In Transit - Conference Diaries Vol I

Travel is just opening up again, and I recently attended my first in-person conference in over two years. I’ve been to my fair share of conferences, but it’s been a minute and I felt a familiar sense of nerves creeping back in.

Surely the airlines have cut costs somewhere? There’s no way my luggage made it on the plane? Did I get the dates or timezone adjustments wrong?

I can’t be alone in feeling this right? I’m sure students and ECRs about to attend their first conference have similar sentiments of anxiety, and are a bit tentative about what to make of the whole experience. What I’ve found over the years is that shifting the focus away from my own neuroses towards what I can do for others allows things to click into place.

How can you help the conference organisers, your supervisors, or other students on the trip? How does your work allow others to accomplish something meaningful?

When you do this consistently, you’d be surprised how much value you get out of the experience for yourself.

Being Ready

If my schedule (and budget) allows for it, I try to arrive a day early for any conference. This time my talk was in the morning, and I could have arrived on the day and made it a one-day trip. By taking time out and committing to arrive a day early, I am trying to make sure I have blocked out enough time to prepare and make all the necessary arrangements. It would have made it so much more stressful for everyone if I had less room for error in the itinerary.

It turned out I was right - the weather conditions delayed all flights by 2-3 hours over those few days

The organisers have my contact details, and I have theirs so if I am running late I can be in touch on short notice. The slides of my talk are ready, and loaded on a USB drive, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to go. I spend the time stuck in transit to practice my talk slide by slide, until I am comfortable going off the cuff and improvising a bit on the day. This part of the process is similar for online conferences too, but there’s much more of an emphasis on the tech. Thankfully for in-person conferences there’s on-site AV support so one less thing to worry about. If you incorporate video or audio clips into your slides though it’s worth having those files backed up independently just in case there are any issues with embedding them into your slides.

The Right Priorities

The talk is actually not the most important part of going to conferences - it’s who your talk lets you connect to after the fact.  Hopefully your supervisor is there with you at your first meeting, and you can ask them to introduce you to their peers and the keynote speakers at the meeting. This can be quite awkward though, so I think it’s more organic to approach this with a “what can I do for them?” mentality.

If it’s the conference organisers:

“Hello everything ran so smoothly, who booked the venue?  Organised the catering?  If there’s a meeting at our home town next time I’d love to volunteer to help out.” 

If it’s a collaborator or notable person in your field:

“That project is going well, I would love to learn the new techniques that your group are famous for. Is there any way I can help out?”

Enthusiasm and energy go a long way, and are increasingly rare and valuable in these settings.

The Strategy

Some people have business cards printed, and I think this is great if it’s more of a corporate meeting, or if it’s a different country you’re visiting where this is the norm.  Academics in general are a bit allergic to the whole “networky” vibe though, and online networking is more of the standard these days.  Connect with people on LinkedIn, Twitter, or send them a follow up email:

“Hi I met you at this meeting, great to catch up next time you’re in my city.” 

It doesn’t have to be really senior people either - other students or ECRs will be the future of the sector so it makes sense to connect there. If you leave each meeting with just one new contact then it’s a success.

Again, it’s a lot easier to connect with people when you have shared responsibility and tasks. After your first meeting, I would go out of my way to scope out the next one, and see if you can be on the organising committee. That is how I got the most out of any of the meetings I have attended - organising rather than being an attendee, you meet so many other people this way. You learn how professional societies work, how they manage their budgets and organise meetings, and there’s a lot of waiting around - perfect time to pick the brains of the president of the society who’s also on these committees.

Finding the Balance

Conference days start early in the morning and run late into the night. I’ve had full days of meetings, talking to new people, and exchanging contact information, all the while my email inbox is pinging away with new requests. Earlier in my career I would go back to the hotel and answer emails / write papers late into the night - that was the only way I knew to get ahead.

Looking back on it now, it really was a sad state of being. I’ve travelled to all of these amazing places for work, but I spent most of that time in conference rooms and hotel lobbies.  It took me many years to define who I am outside of my (seemingly all-consuming) day job, and travelling to conferences is a good chance to not only develop professionally, but to also know more about what is worth pursuing in your down time. To find your personal niche that lets you recharge and refuel.

For me it has turned out to be photography. I picked it up a few years ago before a work trip and just forced myself to document everything around me.

Architecture on the streets, neon lights around the conference venue, shadows and silhouettes in the airport in between flight delays...

Even after a full day of talks, meetings, and networking, I make a conscious effort to go for photowalks after the conference schedule for that day has come to a close. It’s a hobby that has evolved and adapted with my life and helped to unlock a small part of that ever-elusive work-life balance.

Make the most of your next conference and connect with as many people (including yourself) as possible.

Jack.