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Platform Chats
Platform Chats
How to Successfully Present Your Ideas
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Have you ever wondered what it takes to present your project or idea at the AREMA Annual Conference? On this episode, host Walt Bleser sits down with two experts on the topic: Program Committee Chair and AREMA Senior Vice President, Trent Hudak, Director Engineering Services, BNSF Railway, and Program Committee Staff Liaison Stacy Spaulding, CAE, Senior Director, Executive and Board Operations for AREMA. The trio discusses what the Program Committee looks for in papers such as new technologies and groundbreaking solutions to old problems. They also consider what it takes to present during the General Session and the importance of inclusivity and the diversity of ideas. If you want to know how best to position your paper for success, you won’t want to miss this episode. The Call for Papers deadline for the AREMA 2022 Annual Conference & Expo is December 10, 2021.
Some of the things we look really hard at are not only are we looking at for new new technologies, we're also looking for new approaches, uh, looking for different ways of doing old things. Uh we're we're looking for challenging situations, uh challenging uh you know problems that have been solved. Uh we're looking for topics that are are broad. And uh so we'll be we'll we'll be looking for those in particular that would be interest to everybody at the uh conference.
SPEAKER_01You may know the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association, or ARIMA, as the quote, keepers of the manuals. You may know them as the quote people behind the largest annual railroad conference in North America. Heck, you may not know about AREMA at all. This podcast is designed, no pun intended, to change your view of who AREMA is and how AREMA has changed the trajectory of many railway careers over its 100-plus year history. Welcome to Platform Chats with your host, Walt Blesser, where he takes a moment to discuss the impacts AREMA has had on the very people who are proud to be called members. Are you ready to roll with AREMA?
SPEAKER_00ARE Corporation is a proud supporter of AREMA and Platform Chats. If you are looking to take your railway structure's career to the next level, or simply start it down the right track, please visit us at ARECorp.com. Please see our brand new job postings on our careers page or on our LinkedIn page.
SPEAKER_04Hello and welcome back to AREMA's Platform Chats Podcasts, your host, Walt Blesser, as always for now. I guess nothing is ever forever, but for now, appreciate everybody joining us each and every month as we dive into all things arema, all things railway, all things railway engineering. Last month we had a Hyperloop podcast, which was fascinating. Uh probably had some of the best response as far as number of downloads yet, which was super cool. It's just exciting to see everybody out there is excited about future transportation modes. And I would just absolutely be disappointed in myself if I did not update our listeners on our status for the best 25 railway industry podcasts. I did pull the website up today, and it does appear we are 11. So 11 is good. There's a lot in the UK, folks, and I think we're a little bigger than the UK, so we've got to figure out how we can continue to get up there without using any sort of antics. Like I'm seeing some of these are about railway disasters. And I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm gonna steer way clear of talking about railway disasters on the ARIMA platform chats. Speaking of which, uh all of you probably know that the uh the bell cow for AREMA is the annual conference every fall. Um I know I get giddy just thinking about it, seeing those leaves change, thinking about seeing all my friends at the AREMA National Conference. And a big part of that is technical papers that are written by the AREMA membership that typically cover projects in the industry. They are broken down into functional groups and different what I would call tracks. And I think there's a little bit of no, I wouldn't say confusion, but there's always some interest around hey, how did that guy's paper get in? Why didn't my paper get in? And I've got a great project I worked on. I think the world would love to hear all about how great I am as an engineer or construction worker or maintenance of way, laborer, whatever you are. I would really like to know how in the world I can navigate the world that is call for papers. And you're in luck. So for timing-wise, call for papers is typically deadline is typically in December. And so what I decided to do is find two absolute experts on Call for Papers and AREMA. So I have today for you Trent Hudek, who is a director of engineering services for BNSF Railway Company, and he'll talk about how he kind of, hopefully, he'll talk quite a bit about how he uh got into AREMA. He's got a great colored career. Uh he's from Montana originally, and I believe he's been with the railroad for quite some time. And in his off time, well, on this podcast, his full-time job, is he is serving in his first year ever as a senior vice president of Arima. Uh, he did come up through the uh engineering services functional group, but I'll stop there and I'll let him discuss kind of how he worked his way to where he is today. And in addition to Trent, uh we also have, for the first time ever, um, gosh, there's a lot of firsts on this podcast. I guess in your first year, if anything, there's going to be a lot of firsts. So we've got a, excuse me, my mom would be very upset with me. We have a guest, Stacy Spaulding, who works for Arima's headquarters. If you have been involved with Arima or ever submitted a paper, you have either been very happy to see her name in your inbox or very disappointed to see her name in your inbox. Uh, Stacy's been around the block for quite some time. I remember Stacy's name back before it was Spaulding. I remember her when I first joined Arima. Currently, she serves as a senior director of executive and board operations, and we're super excited to have her because she knows the ins and outs of call for papers like nobody's business. Wow, that was almost a five-minute introduction. I'm sure you're tired of hearing me talk. So, what I'd like to do, I'd like to give Trent the floor. Trent, I'd really appreciate it if you could talk a little bit about just how you got into railroading, what you've done in your career, how you joined AREMA, and how in the world did you become a senior vice president?
