Knowing how to approach a conference as a participant — even without a paper — can help you gain meaningful insights, make valuable connections, and take the next step in your academic or professional path.

Who Should Attend an Academic Conference Without Presenting?

Academic conferences are open to more than just authors. Attending as a non-presenting participant can be especially valuable for:

• Graduate and PhD students exploring research topics or considering future submissions
• Early-career researchers looking to understand publishing standards and research trends
• Academics shifting into new areas of study or multidisciplinary collaboration
• Industry professionals staying connected to innovation and emerging technologies
• Representatives from research institutions, funding agencies, or journals scouting talent or forming collaborations
  
  

If you fall into any of these categories, attending a conference could offer far more than just passive listening.

Benefits of Attending an Academic Conference Without Presenting

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Attending without presenting may seem like a passive experience — but it is far from it. Here are some of the most important advantages:

 

1. Build Academic and Professional Networks

Conferences are among the best places to connect with like-minded researchers, mentors, collaborators, and potential employers. Even a casual conversation during a coffee break can turn into a research partnership, internship opportunity, or future co-authorship.

 

Tip: Introduce yourself to speakers whose work you admire — many welcome follow-up conversations.

 

2. Learn from Leading Experts

You get a front-row seat to current research trends, methods, and discoveries across disciplines. This is especially valuable if you are exploring ideas for a thesis, dissertation, or grant proposal.

 

3. Understand What Makes a Great Presentation or Paper

By attending different sessions, you learn what successful researchers do well — and what to avoid. You will see how top papers are structured, how arguments are made, and how audiences respond.

 

4. Meet Industry and Institutional Representatives

Many academic conferences are attended by industry leaders, government agencies, and research institutions. They are often scouting for talent, partnerships, or project collaborators. For non-authors, this can be a unique chance to stand out and make connections outside academia.

 

5. Discover Future Publishing and Research Opportunities

You can find calls for papers, open special issues, or upcoming workshops you may not have seen online. This is also a great way to evaluate whether the conference is the right fit for a future submission.

 

6. Engage and Contribute in Other Ways

Even without a formal role, you can still make your presence felt by:

Participate in Q&A sessions: Thoughtful questions can spark valuable dialogue and leave a lasting impression on speakers and attendees.
Attend roundtables or social events: These informal settings are ideal for sharing perspectives and hearing what others in the field are thinking — sometimes even more candidly than during sessions.
Contribute ideas in interactive workshops: Many conferences include hands-on sessions where input is welcomed, regardless of your career stage.

 

Tip: Many events — including those organized by the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) — actively welcome participants who want to listen, learn, and connect. Explore EAI’s upcoming conferences to find one that fits your interests, even if you are not presenting this time.

How to Choose the Right Journal for Your Research

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• For researchers working in ICT and related disciplines, the EAI/Springer ICC series (EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing) provides an accessible and credible publishing path. Backed by Springer’s global reach and supported by the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI), this series enables editors to lead projects with full control over content, contributors, and direction — all within an efficient, professionally managed framework.

What EAI Offers Through SICC

Published by Springer: Your edited book will be published by Springer, ensuring wide visibility through SpringerLink, inclusion in academic libraries, and indexing in major databases. This increases the discoverability and impact of your work across the ICT community and beyond.

You Set the Scope and Team: You decide the topic, the volume’s structure, and the contributors. Whether you want to highlight emerging ICT research, interdisciplinary topics, or a focused area from a conference, you have full editorial freedom to shape your book.

Fast and Transparent Process: EAI offers an efficient publishing workflow with clear milestones and professional support. You benefit from timely feedback, straightforward communications, and guidance from proposal to publication without unnecessary delays.

Trusted Partnership and Professional Standards: Working with EAI means collaborating with a team experienced in academic publishing and committed to quality. The process is backed by professional workflows and editorial integrity, ensuring a smooth and reputable experience for editors and contributors alike.

Who Can Benefit from Publishing in the SICC Series?

Researchers looking to consolidate or pioneer a new ICT topic.

Conference organizers wanting to extend their event impact providing an additional publishing option for authors and their extended papers.

Academics aiming to build or strengthen international networks in ICT.

Editors seeking a reputable platform with global reach for their curated collection of research.

Read more:

How to Choose the Right Journal for Your Research

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Why Become a General Chair?

• Raise your professional profile through global academic leadership
• Influence the focus and direction of a respected EAI conference
• Collaborate with leading researchers and keynote speakers worldwide
• Build lasting networks that support your research and career growth
• Gain recognition as a key driver of a successful international academic event
  

What EAI Offers to Support You

EAI takes care of the operational backbone so you can focus on the science. As the world’s largest open ICT research society, EAI offers:

Complete conference management: From initial planning to on-site or online execution, EAI handles all operational details, allowing you to focus entirely on content and leadership.

