At our retreat in July this year, I listened to conversations about the challenge of bringing researchers with questions to those with new information and techniques. Using technology is one way to help scientists step outside their usual research network and find expertise. But since face to face still matters, some wondered how an event that gives researchers the chance to meet a lot of people within a short time could look like.

The Weill Cornell Medical College Clinical and Translational Science Center has tried something new in the field of “speed-networking”. In a “Translational Research Bazaar” the Center used a “format popularized by speed dating” – so I learned reading an article featured on the Clinical & Translational Science Network. We wrote about this new network site in our post “New Clinical and Translational Science Network”.

And this is how it works: The organizers “reserved a room that could accommodate 100 people. The tables were set up to minimize noise, maximize easy movement around the tables, and facilitate conversation”. Basic scientists and clinical & translational researchers “sit on opposite sides of a table and chat for 3 minutes until a bell rings, signaling that it’s time to move on and strike up a new conversation. This process continues until everyone in one group has met everyone in the other group”. As a result, “eighty-five percent of the participants said they met at least one potential collaborator”.

Interestingly, even those who were not looking for collaborators could benefit. For example, Even Robert Dottin, director of the Center for Study of Gene Structure and Function at Hunter College, suggested potential collaborators from within his center.

The first Translational Research Bazaar took place in October 2008. Since then the organizers have tracked the number of “new partners” who submitted grant proposals over the course of 2009 through follow-up surveys and phone calls. And what have they learned and will do differently next time?

• Require that registrants complete an online bio with photo, contact information, their research priorities and needs before the event.
• Be prepared to be flexible: “More than 80 people signed up” for the event that was free of charge; “one-third of the registrants didn’t show up”. But “many new people appeared on the day of the event to register onsite”.
• Use a cowbell instead of a microphone to be sure the signal to switch partners will be heard “over the din”.
• Color-coded ‘dance cards’ are useful which were to match the side of the table people sat on. The cards “listed the names and top research interests of each registrant, with a blank line to scribble a quick note”.
• Provide bottles of water, as people will spend about 2 hours talking almost nonstop.
• Keep the speed networking to an hour as people get exhausted
• The “wine-and-cheese hour that followed turned out to be a critical, because “people had ideas they were anxious to discuss.”
• Send a follow-up email with a link to the bios registrants completed.

Also interesting:

• Exceptional poster design for promotion of the event
• Video from the event