SPEAKER_03Thank you, Walt. Well, as you noted, I'm originally from Montana. Yeah, I grew up there, and I went to school at uh Montana State University where I got my civil engineering degree. And that's been uh more than 36 years ago now. I uh started out as an intern student, actually, working for the former Burlington Northern Railroad in Billings, Montana. And that's where I got my first introduction to the railway industry. I do not come from a family of railroaders, and I at that particular time did not know anybody who worked for a railroad. Um so it was very intriguing to me and very interesting. My internship was was very successful in hooking me into the industry, and so ultimately I was uh invited back uh full-time and I took that role then with Rose Northern in in Billings. Um I've been all over our system, numerous different jobs, uh, most of the time in the uh what would you now call the engineering services uh group, but uh it was it's changed names many times over the years. Um but I've been uh in Seattle a few times. I've been in our Fort Worth headquarters as well as uh Minneapolis, and I am now presently residing in uh Kansas City. I I joined uh the former ARIMA organization AREA back in, I believe it was late 80s, early 90s. And uh, you know, I wish I had a great story to tell, but but I don't. I I can't remember why I joined other than it was recommended, and certainly my leaders at the time encouraged me to do so. And I uh I used to participate regularly in in going to the conferences and and uh paying attention to what AREMA uh AREA was up to, and then ultimately, of course, uh AREMA. And um so I've stepped in and out of a few different committees as my my responsibilities at uh now BNSF have uh developed over the years. And so I spent some time with uh committee 11 with uh passenger operations side of things, and then um with uh committee six uh facilities, and I've been with committee 14 uh yards and terminals now for uh a number of years. And um then out of the blue one day I was asked if I wanted to step up and help the remote with some leadership roles, and I agreed to do that a number of years ago and and uh joined the board of directors uh what's been uh six or seven years ago now, and then led the engineering services functional group for about four years, uh partial term and then a full term. And then was uh asked to uh take on the uh senior VP role here uh earlier this year from the uh leadership team that uh precedes me.
SPEAKER_04So senior VP role. I I follow uh committee secretary, vice chair, chair, director. Then there's obviously an individual that sits over the directors, and then I believe so. This would be one step above that, correct? As a VP.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_04Okay, okay, that's what I thought. Just check it. And then from there is the next logical step. Is that how you become president of Arima?
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, it is.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so Stacy, you your name is as far as I'm concerned, has been around with AREMA for as long as I can remember. Um you're still only 27 years old, and I think that's fantastic fantastic.
SPEAKER_02That's right. We like to we like to say that. Okay. But I've actually been with Arima 22 years. Um, I started out working with the committees. That's all a lot of people uh remember is um remember me from the committee work. So I worked with the committees um and managed the the publication process with the committees for about 15 years before my current position. So my current position works with the boards, um, the executive department, and under that is also the program committee, because our program committee is made up of the senior VP is the chair, and the six functional group vice presidents from the board. So because it's made up of all board members, it just made sense to fall under my area of board operations and um working with the board on this this paper process and the conference technical program.