Submission platform support: Use industry-standard tools like Confy+ or EasyChair to efficiently manage submissions, reviews, and decisions in one place.

Publication with Springer: All accepted papers are published as open access in well-indexed proceedings, available in Scopus, El Compendex, DBLB and other major databases.

Promotion to 250,000+ EAI members: Your conference benefits from extensive outreach through EAI’s global network of researchers, institutions, and academic partners.

Keynote honorarium and organizational support: Attract top-tier speakers with the help of EAI’s budgeted honoraria, logistical coordination, and pre-event planning assistance.

Free registration for core organizers: Reward your core team with waived registration fees, recognizing their contribution and encouraging strong participation.

Expert guidance at every stage: Work alongside EAI’s experienced team for support in program design, communications, publishing, and post-conference workflows.

Read more – Learn more about the benefits of EAI Full Sponsorship that would also apply to your bid for existing EAI conference:

Planning a Conference? Achieve more with Full Sponsorship

Available Conferences for 2026 General Chair

6th EAI International Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Communications and Networks

The purpose of EAI AICON is to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in the theory and applications in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and applications, including social and organizational sciences.

Explore recent edition

17th EAI International Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques

EAI SIMUtools is a premier event that gathers simulation, modeling, and analysis experts to explore various disciplines’ latest trends and innovations. This conference helps discover pioneering research on core simulation methods, AI and big data integration, performance and scalability, validation techniques, and applications in logistics, manufacturing, and digital twins.

Explore recent edition

17th International Conference on Broadband Communications, Networks, and Systems

EAI Broadnets focuses on research and technological advancements in next-generation communication networks, artificial intelligence-driven security mechanisms, and intelligent systems. It aims to provide a platform for researchers, industry professionals, and policymakers to explore innovative solutions in 5G/6G networks, IoT-enabled smart systems, and more.

Explore recent edition

In addition to these featured events, numerous other EAI conferences in 2026 are open for new General Chairs. Explore the full range of leadership opportunities and find the ideal platform to lead impactful research and collaboration within your community.

Explore full list

Read more – Learn more about the benefits of EAI Full Sponsorship that would also apply to your bid for existing EAI conference:

Thinking of Launching a New AI Conference? Let EAI Power Your Vision

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Why It Matters

Organizing your own conference is one of the most rewarding and strategic moves in an academic career. It goes far beyond selecting papers or inviting keynote speakers—it is an opportunity to:

Establish leadership in your field: Define the direction of emerging research areas and position yourself at the forefront of academic discourse.
Build and connect communities: Create a platform for collaboration among researchers, institutions, and industry partners working on related challenges.
Shape the conversation: Highlight overlooked or underserved topics, support interdisciplinary dialogue, and promote diverse perspectives.
Create long-term academic value: A well-run conference leaves a legacy through published proceedings, strengthened networks, and future editions.
Advance your institution’s visibility: Hosting a respected international event brings recognition to your university, lab, or department.
Support emerging researchers: Provide a welcoming stage for early-career scholars and students to present their work and engage with peers.

Why Start Your AI Conference with EAI?

EAI’s Full Sponsorship model offers complete support for launching your conference—removing financial, logistical, and technical barriers so you can focus on academic leadership. The three most important benefits include:

• Full Financial Coverage: EAI covers all essential costs, including venue, social program, keynote honorariums, and publication—so you can focus on academic content, not budgeting.
• High-Impact Publication: Proceedings are published in Springer’s LNICST series and indexed in Scopus, EI Compendex, dblp, and more—delivering both reach and recognition.
• Global Promotion and Visibility: Your event is promoted through targeted campaigns to a network of over 250,000 researchers, supported by a dedicated conference webpage and communication strategy.
• Dedicated Conference Manager: A professional EAI manager supports you throughout the entire process—from initial planning to post-event follow-up—ensuring smooth delivery at every stage.

Read more: 

Planning a Conference? Achieve more with Full Sponsorship

Ready to Start?

If you are interested in organizing a new AI-focused conference with EAI, we would love to hear from you. Simply fill out a short form and our team will get in touch to explore the next steps together.

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Balancing these responsibilities with the demands of research and teaching is no small task, especially for those stepping into conference leadership for the first time.

Why Full Sponsorship Is Worth Considering

Full Sponsorship is not just about funding — it is about working with a partner that helps manage the complexities of conference organization. It empowers researchers to lead impactful events without taking on unnecessary administrative or financial risk.

Benefits typically include:

• Full financial responsibility covered by the sponsor, with no upfront costs required from the organizers
• Professional support with operations and logistics.
• Access to established academic networks and marketing channels.
• Increased visibility and credibility for both the event and the organizers.

