Editorial: Conference scientific committees-what do they do?

For the majority of us who attend scientific conferencesregularly, there are only three points at which weconsciously engage with the scientific committee:when we send our abstracts before the conference,share our slides and posters at the conference and whenthe committee is formally introduced to the conferenceaudience. Beyond that, the role of the committee,and how it is navigated, is a mysterious ‘black-box’.Despite the large number of international, national andlocal scientific meetings, there is paucity of literatureon scientific committees1. Conferences are learningopportunities, but this is a frequently missed learningopportunity2,3. What can we learn from the experienceof a scientific committee for a national professionalconference?