SPEAKER_04Perfect. That makes sense. So yeah, so you you that's what I that's how I remember you is working uh with the different committees and whatnot. So let's get right into it then. Um before we get into the nitty-gritty, I know we're gonna go through all the dates and how the different papers go into the different uh the room of smoke, mirrors, and scotch and come out whether or not someone made it or not. Let's just talk about the call for papers in general and how to me, the papers are like the backbone of the conference. That's just my opinion. Um, does anybody want to second that or just maybe just state clearly and concisely what the papers mean for the AREMA National Conference?
SPEAKER_03I'll take a shot at that, Walt. They they certainly are the backbone of the technical conference. Uh each of the functional groups get to focus on their areas of expertise in the rail industry. And um the the abstracts and papers that are selected are are specifically you know targeting what is the interest of the REM membership and what is uh you know current and active in in the industry.
SPEAKER_04I figured as such, and uh you know, obviously each year is different, and and you did mention there, Trent, that we try to appease the uh what is hot, what is going on uh year to year so we don't get the same thing over and over. Do we want to start with um I know there's a hot topic, uh we'll let's let's talk about that here in a second. But Stacy, could you just run through the the submittal deadline and just kind of run through the schedule so people have a firm understanding of when certain things are due and what is due?
SPEAKER_02Sure, absolutely. It is an online process. So what you would do is submit an abstract, your bio, and list the main presenters or authors that would that would participate with that project, that presentation. And the deadline's December 10th. It's all online. We do provide um sample abstracts and sample bios to help you along. So if you don't know what we're looking for, we've we've got a sample on that page, on the submittal page, and it's an online process.
SPEAKER_04Perfect. So after we submit that abstract, let's just make this really easy. Old Walt Blesser here has decided to team with his friend Trent, and we're gonna submit a paper on uh why the BNSF yards and terminals are not uh the part of a uh supply chain problem. And that seems relatively interesting. So let's say Trent and I submit our abstract to Rema by December 10th. What happens next? What do we find out?
SPEAKER_02So there is a review process. So our program committee will review them. When you're submitting online, you select which functional group out of our six functional groups this that you believe it would fall under. And you know, we do like you to let us know which one it most likely would fall under. Um so we can have that group review it. That would be the session that your your presentation would uh be presented. And um the six functional groups are communicate communications signals and information technology, engineering services, maintenance of way, passenger and transit, structures, and track. So six choices. We ask you to select it on your online form.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02We'll break them up in those six sections, and uh the program committee and and board members will assist, review those. So that is there's a rigorous review process of reviewing those abstracts, reviewing the project. And Trent had mentioned we really want topics the members are going to um enjoy, um hot topics that are out there. And then the they make their selections. We have one in the Monday general session, one in the Wednesday general session, and then a whole slate on a Tuesday session um by functional group.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_02So we'll let you know we've selected you for one of those sessions about mid-February, and then you need to confirm your participation.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so let's talk about that, Trent. Uh, as a guy that has obviously participated as a director and a uh functional group VP, why don't you kind of explain to everybody how those papers get reviewed? Where do they go?
SPEAKER_03So as Stacey mentioned, they get uh sent to the program committee, which which I will be chairing this year, uh, along with the uh the vice presidents of each functional group. And we take a hard look at them and we look at them in a couple different lenses. The the first um lens is you know, are they the topic that uh REMA's interested in? Is it aligned with AREMA's mission? Um and then we ensure it's in it's it's aligned with the right functional group, and um that they're all you know good topics and the and their current topics, and then they're passed on to the individual uh functional group vice presidents to to take a look at. Some of the things we look really hard at are not only are we looking at for new new technologies, we're also looking for new approaches, uh looking for different ways of doing old things. Uh we're we're looking for challenging situations, uh challenging uh you know problems that have been solved. Uh we're looking looking for topics that are are broad. And uh so we'll be well we'll be looking for those in particular that would be interest to everybody at the uh conference. Um and then we're looking for something that's gonna teach you something. Uh have a have a have a learning objective. Um we the one the one thing we try to uh not promote is is a simple show and tell. Uh see what I did. Um you know it has to have a bigger meaning and message and value to the REMA membership and others at the conference.
