As someone new to the PhD process, I was wondering when people decided to go to conferences - do you decide when and where, or does your supervisor suggest conferences? Who decides when you are ready to go? And how soon after you started your PhD did you attend your first one? Sorry,to ask such a silly question.

Not a silly question at all. In fact, recognising a suitable conference to present your work at is a good exercise once some work has been done and you need to get it out there. I would reckon since you have only started, you will be nowhere near getting substantial writing done until 9-12 months in (you could present on the literature review and your proposed defined area of research as a basis of feedback).
There is another factor ... funding! I am assuming that you wouldn't have as much funding as was about about 3-4 years ago, so you might not have the luxury to go to conferences just to attend without presenting and also funding may not allow for conferences of a far off foreign destination.
To force the issue, get writing as soon as possible to narrow down what exactly your hypothesis is and from that, you should be able to identify possible conferences. Your supervisor will know the main ones in your area and will receive calls for the applicable conferences. If he/she is able to see what your research is looking like, you will decide then. In short, it is usually about the year mark.

Hi Dancing,

I presented at two in my first year, and attended a couple of others. The ones I presented at were suggested by my sup, the others were at my university so felt I should show my face. My first one was about 8 months in, and the second a couple of months after that. Conference attendance varies wildly though amongst PhDers. I'm glad I did some in my first year as I get very nervous about presenting but I know lots of people who haven't until their second or third and it hasn't seemed to harm them. Also, the ones I presented at were postgraduate conferences. I didn't do a 'big boys' one until my second year.
There's no harm in you signing up to conference alerts, or similiar and keeping an eye out for things of interest. Perhaps mention to your sup that you'd like to give it a go at some point and see what they say?

Hey! Yeah, there seems to be a lot of variation in conference attendance among PhD-ers. I only attended one conference in my first year, and I didn't present there- it was just a topic of great interest and also had a workshop that I thought would be really helpful for me. The main issue was that I simply didn't have sufficient data to present in my first year as I'm doing a clinical PhD so data collection is a slow process! I'm halfway through second year now and I have my first conference presentation in June and have put in 2 more abstracts for conferences later this year. It was fairly easy to choose which ones- they are just the main annual British and American conferences in my subject- my supervisor always attends them and presents and usually puts in for symposia with other members of staff and collaborators so it made sense to go for those ones and she was keen for me to present there. To be honest I will be nervous as hell- presenting isn't my strong point but I need practice and experience so I'm going to have to push myself through them and hope it will get easier with time. If you want to go to conferences then I would suggest you have a chat with your supervisor about appropriate ones to go for and make it clear that you want to go. The only downside is the cost- I some funds to cover conference costs with but it won't be enough to attend the ones I want to go to so I am having to apply for grants and also accept that some of my savings may have to go towards it. Not ideal but as I said, I need the experience! Best, KB

hi there :)
I have been to a few conferences, and I've actually been really lucky to get to overseas ones. I presented at all of them, but the first few conferences were just poster presentations (im in the sciences) and it was mostly about the work I will be doing etc. The first conference was 4 months into my phd, my supervisor suggested it and it was great, although it's only when actually doing a talk at a conference that I've got the full benefit from the experience. For selecting conferences, I've looked at the societies related to my field and tried to join the most relevant ones, often conferences are run by a society and it's possible to apply for funding to attend, without dipping in to your studentship. I think all the conferences I've attended actually I obtained outside funding to attend, unless they were at my uni. And as a rule of thumb, to decide which conferences are best to attend, see what the themes for the talks are, if there is funding available and where they are - if you can get a nice trip into the bargin, go for it! :-)

In my field there are several key conferences which everyone goes to. However, to avoid presenting at them i sign up to loads of obscure conferences, or foreign conferences which are big, but no one will know me. Then it means I can present my work and avoid the huge big scary conferences! My sup hasn't sussed that I do that yet hehe.

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