changeover time.
• Symposium or themed session: 90 minutes, one organiser, four to five linked talks and a shared discussion.
• Workshop: 90 to 180 minutes, limited places, registration required.
• Poster session: 60 to 90 minutes, often combined with a coffee break.
• Flash talks: 3 to 5 minutes per presenter, usually followed by a poster session.
• Panel discussion: 60 minutes with a moderator and three to five panellists.

A detailed two-track morning

The example below shows how one morning looks once chairs and rooms are entered, and how the rules from the timing table produce each start time. Note the buffers between talks and the coffee break that is protected from overruns.

11:00–12:30 Parallel sessions 1 Room A · Session 1A: Forecasting methods · Chair: [Name] 11:00 Talk A1 [Presenter], [Title] (12 + 3 min) 11:20 Talk A2 [Presenter], [Title] (12 + 3 min) 11:40 Talk A3 [Presenter], [Title] (12 + 3 min) 12:00 Talk A4 [Presenter], [Title] (12 + 3 min) 12:20 Session closes; 10 min buffer Room B · Session 1B: Groundwater · Chair: [Name] 11:00 Talk B1 [Presenter], [Title] (12 + 3 min) 11:20 Talk B2 [Presenter], [Title] (12 + 3 min) 11:40 Talk B3 [Presenter], [Title] (12 + 3 min) 12:00 Talk B4 [Presenter], [Title] (12 + 3 min) 12:20 Session closes; 10 min buffer

Building the programme from accepted abstracts

Work through the same steps each time, so that nothing is forgotten and any team member can pick up where another left off.

• Export the list of accepted abstracts with track, presentation type and presenter.
• Check that every presenter has registered, or set a date for chasing.
• Group talks by topic into clusters of the right size for a session.
• Assign clusters to sessions and sessions to rooms and time slots.
• Check for clashes: people, topics and rooms.
• Name chairs, confirm them and give them the running order.
• Review the draft with two people who did not build it.
• Publish, and record the date and the version.

Keynotes, invited talks and breaks

Keynotes shape the rhythm of a meeting. Place them at the start of the day or after the lunch break, when attention is highest, and avoid parallel sessions during a keynote so that everyone can attend. Give invited speakers the same rules as other presenters unless you have agreed otherwise, and tell them their slot early, since their travel is often booked first. Protect breaks. A break that shrinks to five minutes because the previous session overran is a break that attendees will ask for next year. Build the buffer into the timetable instead of expecting chairs to catch up.

Online participants and time zones

If some participants join online, the programme needs a time zone. State it clearly at the top of every page and give a way to convert it. Avoid putting your most important session at an hour that is the middle of the night for a large group of online attendees. If the meeting is hybrid, mark which sessions are streamed, which are recorded and which are in person only, and make sure the online link is on the programme entry itself, not in a separate email that people will lose.

Make the programme accessible

A programme is read on a phone, on paper and by assistive technology. Use real headings and lists, not images of a table. Give times in a consistent format, add room names that match the signs at the venue, and mark rooms that are step-free. Keep the text in a sufficient size and contrast, and provide the same information in a plain format for screen readers. If you publish a PDF, produce it from the same source as the web version, so that a change appears in both.

A change log for the programme

Once the programme is public, record every change. A simple log helps you tell affected presenters and gives attendees a way to see what moved.

Version Date Change Informed v3 02 Sep Session 2B moved from Room B to Room C Chair, 4 presenters v3 02 Sep Talk A3 replaced: [Presenter X] withdrew Chair, [Presenter Y] v4 09 Sep Poster session extended by 15 minutes All presenters of posters

Publish once, then change it deliberately

Publish the programme in one place and treat every later change as an edit to that record. Keep a visible “last updated” date and announce changes to affected presenters directly, before they see them on the website.