SPEAKER_04Perfect. That's uh couldn't have said it better. That's why you said it. And so that's you know, I before we get into those hot topics, um so we get to disseminate uh the different types of topics. They go to the directors. I know as a director, I if if you decide to submit a paper on a bridge replacement, uh we're gonna take a look at that. And and just to echo or pile on to what you said, you know, I know in the structures functional group, we're looking for stuff that's that's new. Uh we've seen uh, hey, this bridge has reached the end of its useful life, uh, it needs to be torn down, it needs to be replaced, and everybody did a great job doing it. High five. We've seen that over and over and over. We're looking for what else can we talk about? Did you use uh new sensor technologies? Did you use new uh AI or did you use something in the survey with a drone? I don't know. We're looking for that kind of stuff, I know as a fact. And I'm gonna give a little tip that uh I know we use uh instructors as we really like to see, and Stacey, you don't have to endorse this or not endorse this. Trent may agree with me. Typically, I like to see a team on a project when they submit a paper that consists of a railroad employee, uh, or let's call it an owner, uh, whoever the consultant might be, and maybe the contractor. It's really nice to see all three represented, so it's not like what you just said, Trent. It's not just a pure show and tell, it takes away from the uh salesy approach, right? And and sometimes it can appeal to a broader audience. Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_03I absolutely agree with that. Uh it's it's important to get uh a rounded perspective of whatever you're presented. And it's always good to have two or three team members that come from different parts of that team uh writing the paper and making the presentation.
SPEAKER_04And then you also talked about the application, not the application, but the broad audience that uh it seems to me like Stacy, you mentioned maybe you could talk a little bit about this, but let me get this right. So Tuesday, we've got multiple different tracks going on in parallel, right? So if if Trent and I wrote a paper on the fatigue analysis of a gusset plate, that might put a track guy to sleep. I'm just gonna come out and say that. So that would probably land in the true structures group on Tuesday. But if I Trent and I did something similar on a bridge that had a track piece to it, or maybe it was mostly a bridge project, but it affected other groups like maintenance of way, track, CNS, for example, that probably has a better chance of hitting that general session. Would you agree with that?
SPEAKER_02Sure, absolutely. Something with the that would hit the broader audience, um interest to more than just one segment of the railroad would be something they may select for the general session.
SPEAKER_04Perfect. Okay. And so the from so as let's just stay on format of presentation. So you've got the Monday and Wednesday, you've got six each day from each functional group. So the functional groups that go through Trent, they get to showcase uh two. So that's kind of the they're not technically the cream of the crop, they just they just tend to uh have a wider audience. And so you get one on Monday, one on Wednesday, and then the rest go on Tuesday. Okay. That makes a lot of sense to me. So if you are listening and you do want to hit that big general session, which you would have more eyeballs, uh, let's just remember how wide you gotta go and not how deep uh in your topic. Uh why why don't we just take a step back? Uh I think we're all really excited. We've had two years of virtual conferences. Uh I've talked about that on other podcasts this year. Uh I know people are clamoring, they want to get back in person. Arima, you know, a lot of the value does not come from a lot of the value does come from sitting and watching these presentations, don't get me wrong. But a lot of value gets from later that night talking to somebody about what they saw, et cetera, et cetera. Just the in hallway discussions. So it sounds like 2022, we're going to be live. Stacey.
SPEAKER_02That's right. We can't wait to get back in person. Um, we're in Denver, Colorado, at the Colorado Convention Center, and we will have a full expo. So it's an annual conference and expo year, and we are very excited to get back in person.
