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Schemes for Engineers in Research and Development
International Travel Grants: Attending your first major conference - a checklist
Introduction
Attending your first national or
international conference is undoubtedly an
exciting experience. It can be daunting
because there is so much going on and you
may well be nervous about your own
presentation. Some suggestions are made here
as to how you can gain the most from the
opportunity.
Your own presentation
You will
probably have to present a paper of your own
which may either be as a conventional oral
presentation but is often, these days, as a
poster presentation.
Be
sure to put your work into context and
concentrate on explaining the overall
problem, the solutions that you have found,
and their benefits. If in doubt about the
level of detail to go into, err on the side
of keeping it simple. Use the best quality
visual material you can. In a busy
conference, people remember the clear and
simple things and not the detail, which can,
in any case, be found in the conference
proceedings.
Sadly,
some chairmen are not as skilled as they
should be and so you may find that you have
less time for your presentation than you
were told. So be prepared to leave things
out, if necessary, while aiming to include
the real punch lines.
It is also true that sessions usually
contain a mixture of topics because it is
difficult for the organisers to have
sessions with closely related themes. They
are usually working to deadlines, having
started with vague abstracts and often being
forced to make changes to balance up
sessions when papers fail to turn up. This
is all the more reason to keep things simple
by aiming your presentation at someone who
is not an expert in your speciality.
Gaining most from other presentations
Do put some effort into planning which
presentations to attend. It can be difficult
with parallel sessions to get to everything
you want, so you will have to do the best
you can. Do not just attend the
presentations of direct relevance to your
work. Pick out at least some papers or
discussion sessions which:
-
Give overviews of how the technology is
developing in response to the market needs.
-
Include techniques of analysis and
measurement that could apply to your work
even though the technology of the paper is
different.
-
Cover topics
of interest to your colleagues back home so
that you can let them know about the work.
-
Do include some presentations that just seem
like fun to you because they are likely to
spark off ideas.
Plan
to ask a few well-chosen questions or make
points during any plenary discussion
sessions. Don’t overdo this as the new
person but it will help to get you known as
well as helping you to think more deeply
about the topics.
Making contacts with others
An important feature of any conference is
making contacts during the many informal
breaks. Some of the ways you can help
overcome the awkwardness of doing this are:
-
Tell people that you enjoyed their paper
(and have the following questions…).
-
Introduce yourself to them on the grounds
that you (or a colleague) are working in
similar areas.
-
Don’t be
too shy to introduce yourself to some of the
big names in the subject. They are often
flattered that youngsters in the field are
still avidly studying work they did years
ago.
Use this as an
opportunity to establish lasting
relationships that could develop into future
joint projects or collaborations. Exchange
contact information and think of ways of
following up on the contact by, say,
inviting them to visit your department when
next in your part of the world or by
agreeing to send them some information about
which they have expressed interest.
And above all enjoy yourself!
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