Find below a description of each learning environment offered:

Session: This is a one-hour meeting designed to enable attendees to hear one or two short presentations on a common topic.

Symposium: This is a two-hour, 45-minute meeting at which several speakers deliver short addresses on a common topic and then engage in interaction with each other and the audience.

Teaching Edge: This is an in-depth series of courses designed for both emerging and veteran education professionals to explore critical topics impacting literacy education. Each session is two hours long.

Workshop: This is a two-hour, 45-minute meeting designed to provide attendees opportunities to participate actively in a learning experience on a common topic. Workshop seating is limited to 75 people.

IRA Invited Speaker: This is a one-hour session where a distinguished expert in the field explores current literacy topics.

Publisher Invited Speaker: This is a one-hour session where published authors share and provide information about their work and its impact.

Author Panel: This is an hour-long session where publishers present select groups of well-known authors. A moderator will be present to facilitate the session. Author participation is encouraged.

Institute: An all-day meeting to allow a group of presenters to treat a common theme or issue in-depth.

Research Session: One and one-half hour sessions designed to inform attendees about current research related topics and policy. Research sessions are eligible for IRA clock hours.

Research Poster Session: This is a one and one-half hour forum for the presentation of research, including background research, methodology, and summary or research findings. These sessions are a great opportunity to talk one-on-one with researchers conducting current research on reading. Each session includes up to twelve poster presentations grouped by category and introduced by an eminent reading researcher followed by a brief summary on each poster. The audience will move between and among posters and talk with presenters about their work. Research poster sessions are eligible for IRA clock hours.

Co-sponsored meeting: This is usually a one-hour session organized by another professional association.

Exhibitor session: Commercial in nature, these sessions are presented by companies exhibiting at the meeting. Exhibitor sessions showcase and demonstrate many products and services offered by exhibiting companies.

Council Events: Events coordinated for and about Council Leaders and members, with the opportunity to learn, connect, and share information on important organizational topics. Events occur Sunday through Wednesday, starting with the Council Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening.

Special Interest Group: This is a group presentation organized by each of IRA's special interest groups that provides a forum for sharing information about specific areas of interest among reading professionals.