SPEAKER_04That's going to be great. So we'll be back in Denver. We'll be well, not back in Denver. I'll be, well, I live here. But we, Arima, will be joining me in Denver in fall of 2022. But that's important, right? Because this will be the first time in two years uh people get to get up on stage and give a little chat. So, Trent, would you say this is kind of a monumental year for call for papers?
SPEAKER_03It absolutely is, and and uh we're hoping it will energize everybody and get them very interested in participating in the conference and and uh sending their abstracts uh so that we can take a look at them and and create a presentation uh in the conference that is as as uh knowledgeable and informative and and uh and diverse as possible uh to uh you know attract uh everybody's attention uh at the at the conference.
SPEAKER_04And so how prist like how prestigious would you say this is to get selected trends? Like how many papers does Arima receive every year on average?
SPEAKER_03Well, it uh it runs around 150 abstracts that we get. Uh it's been higher than that. Uh a couple limited cases is a little bit lower, but about 150. Um the good news here is that most papers get serious considerations, and most papers do get uh uh invited to to the conference. Um most of the papers that that um don't uh you know don't meet meet with our our our our focus area of of providing value and uh uh not being a uh a sales promotion, basically. Um so we try to make room for everybody if we if we've got them and if they follow through with a quality paper and and uh uh what they say in the abstract is uh well represented in the paper.
SPEAKER_04And if I had a presentation that I submitted for the 2021 conference that did not make the cut, can I resubmit it?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. I mean you can resubmit it the follow-in year, uh you can continue doing that uh uh and and refining and improving it uh potentially uh until it may get uh considered.
SPEAKER_04Perfect. Okay, so it's not a one and done. You're not just gonna throw it in the trash. I might still have a chance to to uh add a couple of things to it or a different presenter. And speaking of presenters, uh, you know, I'm just gonna come right out and tell you, I'm not a in the word of diversity, I I don't meet the bill. I'd like to see more people that don't look like me involved in Arima. Uh more people like Stacy, more people that have different views. I think diversity is a great thing for for the world and for business in general. Is uh Trent is Arima addressing this in any way? Does it help to have a diverse team submit a paper without being uh you know automatically bumped to the top of the list because of that?
SPEAKER_03Uh well, absolutely. Everything uh that we're looking at has a has a diversity component in it. And when we speak of diversity for the conference, we're we're speaking of that in many different ways. It's it's it's inclusiveness. We want everybody to participate, everybody to feel welcome, uh regardless of what your your background or where you're from or what you look like or whatever else. Um the the probably the the most important part of diversity is the diversity of ideas. Uh we want a broad uh topics to be covered. Um we're we want it to come, these these articles and abstracts to come from different communities. Uh, we want them to come uh aligned with the various six uh functional groups we have. Um we we're looking at the different organizations. We don't want them to all come from uh just railroads or just transit agencies. We we want as a broad spectrum of of the uh rail industry out there as we possibly can get. So when we're evaluating abstracts, we're looking at what is the diversity of the authors, the the topics, the geographics, the the employers, uh, and and uh you know just just about everything to make it as representative of the rail industry as a whole as possible.
SPEAKER_04Okay, that was extremely well said. So I'm gonna take a step back. I'm gonna go back to the paper that Trent and I wrote. So we submitted it. Uh Trent and I made sure to do it by midnight on December 9th to hit that deadline. It's just the nick of time. Um Trent received an email from Stacy. Is it from Stacy? Is it still from you or is it from Elaine? It's from Elaine. Okay, that's what I thought. No, it's from me. Just checking. Just checking. So it comes through you. Trent gets, I get forwarded this email from Trent saying, hey, Walt, high five. Our paper got selected. Uh at least our abstract did. Now the hard work comes. So we have to write a paper and a PowerPoint. That obviously is the presentation for the conference. When is that due?
