Conferences are expensive and time-consuming. You usually have to travel to get to the conference location, and preparing your talk or poster can take up time that could be used for more tangible tasks like writing papers or grant proposals. So why should you go to conferences? I think it is a good idea to go to conferences because none of us does science in a vacuum, and our work is embedded within the broader context of work done by the community of scientists in our field. Publications are usually published months to years after the research has been completed. Conferences are the best opportunity to take the pulse of the field and see what your colleagues are working on right now. They are also a way to make connections in the field with future colleagues that will be reviewing your grants and papers and might even be future collaborators. Finally, going to conferences is a great way to break out of a mental rut and feel inspired by cool science.
One thing that I don’t do a great deal of during conferences is attend talks. Some of this comes from my upbringing- my family went to church three times a week, which was quite the challenge for a kid who struggled to pay attention. I have developed a bit of an allergy to a full day of sitting and listening to people speak. My ability to sit still and focus has improved a bit as I have moved into middle age, but I still won’t attend more than a couple dozen talks at most. However, I don’t think attending talks is the best or only way to get caught up with colleagues. In fact, I think the best way is to focus on meeting with colleagues that you see once a year, during poster sessions or coffee breaks. This is where you really get to learn what your colleagues have been up to for the past year.
All of the above is not to say that you shouldn’t attend talks- I am definitely inspired every year by cool talks. For me, finding sessions with lots of relevant and exciting talks is the best way to balance socializing and attending talks. I rarely switch sessions, and I try to avoid going to any talks where I am a coauthor (after all, I already know what we did and what we found). Instead, I go to (some) plenaries, best student presentation sessions, and symposia where all the talks are of interest. If I go to a few of those per conference, I almost always see a talk that gets me amped about collaborations or new techniques or exciting new paradigms.
The notion that a conference is all about making and reinforcing connections within the broader community may seem challenging if you are introverted and new to the field. I think one instinct that some folks have is that they want to meet the most famous or influential people at the conference. But keep in mind that those people are often very senior, and meet way too many people for them to remember every brief interaction. Also, those superstars in the field may well be retired or in the twilight of their career if you meet them when you are a grad student. By all means meet the superstars if you have an opportunity, but I have found that the most important and lasting connections are the people closer to my career stage. Some of the postdocs and early-career faculty that I met as a grad student are now the big and senior names in the field, and grad students and postdocs closer to my career stage are now my colleagues and peers that review my work.
At the conference that I attend regularly, I have slowly built up the number of people that I know, so that I am often in conversation with colleagues. I am fairly shy about meeting new people, and it is hard for me to approach someone that I don’t know. For me, being introduced to folks through better connected colleagues was a more comfortable way to start making connections. If you are new to attending scientific conferences, it is okay to be by yourself or to primarily interact with other members of your lab or people in your program. But be open to meeting new people, and try to put yourself into situations where that will be possible. The more people you can meet and make connections with, the more the conferences will start to feel like a fun reunion rather than an intimidating professional event.
One thing that I don’t do a great deal of during conferences is attend talks. Some of this comes from my upbringing- my family went to church three times a week, which was quite the challenge for a kid who struggled to pay attention. I have developed a bit of an allergy to a full day of sitting and listening to people speak. My ability to sit still and focus has improved a bit as I have moved into middle age, but I still won’t attend more than a couple dozen talks at most. However, I don’t think attending talks is the best or only way to get caught up with colleagues. In fact, I think the best way is to focus on meeting with colleagues that you see once a year, during poster sessions or coffee breaks. This is where you really get to learn what your colleagues have been up to for the past year.
All of the above is not to say that you shouldn’t attend talks- I am definitely inspired every year by cool talks. For me, finding sessions with lots of relevant and exciting talks is the best way to balance socializing and attending talks. I rarely switch sessions, and I try to avoid going to any talks where I am a coauthor (after all, I already know what we did and what we found). Instead, I go to (some) plenaries, best student presentation sessions, and symposia where all the talks are of interest. If I go to a few of those per conference, I almost always see a talk that gets me amped about collaborations or new techniques or exciting new paradigms.
The notion that a conference is all about making and reinforcing connections within the broader community may seem challenging if you are introverted and new to the field. I think one instinct that some folks have is that they want to meet the most famous or influential people at the conference. But keep in mind that those people are often very senior, and meet way too many people for them to remember every brief interaction. Also, those superstars in the field may well be retired or in the twilight of their career if you meet them when you are a grad student. By all means meet the superstars if you have an opportunity, but I have found that the most important and lasting connections are the people closer to my career stage. Some of the postdocs and early-career faculty that I met as a grad student are now the big and senior names in the field, and grad students and postdocs closer to my career stage are now my colleagues and peers that review my work.
At the conference that I attend regularly, I have slowly built up the number of people that I know, so that I am often in conversation with colleagues. I am fairly shy about meeting new people, and it is hard for me to approach someone that I don’t know. For me, being introduced to folks through better connected colleagues was a more comfortable way to start making connections. If you are new to attending scientific conferences, it is okay to be by yourself or to primarily interact with other members of your lab or people in your program. But be open to meeting new people, and try to put yourself into situations where that will be possible. The more people you can meet and make connections with, the more the conferences will start to feel like a fun reunion rather than an intimidating professional event.
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