This model is particularly helpful for those looking to build their academic profile while running a conference that meets the expectations of a global research community.

How EAI Supports Conference Organizers

Whether you are launching a new conference or scaling an existing one, choosing the right partner can make a significant difference.

The European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) offers a comprehensive Full Sponsorship model that supports hundreds of academic conferences around the world. Organizers receive:

Full conference management by EAI – from logistics to execution
Boosted international visibility and reach – grow your conference’s impact
Access to submission platforms Confy+ or EasyChair – streamlined paper handling
Promotion to 250,000+ EAI members – broad visibility within a global academic network
Proceedings published by Springer – reputable and recognized academic publisher
Keynote honorarium and support included – attract top-level speakers
Free registration for core organizers – recognize your team’s leadership
Dedicated support throughout the process – expert help every step of the way

EAI’s approach is designed to let organizers lead confidently — without being overwhelmed by logistics or publishing complexity.

Focus on Leadership, Leave the Rest to Full Sponsorship

Organizing a successful conference can be a defining step in your academic journey — but it does not have to be a solitary or high-risk endeavor. Full Sponsorship models offer practical, professional support that allows you to focus on what matters most: academic leadership, community impact, and advancing your field.

If you are planning your next event and want a reliable partner by your side, EAI Full Sponsorship may be the right choice to help bring your vision to life.

The post Planning a Conference? Achieve more with Full Sponsorship appeared first on EAI - European Alliance for Innovation.

Most conference organizers today understand the mechanics of technical sponsorship: you collaborate with a publisher, proceedings get published and indexed, and your event benefits from a stronger brand presence. But not all sponsorship offers the same potential for impact.

Selecting an appropriate technical sponsor plays a key role in determining your conference’s academic visibility, credibility, and accessibility. It influences how your conference will be perceived by the research community, where and how your proceedings will be indexed, whether your content is openly accessible, and how visible it will remain in the long term.

Factors such as open access availability, quality of indexing, publisher reputation, and alignment with your conference’s values and audience can all make a significant difference in achieving international visibility.

In this article, we explore how making the right sponsorship choice can elevate your conference’s global profile — and why many organizers choose the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) to help them achieve that goal.

Why Choose EAI as Your Technical Sponsor?

Choosing EAI as your technical sponsor connects your conference to the world’s largest open ICT society, with a global community of over 250,000 researchers and professionals.

EAI is a non-profit organization dedicated to making academic publishing more ethical, accessible, and inclusive — particularly for researchers and communities in emerging regions. Unlike many commercial publishers, we put transparency, fairness, and community values at the heart of our publishing model.

1. Strong Community and Global Visibility

By joining EAI’s publishing ecosystem, your conference gains visibility within a large, active academic network and benefits from alignment with a trusted, inclusive, and academically rigorous society.

2. High-Visibility Publishing in EAI Series

Your proceedings will be published in one of EAI’s respected proceedings series:

• EAI Community Research Series – CORE: Dedicated to research in information and communication technologies and related technical fields. CORE welcomes conferences that focus on technological innovation, including those that incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives.
• EAI Computing and Communication in Emerging Regions – CCER: A multidisciplinary series supporting research from emerging regions. Open to conferences across science, technology, health, education, economics, law, and others, with a strong focus on real-world challenges and regional development.

Both series ensure your conference’s research reaches a truly global audience.

3. Access Through the European Union Digital Library

All proceedings are published in the European Union Digital Library (EUDL) — a major open access platform with over 1.2 million monthly viewers. This guarantees high discoverability and long-term access to your conference’s outputs.

4. Trusted Indexing and Archiving

EAI ensures that your conference proceedings are:

• Indexed in EBSCO, CNKI, and Google Scholar
• Archived in Portico for long-term preservation
• Published as open access with no barriers for readers worldwide
  

This level of visibility and indexing helps increase citation potential and academic impact.

5. Support for Diversity and Emerging Regions

We actively work to amplify the voices of researchers from underrepresented and emerging regions — helping your conference contribute to a more equitable global research community.

How to Connect Your Conference with EAI

Technical sponsorship is more than a publishing agreement — it is an opportunity to grow your conference’s reach, credibility, and long-term visibility.

By choosing EAI as your partner, you connect your event to a trusted non-profit society, benefit from open access publishing in respected proceedings series and ensure your conference outputs are globally accessible through the European Union Digital Library.

Do you need more information? Learn more about EAI Technical Sponsorship or submit your proposal right away.

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Clarify Your Research Goals

Start by defining what you want your publication to achieve. Are you aiming for career advancement, wider societal impact, or contributing to a specific academic community? Your goals will influence whether you should prioritize prestige, open access, speed, or interdisciplinary reach. The clearer you are about your objectives, the easier it becomes to narrow your options.