SPEAKER_02So I will work very closely with all of the presenters. They've accepted this opportunity to present at our conference. And the first deadline would be May 6th. The papers are due. I'll provide, you know, I'll send reminders and we provide a presenter resource guide to help you write it. We have samples online, we have a paper template online to help you write this paper. Um and I'm available for any questions. So I am the main point of contact with all of the presenters. Then June 3rd, the PowerPoints are due. We will have a PowerPoint template for that conference for the year posted online. So you'll use our template to develop your PowerPoint. Both of these get sent in by their deadline for a review by the program committee. And the program committee will take a look, send back any um feedback, comments, you know, anything that they might want to double check on, and I would communicate that to the presenters for a little tweaking before they're final. Yeah, I know that's and then we'll have a final deadline before the before the right.
SPEAKER_04So it hits the program committee, which Trent has just uh let us know he is the chair. Um I know those then get bounced back to the directors, and we oftentimes have to review the PowerPoints to make sure that there's no logos misused or uh make sure people images need to depict safe working environments. Um font, there's a font requirement. It's all really straightforward, but we try to make sure that everybody has the same thing. So all the there's a uniformity right during the conference. So we do that, we hit those back to uh it'll bounce back to Trent and I to make our uh you know our adjustments to our PowerPoint, and then we submit that. It looks like you said, I don't know if you said this, but July 1.
SPEAKER_02July 1, the final documents are due before the conference. Okay, so and then we put together conference proceedings in advance of the conference. So we do, I I know it's a month or two out from the conference, but we put together a conference proceedings, um, a set of the conference proceedings. So when you arrive on on site at conference, you'll get a link to those proceedings on site.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So that's a good five months worth of work there, but it's nicely spread out. Obviously, deadlines are what deadlines are. Um but yeah, so Rima does you do provide presenter author guidelines, uh biographical sketches, um, sample conference papers, sample. So there's samples of everything. It's really, I want to just encourage you that if you do submit the abstract, I mean, Trent, how long is an abstract?
SPEAKER_03Uh I can't remember the exact word limit, but it's it's pretty short. No, five or six sentences that are very concise.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's not a lot of work. I mean, I feel like submitting an abstract's the easy part. It's 500 words or less or something like that. Um, and then if you do make it, if you will, um there's more than enough help. Uh, this is not something that you should feel like you're starting from from zero. You definitely have some crutches along the way. Now, let's talk about just a couple more tricks here to make sure people know they might have a good chance of getting in. Uh, Stacy, what if I submit a paper with five presenters? Five authors, five presenters.
SPEAKER_02You can have five authors on your paper, but we're gonna ask only three, uh, a maximum of three presenters to actually present that on stage on site at the conference. As many authors as you want. Recognize everybody who participated with that paper on the paper, but limit it to three on site. Perfect.
SPEAKER_04So three people up on the stage at one time. Uh also, if I'm presenting something where I signed a DOD top secret clearance, is my paper going to get published? No. Okay. It's not, but it I guess where I was going with that, and that might not have been a very good example. But the bottom line is whatever I do present becomes property of AREMA in a sense that it does get published with conference proceedings. And I think we all know that conference proceedings or anything electronic does have the ability to get forwarded. So please keep that in mind. So if you're gonna talk about a project that you did for BNSF and uh you have pictures of things that BNSF would prefer you not to have public, make sure you have approval from BNSF or whoever the owner is to put that in your PowerPoint. Just making sure that everyone knows that. Still feel like we got to say it. So, Trent, sounds like these come into the program committee. Uh, what is the program committee made up of just to show that there is a sheer, that there's diversity, that there's more than one voice. There's not there's no ability for like say one individual to just blackmail and say, nope, we're not doing this because I don't like that company or whatever.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, so it's uh each of the six functional group uh VPs, um, and they're e they each have two directors, so there's three people on each functional group. So total of 12, uh yeah, six six by three. Um so in each functional group, three people will be looking at this. And uh the way we're designed, uh, the the two directors and the VP of each functional group, they generally come from a different background and a different area of you know expertise and a different different committee within the functional group. So it is very helpful in and we get that diverse uh review from each each of those three people. Uh and and you know, some will see the significance or the importance of of a particular abstract, and others will see something else. And so we talk about those things and we we vet them to make sure that that um uh there's value there and and we understand why there's value there, and and that's uh that's what drives the the selection process and the prioritization of the of the abstracts we pick.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so the selection process really is not a bunch of smoke and mirrors and and bourbon or scotch in a dark room. It's it is well vetted. There are multiple people uh that are looking at these papers from multiple different angles. Uh, I know that when I was involved, we all individually ranked them, and then we put a spreadsheet together. The the VP of our functional group then put together a spreadsheet of the three, there were three of us. I'm sorry. Yeah, there were three of us that were ranking them. Then he put weighted averages, which kind of was clear-cut, usually for the top five or six. And then there was discussion around the next five or six. So it was, it's it's very much no, no one person has the strength to just push something aside. I'd heard that before, and I think that's baloney. Um I do know, though, if you put together an extremely obvious marketing presentation, it's it's not gonna get far. So if you put together a great abstract and you hit us with a with a presentation that's gonna talk about how great your widget is and how to buy it, it's not gonna make it.
