International conferences such as the European Geosciences Union General Assembly are attended by thousands of geoscientists. As a young geoscientists attending for the first time, you can feel a bit lost, and given the size of the conference centres, actually BE lost! For people with experience, conferences have a lot to offer. GfGD has pulled together some top tips to help you find your way around large conference such as EGU.
Talk to people
One of the key purposes of a conference is to network. Posters are a great way to start a discussion. You can just walk up to one that looks interesting and ask the presenter to talk you through it. The discussion should be two way, so don’t be afraid to ask them for some advice on your own research if you think they could help.
…and tweet
You can improve the conference experience by joining in on twitter. Hundreds of people tweeted talk summaries, opinions and shared information through twitter using the official hashtag #EGU2013 at this year’s EGU meeting.
Have a flexible schedule
Have a look through the programme before the conference begins, and make a rough plan of which sessions it would be most beneficial for you to attend. Be prepared for this to change throughout the week though, and don’t expect to be in talks all day, every day. It is much better to sit out of a few sessions and take a break, maybe even use the time to talk one-on-one with someone. Don’t forget there are all sorts of activities at a major conference besides the talks. There will normally be some debates, short courses and meet and greet sessions.
Promote your research
Memorise the time slot and session that you are presenting in, and then mention it to people you talk to during the week, inviting them to come and listen to your talk or chat to you about your poster. It can be helpful to print out a pile of A4 versions of your poster to take around and hand out to people. Make sure your poster has the session number and your name and contact details on it. Even if they don’t make it to your poster during the conference, they’ll remember your name.
Have fun!
The conference will normally organise a welcome event the day before the talks start and a sometimes final party at the end. Look up what activities they have planned. For the rest of the time people will be heading out in groups each night so find one to tag along with. Having fun in the evenings is expected!