Match Scope but Think Beyond Keywords

Naturally, you will want a journal that publishes work related to your subject area. However, many researchers stop at keyword matching and overlook whether the journal supports the methodology, regional focus, or interdisciplinary nature of their research.

Example: A paper on smart farming might belong just as well in journals covering AI, environmental technology, or sustainable development. Review recent articles to see where your work fits organically.

Evaluate Indexing and Credibility

A journal’s reputation is often tied to where it is indexed. Look for inclusion in respected databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ, EBSCO, or other index databases.

Also pay attention to the editorial board, the transparency of the peer review process, and how the journal handles issues like research ethics and author rights. These factors are as critical as the topic alignment itself.

Consider Visibility and Access

Publishing in an open access journal can significantly expand your audience, especially in regions where paywalls block institutional access. Beyond accessibility, check whether the journal allows you to retain rights, share your work freely, and reach the communities that matter most to your field. A well-positioned article in a discoverable, shareable format can have much greater long-term impact.

Read more: 

Why Open Access Is the Smarter Choice for Researchers

Understand Publication Timelines

If your research is time-sensitive, consider how quickly the journal moves from submission to publication. Some have long cycles, while others offer rolling or continuous publication. Look for clear information about average review duration and editorial responsiveness. Delays in publication can affect funding, project deadlines, or follow-up research.

Look for Academic Community Engagement

A journal connected to a vibrant academic community offers more than a publishing slot — it offers a network. Journals backed by societies or innovation alliances often provide opportunities for engagement through conferences, reviewer discussions, and collaborative calls. Being part of such an ecosystem helps your research remain visible long after publication.

Read more:

Expanding Opportunities: EAI and ResearchGate Join Forces for Open Access Research

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The Advantages of Open Access Publishing in ICT Research

Unlike subscription-based models, open access ensures research is freely available to everyone, without paywalls. For researchers, this means increased visibility, higher citation potential, and broader influence across academia, industry, and policy.

This accessibility is crucial in fast-moving fields like ICT, where research and real-world application evolve in tandem. Open access helps accelerate innovation by making research more immediately applicable and widely shared.

Read more:

Expanding Opportunities: EAI and ResearchGate Join Forces for Open Access Research

Furthermore, it promotes equity by providing researchers in underserved regions equal access to vital knowledge, leveling the playing field across global research communities.

The Impact of Non-Profit Publishers on Academic Research

Journals owned and published by non-profit societies often reinvest in the research community—through conferences, collaborative networks, and initiatives that strengthen emerging fields.

Contributing to these journals helps sustain a more inclusive and community-focused research ecosystem, benefiting not just individual careers but the field as a whole. This approach fosters a collaborative environment that empowers researchers worldwide.

This accessibility is crucial in fast-moving fields like ICT, where research and real-world application evolve in tandem. Open access helps accelerate innovation by making research more immediately applicable and widely shared.

With thousands of peer-reviewed articles across EAI journals, book and proceeding series, the European Union Digital Library (EUDL) is one of the most active hubs for open access ICT research.

Explore EUDL

Open access journals, especially those from non-profit publishers, also support transparency and practices like open data and reproducibility, which enhance the credibility and long-term impact of ICT research.

EAI: Advancing ICT Research Through Open Access and Community Engagement

This is where the European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) stands out. EAI journals are open access, peer-reviewed, and operated by a non-profit foundation focused on inclusive, global research engagement.

“Publishing should amplify the work of researchers, not limit its reach. Open access allows both early-career and established scholars to share their findings widely and engage with the global research community. At EAI, our mission is to advance open, inclusive research that fosters collaboration and drives meaningful progress.”

Caitlin Roach

Head of Head of Publications at European Alliance for Innovation (EAI)

With an emphasis on community-driven growth and support for emerging regions and topics, EAI offers more than publication—it offers connection. By submitting to an EAI journal, you join a global effort to make ICT research more accessible, equitable, and impactful.

If you are looking for the right place to publish open access and extend the reach of your research, the EAI journal portfolio offers a range of titles dedicated to global, community-driven scholarship. Explore the journals below to find the best fit for your work.

• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Scalable Information Systems
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Pervasive Health and Technology
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Energy Web
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Industrial Networks and Intelligent Systems
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Internet of Things
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Smart Cities
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on AI and Robotics
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Mobile Communications and Applications
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Context-aware Systems and Applications
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Cloud Systems
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on e-Learning
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Security and Safety
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Creative Technologies
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Tourism, Technology and Intelligence
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Sustainable Manufacturing and Renewable Energy
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Digital Transformation of Industrial Processes
• EAI Endorsed Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Machine Learning Applications

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