SPEAKER_03You're exactly right there, Walt. And I I've got one tip for those who would like to write an abstract. And and that is, you know, be clear and concise. You know, it's it's a very brief uh statement, but it's gotta be clear and concise. It's gotta be really clear is the purpose of the paper. Um focus on on what you think the audience is gonna be interested in so you communicate in the abstract what that is. Uh, you know, be it lessons learned, be it new technology or something different. Um just you know, um make sure you're really crisp on saying what you have to say, because we do occasionally get a few abstracts that come in that are very vague, and when we can't figure out what they're talking about, they tend to go to the bottom of the pile. And so uh that that's that can be very helpful to be just really clear and and clear about what you're talking about, you using terms and language that's common in the industry and not obscure to some specific uh you know subgroup of people that are it's very small.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I don't advise reusing a PhD dissertation for your arema paper. Uh that's really good if you're trying to earn your PhD. Uh, we've seen a couple come through like that that were just, whoo, not that's not what we're looking for. So that might be the technical end of the spectrum extreme. But yeah, clear, concise. I I like to just tell people, hey, write an abstract and a PowerPoint that uh that you can give to my wife, and she at the end of it exactly knows what you were talking about. If if my wife's gonna get it, and and I'm not gonna introduce her on here, but you know, I think you understand what I'm saying. Like, then let then I think you're good to go. Stacy, any last words about, you know, after we get selected and Trent and I are in we're in Denver and we're standing up on stage in our freshly pressed suits.
SPEAKER_02Um we're excited to see you on uh um in person again this year, and um we will give pointers on um and it's in your presenter guide, pointers on actually presenting in person, um, on stage, how to dress, presentable. I mean, we we'll help you even with that on site. Um uh you'll have a check-in with us, let us know you've arrived. Um, we're setting up some some you know processes this year to check in with us, let the session monitor know you're there, and um, we'll provide you tips for on-stage appearance and and presentation as well.
SPEAKER_04So perfect. Well, I'll tell you what, I am so excited. I say this at in in every one of these episodes, uh, how excited I am to get back in person. I know that uh the committees I'm a member of, which I guess as a director, I'm a member of all the structural uh functional group committees right now. So I'm seeing all their emails flying by talking about in-person plans in January, and February, and March. Uh some of them are still hybrid, that's great, but like it's pretty obvious to me we are starting to move back to a little bit of a new normalcy. I am stoked that everyone's coming to see me and I don't have to travel next fall. Uh be very easy for me to get down to the conference uh center and uh see everybody in town. So, call for papers 2022, big deal. Get out there, write your abstracts, get them submitted. Even if you don't think it's a great idea. Hey, Trent might think it's a great idea, and that's all that really matters in this one. So, Trent, Stacey, both of you, thank you so much for being on today, and uh look forward to getting to review some pretty cool stuff this fall. Thank you, Walt.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Walt.
SPEAKER_04All right, take care, everybody.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for rolling with Arima on today's episode of Platform Chats. For further information about Arima, please visit arema.org or contact us at info at arema.org.
