You asked the right question, although some people have a hard time explaining their own posters. I try to go to the posters when the presenters are NOT there. If they have a sound conclusion, it is written in a clearly marked box on the poster. Conversely, if there is no clearly marked conclusion, they probably do not know their own punch line. Sometimes as a specialist, I just go to see what their data looks like, and then their presence is helpful to get all the details.

I don't think Don heard right. The tensor strain meters picked up a signal a day (26 hours?) ahead of the Parkfield quake. For a signal 26 s beforehand, the seismometers should be vastly more sensitive than the tensor strain meters.