Donna Dirlam, director of the Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center. Photo by Melissa Jacobs/GIA

As Dona M. Dirlam wandered the aisles of the Geological Society of America's (GSA) annual meeting in 1980, she was inspired.

Dirlam, only six months into her GIA career, saw the lively exchange of ideas between fellow scientists and researchers at the GSA's poster session and imagined what a similar forum could do for the science of gemology.

"It was so intriguing to me because you could just walk around, see these great ideas and talk to the people one-on-one," she says.

Poster sessions, which allow researchers to set up booth space and present their findings to conference attendees in an informal setting, have long been a popular component of scientific meetings, according to Dirlam, who is now director of the Richard T. Liddicoat Gemological Library and Information Center and chair of the 2006 Poster Session Committee.

"They give people the opportunity to reveal cutting-edge research that perhaps isn't quite ready to be presented in an oral presentation, so it's a way to get really new ideas out there," she says.

Dirlam presented her idea to Vince Manson, then director of Research, who was coordinating the 1st International Gemological Symposium. Manson agreed the idea had merit, but decided to spend the next few years refining it before the Poster Session debuted at the next Symposium in 1991. It was an instant hit. By the 1999 Symposium, there were more than 120 participants.

"It's an opportunity for people who work with gem materials every day to bring their observations and questions to the researchers," said Dr. George Rossman, a California Institute of Technology professor of mineralogy and member of GIA's Board of Governors. "They may observe things the academics may not, and that gives ideas for research."

Watching presenters engage attendees in their research one-on-one and in small group discussions was energizing, Dirlam says.

"They would often work out science at the booth. You'd see a scientist come up who was knowledgeable about the subject, and they would start discussing it and interacting. And maybe there was a disagreement, so they'd actually work through the science while they were standing there," she says.

"That's what I love about Symposium – there's just this explosion of creativity and ideas."

It's also a place where new ideas can reach a tipping point.

Martin Stuart, an estate jewelry repairman from California, brought a piece of laser-welding equipment to the 1991 Poster Session. Though Stuart had used the equipment for 13 years, it was the first time many attendees were exposed to it, Dirlam says.

"His presentation helped launch the use of laser welding, which is now common in the trade," she says.

Though the presentations are informal, they represent serious research. This year, they will be on display at the Gemological Research Conference (GRC) and Symposium.

GRC posters must introduce previously unpublished information that falls within one of six Conference themes: geology of gem deposits, new gem occurrences, gem characterization techniques, diamond and corundum treatments, laboratory growth of gem materials and general gemology (including pearls). Symposium posters may cover a range of subjects, from jewelry history and design to legal issues in the trade.

Each presenter must provide a 300- to 400-word abstract – or scientific summary – to the Poster Committee, which analyzes each submission for scientific or educational merit.

This year's participants will be able to use expanded technological options, including laptop computers and gemological microscopes, to help illustrate their research.

Henry Kennedy presents his poster on "Publicity and Profits" at the 1999 International Gemological Symposium. GIA file photo

The presenters' abstracts will be printed in a proceedings volume in a subsequent issue of Gems & Gemology (G&G).

Charles Carmona, G.G., A.S.A., president of Los Angeles' Guild Laboratories, Inc., and Jo Ellen Cole, G.G., F.G.A., owner of Cole Appraisal Services, will mark their third time as Poster Session presenters at this year's event. The pair provides updates and new research about the use of endangered species in jewelry.

"It's a timely topic that few people talk about, and it's something we're passionate about," Carmona says. "The Poster Sessions have given us a forum to help make the gemological community aware of it."

Cole says they have been pleasantly surprised by reaction to their potentially controversial poster subject.

"I like the idea of doing something good for the world in whatever position I'm in and this poster session is a way to accomplish that," she says.

Dr. Bram Janse, a diamond field geologist from Perth, Australia, will present at GIA's poster sessions for the first time this year. His posters are titled, "Global Rough Diamond Production from 1870-2005" and "Major Diamond Mines in the World."

Janse has been a regular researcher in the Institute's Library since 1975, is on the G&G Editorial Review Board, and gave oral presentations at the last two Symposia. He also chaired the poster sessions for the 4th International Kimberlite Conference in Perth and knows how valuable they can be to gemology.

"I like posters & they're actually more work than oral presentations, but they're a very good medium," he says. "Sometimes in oral presentations, things move too fast and it's difficult to take everything in. If you really want to impart facts to the audience, with tables and graphs, poster sessions are much better."