While interesting to go, my first academic conference did not exactly give me high returns on the investment. Did I “do it” in the best way possible? Definitely not. This article gives a quick summary of what I should been doing 🙂 In short:

  • Define your goals
  • Do your research
  • Consider your target groups
  • Find common ground
  • Prep your pitch
  • Make some new friends
  • Follow up

Helena Ledmyr also makes the reasons for attending a conference include:

  • Learn something
  • Teach something
  • Find a new collaborator
  • Meet with existing collaborator
  • Find a new job
  • Hire somebody
  • Sell something
  • Buy something

If doing none of these, perhaps there are better ways to spend the time and money that goes into attending a conference? 🙂

 

Academic conferencing for dummies

The title of this post might sound harsh, but it’s exactly how I felt the first time I was at a scientific conference. I hadn’t prepared very well for attending this conference, because I was focused on presenting at this conference.

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