Hello everyone,


please relate to us newbies what was your first conference like, especially how it was received, how you felt it helped you...Also any advice to those who lack confidence and worry too much about what others think. THANKS.

I was sick during my first conference.
I was also worried if very few attended my presentation and some professors might pose difficult questions...
Fortunately, there were at least 10 participants, and only one difficult question was posed by a professor. I did not pretend to know the answer but simply explained that there should be more research...

This professor was a journal editor and suggested me to reorganize my conference paper, and submit it to his journal.
He also gave me some advice privately after the presentation and my paper was published shortly.

In my last presentation, the room was full and it seemed well received.
However, i don't feel anything special with conference now.
It is a place for networking. The participants are more concerned of their own presentations.
Why allocate memory space for the presentations of others?

The participants rather remember your kind words or feedback on their presentations.

My first conference was scary, I won't lie. I was worried sick about the questions - they were the big unknowns to me. Fortunately the chairman introduced me as a student at my first conference so I think people were kinder. A lot of people attended my presentation which also made me very nervous, I was asked a few easy to answer questions (yay!) and people came up to me afterwards to ask further questions when the pressure was off a bit. The only thing you can really do is practice as much as you can in the weeks leading up, and ask fellow students/supervisors to ask you lots of questions so you may have an idea of what questions may arise. This will also give you some confidence in your talk which will show when you present. It's scary but worthwhile, it's nice to know that people care about and are interested in your work and it is a good opportunity to learn and meet other people. You can't control what others think of you, so just go up and do the best you can. I struggle with this too, and I'm sure many others do too so take solace in that other presenters probably feel just as nervous! Good luck with it.

I would suggest if you can, to attend meetings and conferences to get an idea of what to expect. I went to the Scottish Neuroscience Meeting and a major conference. I am glad I went to the conference as an attendee, as I know what they like so it wouldn't be nerve wrecking attending the conference and speak to the people with the posters to get an idea of how it works that way.