Going to conferences is one of the most exciting and rewarding activities in the life of a young researcher. From a professional perspective, this is the chance to present your work to an expert audience, to get valuable feedback and to build strategic relationships that will form the basis for your network. Besides that, traveling to another city or a foreign country is a good chance to swap your laptop and daily routines for sunglasses and new perspectives.
Great, but how do I actually arrange my conference trip?
I am going to share some basic advice that will help you getting started. The obvious first step is to choose a conference where you want to go. Consider the travel connection, the time of the year and the topic. Will you be ready to present something worthwile? Who else is coming and is the trip likely to pay off professionally? Does the whole trip seem appealing enough to get you motivated? It is a good idea to plan your conference attendances in advance for the next 12 months, let’s say. To get an overview of what’s going on in your field, you can search online. For linguists, it’s a good idea to look at www.linguistilist.org where you can browse conferences and filter for date, location and subject. You can also subscribe to relevant mailing lists like the LIZZ-newsletter where you will get information about events, conferences and jobs.
Recipe for a solid abstract
Once you decided where you want to go, it’s time to prepare your abstract which is crucial to be admitted for a presentation of your work – it’s your ticket to the conference.
First thing to do: Check the formal requirements (word limit) and descriptions outlined in the call for papers. I came up with and have been using the following list for setting up conference abstracts. It helps me because it provides a solid structure that is nearly universal to all subjects.
- Introduction: Think about audience and topic of the conference – Why is your research relevant for the particular research community (and in general)?
Begin directly with a short description of the aim of the study - State overarching research question
- Describe methodology
- Describe analysis and results
- Relate results to the research field; implications
By addressing all of these 5 aspects, you should be able to explain your research to reviewers and the audience. Usually, conference organisers use an online tool where you can upload either .pdf or .doc files or enter your text directly in a text box. Before submitting, make sure that all the information is included that is outlined in the call (typically title, keywords, author information) and that your abstract meets the formal requirements (e.g. word limit). Sometimes you are asked to upload an anonymised version without any author names for a double-blind peer review: This means that neither the reviewers of your abstract know your name nor do you know theirs.
Why you shouldn’t miss the conference dinner
When your abstract got accepted, you will have to register and pay the attendance fee. If you are lucky, your university can cover the fee. Even without a university job or a PhD, there are possibilities to apply for funding for conference trips. You should ask bodies like student unions or graduate centers for information. Sometimes all events are covered by the fee and sometimes you can choose the events you want to attend. I would definitely go to the conference dinner, even though it may seem intimidating: Pricey restaurants where you never know exactly what you will be eating. Chances are you end up sitting next to someone you never saw before or maybe you wouldn’t have picked as conversation partner over dinner for more than two hours. However, these involuntary encounters can turn out quite positive. Probably because most people who hang out at conferences are interested and have interesting stories to tell. It may be odd, but conference dinners are one of the few occasions where academics cannot check their mail every five minutes and because they are required to sit on the same spot while being served food, they finally manage to engage in regular conversations without much distractions. Even better, they will talk about what they are genuinely interested in: Most likely the topics of their research and the people that have been inspiring for them. You should use this occasion and I hope that you will hear amazing stories and anecdotes that will make your evening memorable.
By the way – if you are interested in landscape research, you should consider submitting an abstract or coming to Zurich as a guest to ILANSCO24 – the conference we are organising from September 9 to 11, 2024.
