Conference: Conference is a general term for a scheduled meeting for consultation, exchange of information, or discussion with a formal agenda. A scientific conference is a conference of researchers to present and discuss their works, and it is often known by names as symposium, congress, or conference itself. Most scientific societies regularly convene annual or biennial conferences.

Symposium: A symposium is a prearranged meeting of a number of experts and research workers where different papers on a defined subject are presented and discussed; and at the end, some recommendations on the discussed problems are made. In a symposium, all the participants including presenters form the audience.

Congress: A congress is larger than a symposium with many defined subjects. An example is Indian Science Congress, with many defined subjects, which is conducted every year.

Workshop: A workshop is an intensive meet by a small group of people to concentrate on a defined area of concern; it may be for information sharing, problem solving, formulation of new policies, or training. In a workshop, all the participants are supposed to be involved in the discussion.

Seminar: A seminar is a discussion-based meeting on a defined topic wherein an expert leads a small group of participants. The presenter often gives a lecture followed by discussions.

Colloquium: Colloquium refers to an academic meeting at which specialists deliver speeches on related topics and then answer questions related to them. The word ‘colloquial’ means familiar conversation and the speakers are expected to speak in familiar language.

Convention: A convention is a large companionship meeting of a closely linked fraternal group such as an organization, a company, a society, or a political group for various purposes. It may not be a scientific meeting.

Brainstorming: Brainstorming is a process of eliciting divergent ideas on a specific topic or problem from a group of people. Brainstorming can extract multiple ideas on a given topic, and the discussion that follows helps the group to explore and compare a variety of possible solutions to the specific problem.

Conference: Conference is a general term for a scheduled meeting for consultation, exchange of information, or discussion with a formal agenda. A scientific conference is a conference of researchers to present and discuss their works, and it is often known by names as symposium, congress, or conference itself. Most scientific societies regularly convene annual or biennial conferences.

Symposium: A symposium is a prearranged meeting of a number of experts and research workers where different papers on a defined subject are presented and discussed; and at the end, some recommendations on the discussed problems are made. In a symposium, all the participants including presenters form the audience.

Congress: A congress is larger than a symposium with many defined subjects. An example is Indian Science Congress, with many defined subjects, which is conducted every year.

Workshop: A workshop is an intensive meet by a small group of people to concentrate on a defined area of concern; it may be for information sharing, problem solving, formulation of new policies, or training. In a workshop, all the participants are supposed to be involved in the discussion.

Seminar: A seminar is a discussion-based meeting on a defined topic wherein an expert leads a small group of participants. The presenter often gives a lecture followed by discussions.

Colloquium: Colloquium refers to an academic meeting at which specialists deliver speeches on related topics and then answer questions related to them. The word ‘colloquial’ means familiar conversation and the speakers are expected to speak in familiar language.

Convention: A convention is a large companionship meeting of a closely linked fraternal group such as an organization, a company, a society, or a political group for various purposes. It may not be a scientific meeting.

Brainstorming: Brainstorming is a process of eliciting divergent ideas on a specific topic or problem from a group of people. Brainstorming can extract multiple ideas on a given topic, and the discussion that follows helps the group to explore and compare a variety of possible solutions to the specific problem.

Respected Santosh,

Thank you for this explanation. You did not leave us the opportunity to think about the answer to the question.

Seminar, for example, is something given to a smaller audience such as in universities. Students register for the seminar course and every week or so a guest speaker would deliver an one hour lecture. Students are sometimes asked to write summary reports for the sake of grading for the course. Conference on the other hand is usually bigger and has a wider audience during which various papers are presented covering many different topics. Due to the diversity of subjects conferences are often broken down into sessions covering similar areas of interest.

A conference is a formal meeting for discussion, problem solving, or consultation. Therefore, the main difference between seminar and conference is that seminar is academic in nature whereas a conference can be of various formats such as business, trade, academic, press conference, etc.

Seminar is basically on academic / teaching resourse but conference is basically

totally based on research / abstract presentation . Seminar may be nationalized

or some cases international .But Conference should be international composed

of Scientists / Researchers of inter - country .