May 14, 2024

Getting Conference Ready

I was uncertain about how to dress, but I noticed most people go business casual. So a pair of suit trousers and a nice top or a pair of chinos/jeans and a casual shirt fitted in well.

The organisers will tell you what time you need to have your poster up, and this tends to be before the conference starts. It allows attendees to view the posters and decide in advance if they want to come speak to you when presentations roll around.

Don’t worry about being a little late if something goes wrong. As long as your poster is up with enough time to present it, you will be fine.

If you have breakfast at the hotel or a hotel nearby, be prepared to bump into other people going to the same conference. I got a bit of a jumpscare.

Make sure you have your LinkedIn profile up and running! I have never used this app as much as I did at the conference. It's the professional equivalent of giving your Instagram to someone you want to keep in contact with. There can also be recruiters present, which is of interest to those looking into careers outside of academia.

Attending the Conference

On the first day, look through the booklet provided to find out which talks you might be interested in. You can wander around and see which posters you might want to discuss (if you get a moment around presenting your own).

Talking to PIs can be slightly intimidating. Unfortunately for me, the PI I wanted to talk to was the BSID chair. Fortunately, one of his PhD students was presenting a poster next to mine, so I got talking to him first, which was a much less intimidating link to talking to the PI.

For me, conferences are very overwhelming. You need to remember that while the programme is full, you do not need to go to every single talk. Go to what you find interesting or think will be useful and take some space whenever you need to.

I did the whole first day, and I regret that slightly as it meant that I had to miss the first part of the next day to be able to properly present my poster.

Talk to vendors! As well as being a great source of freebies (dermatology seems to have some particularly nice perks), vendors can also have insights into new technologies that may help solve a lab problem you are having.

Perks of dermatology! I brought my notebook, but many conference booklets have notes pages for you to use. Many people also bring laptops/tablets, which are useful as you can keep up with any work you may need to do alongside taking notes.

Notes are important as some lab groups will arrange a debrief meeting where you present any new research/ideas/technologies from the conference. I would note down any questions you ask so that you don’t freeze when the microphone comes to you, or to follow up after the talk.

Noteing down any techniques you want to try, research groups you might want to collaborate with, and anything that may be of interest to your lab at large is also useful.

Asking questions following talks can be daunting, but they're a great way to learn. You can clarify what you didn't understand, as well as give people something to approach and talk to you about. You can even angle the question towards a problem you may have trouble solving in your research.

You now have a room of experts who can provide useful advice!

If someone is looking at your poster, don’t be afraid to ask if you can talk them through it!

At worst, they might not be interested and will move away after a small chat, but at best they might have some useful insights going forward.

Make sure you are aware of who you are speaking to and pay attention to name tags. Try not to make the same mistake I did and ask a professor 'How much do you know about psoriasis?' to gauge her knowledge base, when she had done all of the fundamental research in my area.