From fragmentation to flow: why the MXR conference returned to Fourwaves

Professor Rabindra Ratan and the SPARTIE Lab needed a one-stop-shop to unify abstract management and registration. Here is why they came back to Fourwaves.

The organizer

Rabindra (Robby) Ratan, PhD, is Professor and AT&T Endowed Chair and Director of the SPARTIE Lab at Michigan State University. An accomplished researcher operating at the intersection of media and psychology, his work investigates the human side of avatars, VR, and extended reality. (SPARTIE stands for Social and Psychological Approaches to Research on Technology-Interaction Effects.)

He is also a driving force behind key academic gatherings, including the Management in Extended Reality (MXR) conference and Meaningful Play. These events bring together scholars to present peer-reviewed papers on the future of immersive technology.

The challenge: the two-system problem

For previous iterations of their events, Robby and his committee used ConfTool. While Robby noted that the platform was good, simple, and to the point for their basic needs at the time, their requirements evolved and they hit a logistical ceiling: fragmentation.

The committee found themselves in a situation common to many academic organizers: managing their scientific competition (abstracts and peer reviews) in one silo, while forcing attendees to register and pay in a completely different system.

This disconnect created administrative overhead and a disjointed experience for the community.

The solution: returning to the one-stop-shop

For the 2024 MXR Conference, the committee made the strategic decision to move to Fourwaves. After a successful run, they have committed to the platform again for MXR 2026.

The decision was driven by the need to consolidate the stack. By centralizing the entire lifecycle (submission, review, registration, and payments), Fourwaves allowed the team to manage everything from a single dashboard.

We decided to return MXR to Fourwaves, and I recommended it for Meaningful Play, because it's the only one-stop-shop for conference organizing with a reasonable price tag. It helps us avoid needing a separate paper competition management system and registration system.

Rabindra Ratan

Professor and AT&T Endowed Chair, Department of Media & Information, Michigan State University

Key wins for the committee

Automated reviewer assignments. Matching abstracts to the right experts is often the biggest bottleneck in the scientific process. Robby highlighted that Fourwaves has evolved to solve this specific pain point. The platform’s automated reviewer assignment features and flexible survey tools have significantly reduced the manual workload for the scientific committee.

A partner, not just software. Robby emphasized that the relationship with the Fourwaves product team was a major factor in their return. Unlike rigid software vendors, Fourwaves actively adapts to the needs of the research community.

I am grateful that you've taken my feedback seriously and have implemented some of our development requests. I'm looking forward to the experience and will happily continue to give feedback.

Rabindra Ratan

Professor and AT&T Endowed Chair, Department of Media & Information, Michigan State University

Budget efficiency. In the academic world, value is critical. Robby noted that Fourwaves provided this comprehensive, all-in-one functionality at a reasonable price tag, ensuring the conference budget could be spent on the attendee experience rather than expensive, disjointed software licenses.

The result

By leveraging Fourwaves for MXR 2024 and continuing for 2026, the SPARTIE Lab has streamlined its operations. They have eliminated the friction of managing separate databases for papers and payments, allowing Robby and his team to focus on their true mission: advancing the science of extended reality.

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