On Monday the Royal Society of Chemistry had their annual Twitter conference. The conference is simple – anyone can attend, anyone can submit a poster, there are no registration fees and it goes on for 24 hours. You simply follow the hashtag #RSCPoster and get chatting to people about their work. It’s amazing.
Last year I attended and submitted a poster which sparked lots of conversation. Given that it’s online I had these conversations while taking a stroll round a country park in Buckinghamshire, which made for a very chilled poster session.
This year I attended not as a contributor but as a cartoonist. A few months back I contacted the organisers and asked if I could draw cartoon abstracts for attendees. They were keen (although I have a sneaking suspicion they didn’t really know what it was I’d actually be doing) and said “go for it”. So on Monday I drew 20 cartoons and one animation for a handful of the attendees of #RSCPoster. It was exhausting, but so much fun!
If you missed them then you can catch them all in this fancy gallery.
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- @ZeljkaKesic
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- @KevinHoneyChurc
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- @MekhalaSpencer @BioSpecNet
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- @ChemRmitra
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- @jo_usmc
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- @Duncolm
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- @HelLeahborus
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- @lizziedicko
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- @sarahmhamps
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- @ChockyNikita
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- @meganelinski
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- @OvidioCatanzano
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- @TeKdp
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- @pchemstud
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- @BL76276
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- @Teachforaliving
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- @DahliaAmato
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- @Oceansandland
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- @n_barnes92
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- @VanessaSchild & @DrMichaelJBooth
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- @ChemWithRachel
Honestly drawing them was blast and I cant wait to do it again next year! I’m also now going to ask around and perhaps offer it as a service for anyone wanting an alternative way of promoting their work.
5 Comments
Fiona McQuarrie · 22 March 2017 at 17:02
I’d never heard of this – thanks for mentioning it! This is a great idea.
Matthew (@MCeeP) · 23 March 2017 at 08:11
It really it! It’s absolutely genius, the first time I did it was the the most chilled out poster I’ve ever presented.
Jeremy · 22 March 2017 at 22:06
It was truly brilliant to see you do this. I know that mekhala was excited and delighted to have her poster animated by you. She nudged me, we stopped what we were doing and retweeted it, chatted with you and showed all our friends. Kala is still smiling. Thanks so much for doing this. If we have nudged you toward a new career, we are delighted to have been part of that decision. Best of luck. Jeremy
Matthew (@MCeeP) · 23 March 2017 at 08:08
Thanks! I think career wise I’ll stick with research (including 3D printing microfluidics 😉 ) but doing cartoons might get upgraded from hobby to hobby I spend way too much time on
Get a cartoon abstract for your work – ErrantScience · 5 February 2020 at 13:03
[…] of the cartoonist (me) and inspiration from reading various science blogs and social medias. But a few times they have been cartoon abstracts which have explained someone’s actual […]