Attending an academic conference by Michael Ernst (mernst@cs.washington.edu) July, 2004

Contents:

Goals of conference attendance

Attending a conference is a professionally rewarding experience. In addition to socializing with colleagues from other institutions and a trip to a possibly exotic locale, the two main reasons to attend a conference are to hear presentations and to converse with other researchers.

Listening to presentations will inform you of what others are doing

(sometimes more clearly than the paper, and in any event with a slightly different spin and the ability to ask questions), will inspire research ideas of your own, and will expose you to different styles of presentation. (You will see examples of both excellent and terrible talks.)

As your career advances, you'll learn that even though listening to the talks is extremely valuable, hallway conversations can be even more fruitful. Do everything you can to cultivate such conversations: that is one of your chief jobs at the conference. (But don't be annoyed if it takes a little while, or a few conferences, before the task becomes easy.)

Some people are naturally gregarious; some people have trained themselves to be that way; and others can be shy about approaching people they don't know at a conference. Gather up your courage and do it anyway; you'll learn a lot, and eventually you will get better at it. (Most other people in the room were once in exactly that same position.) See below for some .

You should also tell others about your research. Think about how to frame your work to convey how interesting it is. This is an important skill not just for a conference but in general. Plan your pitch, practice it with your friends, then further refine it through interactions at the conference. (Beware the trap