In February, I co-hosted (with Peter Calcagno) the 6th annual Scaled-Up Seminar. Here are earlier summaries of the 2022 and 2021 Scaled-Ups.
The idea behind Scaled-Up Seminar is to gather economics researchers within driving distance of WCU, to economize on scheduling demands and accomplish more than a series of individual research seminars could. With Scaled-Up, people drive in all on the same day, present their work to each other, and provide mutual feedback on projects. Meals and two nights lodging are provided, and a small honorarium offsets a portion of attendees’ costs. Attendees gain exposure to each other’s research agendas, thus sparking collaboration on future research projects. The informal time facilitates discussion and future collaboration of all sorts. Over the years, a culture and community have developed around Scaled-Up, as reflected in some of the attendee remarks below.
Counting attendees from over the years, the geographic footprint of Scaled-Up has taken shape. The perimeter extends from Washington, DC, down to Charleston, through Georgia and Alabama, then up to Nashville and Louisville, even Cincinnati, before closing loop at Morgantown. Asheville is showing itself to have geographic advantages. A few attendees actually fly in at their own expense, so Scaled-Up also has outposts in Louisiana and Massachusetts, as shown with the red arrows. (Thanks to Melinda for building this map.)
For this year’s Scaled-Up Seminar, we tweaked the format based on suggestions from last year’s attendees. The biggest difference was switching from a two-track schedule to a single track where all attendees are together for all presentations. Attendees really liked the change, as well as most other aspects of the workshop format. If you are interested, here is the conference program for Scaled-Up Seminar 2023. Below are some comments from attendees. This annual workshop continues to evolve as a valuable and productive format for researchers to elevate their scholarly output while forming community.
Feedback from 2023 Scaled-Up Seminar Attendees:
“It is fantastic. I really like the size – small but not too small. The group that comes do their work beforehand and read papers, which is very rare in the profession. The audience is very active walking the line between not being negative but also providing useful constructive feedback. It is social but professional. Not to be redundant, but the most novel thing about the program is that there is a culture/norm of reading papers beforehand and actively contributing to works in progress and I do not know of any other venue where this happens.”
“Perhaps more than any other conference, the SuS format allows for detailed, in-depth discussion and feedback on working papers as they are being prepared for publication.”
“I have presented at SuS three times now. The first paper later became a publication in the Economic Journal, and the second went to the Journal of Political Economy. In each case, the comments I received at SuS substantially improved the paper during the writing stage.”
“I liked the single track better than the two paper track. Lots of people in the room to get feedback from.”
“The single track design was better. The in and out quickly is ideal.”
“The small scale is great. It really gives you a chance to engage in longer discussions with other participants. I also like that most papers are rough drafts. The discussions that follow the presentations are great for the authors and attendees. I always learn something new each year.”
“SuS 2023 was an invaluable venue for feedback on my work, directing me towards better methods and data for my ideas. It also was a way to catch up on other fields and see ways people got around problems.”
“The pairing of papers by method/topic is nice. The pacing between presentations and breaks was also effective. I also like the inclusion of a few graduate students!”
“I’ve heard it used to be two simultaneous tracks, but I think the single track really worked well. It means that everybody was attending every session, even if they were more tightly packed time wise.”
“I now have new papers planned, have developed better relationships with current and potential co-authors, and got advice on improving my policy analysis”
“The choice of participants was well thought out and there were many copacetic groups which were able to provide comments, the in-formal time allowed for new projects to be developed, there was a good mix of people who do outreach based projects and those who do academic based projects.”
More Photos of Scaled-Up Seminar 2023:
