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As part of my teaching assistantship for @oxfordgeography Masters Biodiversity and Conservation Management program @MScBiodiversity, I presented a session on #conferences. I had never presented or attended a conference in my undergrad days (not particularly encouraged,
no interest etc). And all that I have learned is purely from experience of attending conferences during my Masters and luckily my previous job. So in this thread I go through some #lessonslearnt to get the most out of a conference
Why do we go to conferences- 1)to network which might lead to collabs 2)learn about latest research since authors present their work way before being published 3)attend skills workshops 4)present your work and establish yourself as a voice and 5)get feedback
How do you pick a conference- many criteria 1) large vs small conference (more and less variety of speakers, workshops, sessions to attend) 2) theme or interest 3) time of year 4) venue (too far in exotic land is a disincentive)
What logistics to keep in mind? - Start early and plan ahead! 1) it takes time to think about cost of flights and visas 2) find places to stay and 3) meals! Funding is crucial. Look for #scholarships, work in conference venue in exchange #waiver
What are the general categories to present- 1) Long talk (entire analyses) 2) Short/Lightening talk (concept/idea/hypothesis and brief results) 3) (E)- poster. All need abstracts to be submitted!
Word limit is crushing, so it takes time to write an abstract. Also submiting abstracts with results is straightforward. If you do not have results yet, but will by the time of the conference (come on! we have all done this)submit! (recycled from @olpetita talk for @theATBC )
You are accepted for a presentation, secured funding and have made logistics arrangement. Not done yet- you have to make the presentation. Main point is to think about content and form of the talk. Also audience!
Posters are underrated, considered less important than talks. I think this is quite the contrary! Personally, I am more creative making a poster and the return on time investment is quite high. Examples-
https://bit.ly/32Gl59O , https://bit.ly/3nkS37x , https://bit.ly/3eTjKBD
https://bit.ly/32Gl59O , https://bit.ly/3nkS37x , https://bit.ly/3eTjKBD
Soem good advice, do the homework!- 1) have an intro or elevator speech ready 2) look at attendee list and decide who you want to talk to 3) look at timings and rooms of sessions- you do not want to be running between floors or having zoom fatigue
Network- If you are an #introvert, balance out the day. Push yourself to speak to people!
Virtual conference including #twitterconferences may become a thing! So look out
Considering the global crisis we are all going through- think about the demerits and merits of virtual conferences? Can it really replace networking? Does a virtual conference help with equity and justice allowing more participation? Are people flying less?
To conclude- will face-to-face conferences have a massive come back after the pandemic or will virtual conferences continue? What about hybrid conferences? What will you choose to attend?
