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[bms2000]

I am finally getting back into publishing/presenting at conferences after a 10 year haitus. Better late than never I suppose. But my problem is that one of the conferences I submitted an abstract to has a requirement that every author also be a reviewer. I've never done this before. Any tips? Advice? I want to do a good job, but I don't quite know what to say...

[august_leo]

I have had to do this for conferences too. Usually I am asked how many I can do. I take how many I think I can do and subtract 2 and offer that number.

For conference abstracts that I have had to handle, they also go into the proceedings, so it's not just a score. I don't say anything about typos or big changes (e.g., info in Table 1 should be in a Figure) that I would for a paper. My structure is usually:

1-2 sentences on what they did/the take home message
1-2 sentences on something positive (e.g., well-written, interesting)

1 paragraph (maybe, maybe 2 but rarely) on negative things that I just have to let the authors know are negative

1-2 sentences on something positive.*

*This is my positive-negative-positive "sandwich"

[relationalista]

I'm currently reviewing for a conference for the first time, though it wasn't a requirement of submission or participation (I'm not otherwise participating at all, actually). I was sent a set of reviewer guidelines, which likely exist for your conference too. Essentially, the reviewers have been asked to look over the submitted abstracts and assess their relevance to the aims of the stated session/forum, appropriateness of mode of delivery (e.g. poster session, paper), etc., on a scale of 1-5 and add a few sentences about the abstract. I've found it remarkably straightforward.