Presenting at my first conference on Friday- a so-called 'postgraduate' conference. Was feeling quite happy about my work and relatively confident until half an hour ago when started Googling the names of the others who are presenting, out of idle curiosity. Discovered the vast majority have presented at loads of conferences already/had lots of publications/won awards/are almost finished their PhD...all are at prestigious universities. I don't even have a space on my own university's website.
Feeling strangely amused by it all- I can see some 'Legally Blonde' type scenarios ahead, uneducated bimbo attempting to infiltrate the upper echelons.
Just wanted to share!

I've got the impression during my part-time PhD that some students seem to regularly do the rounds of conferences, although goodness knows where they get the money for it from. Maybe their departments have lots of spare cash for this sort of thing?

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you - and it sounds as though you're not anyway. You've just as much right to be there, could deliver as good a talk as any of them, and it's really good experience. I went to a conference back in 2005 early on in my part-time PhD and some of the worst speakers were the senior academics: boy could they ramble on and on and over-run! Really narked me off. The postgrads, by contrast, were almost always spot on time-wise and very interesting to listen to.

Enjoy the conference!

Well, I am presenting at an international conference in July. I felt the same as you (I have just finished my first year of PhD) but then I thought "They must have started from somewhere! Why them and not me? They are not better than me!!!" Maybe they are better, maybe they have more experience, but I can do it too!
Good luck!

:-) I just checked "Legally Blonde" on wikipedia and the main character walks away with the head held high at the end, right?! So, all will be well then 8-) (up)

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Ha ha good point Poppy! Me and my chihuahua ;-)



I like your spirit Emmanki! And you're right, we all have to start somewhere. Unfortunately there are no conferences for 'inexperienced, middle of the road, ex-poly postgrads' so I will have to play with the big boys and girls. Good point as well Bilbo; one of the guys- not that I'm stalking- seems to have presented at and put together a million conferences aswell as teaching and publishing. I'll be happy to get my thesis done and get in a couple of journals!

I'm just trying not to get too defensive about it and to make it clear that I'm there to get feedback and meet others and I'm aware my work isn't perfect and I don't know everything.

The only thing I hope is that the people are nice!

I completely back this up. Just because they have done more than you doesn't mean they are better at it than you. Also, what sort of conferences have they presented at? If it's mostly postgrad conferences I would be a bit suspicious. They are a really good place to start but they should be stepping stone to bigger things. Hundreds of little conferences and colloquiums might not be as challenging as one major international conference. If they are just really experienced and really good, I'd try to chill out, enjoy learning from them, and get their contact details so you can ask them for hints and tips.
Plus, the mark of a really good academic is that they can listen well not just talk well - so if they are really that good they should be helpful, attentive and charitable towards you.
Very best of luck and stay happy!

I'm doing my first 'grown up' presentation on Thurday (that is one not just to people who will be nice about what I say) I have a plan, but nothing put down yet - will do that this weekend. They want something inspiring - so I'm going to set up a couple of experiments to run and finish at various times during the presentation - acting like a sort of clock, and some other bits and pieces. I'm second on after lunch so want something to wake people up! I was going to do something more flamey like the screaming jelly baby- but our dept at school set off the fire alarm doing just such an experimet at school- and unfortunately there was an exam going on at the same time :$ head was not amused to say the least :-(

I can only echo much of what has been said below. I completed my PhD earlier this year, have since addressed my first "international" conference and have another one coming up in a couple of weeks. It never ceases to amaze me how experienced, highly qualified and fully tenured academics can be so utterly awful at communicating, and at keeping to time.

My own presentation skills leave much to be desired (nerves take over every time, though this is improving each time I do it), but I always keep to time and always try to consider the audience's prior level of knowledge to bring them "on side" quickly. This, I find, makes them far more forgiving of the odd stumble and my feedback has always been so positive that I start to think "were you listening to the same talk - the one where I stuttered and went red and spoke too quickly?"

I think the most valuable advice I have received is to forget yourself while you deliver your talk and play a role: that of "successful, confident academic". Everyone else is!

I would strongly suggest some whisky, listen to either Lamb of God's "Redneck" or Mastodon's "Blood & Thunder" just before presenting - with the blood pumping give the presentation. If anyone asks a stupid question, say it is a stupid question, throw the eyes up to heaven while laughing and mutter 'numbskull' under your breath. If anyone says why your research is correct, answer back ... "Cos I said so, duma$$!"

And coming back to reality, it is inevitable that people will know more than you but to paraphrase an old saying "Knowledge without compassion is just knowledge: Wisdom is both". Take solace that you are probably up to date with your knowledge - half the professors are still basking in former glories and are not in tune with contemporary knowledge. Just don't stretch into territory that you don't know - if someone (which there is always one) tries to catch you, say you just don't know and will look into it. If possible, with their help.

If I get to PhD level, this is a situation that I can see myself being in, coming from an ex-poly myself. Although for my subject it is well-respected, some people probably can't get over the name of the university, if that makes sense. Thats their problem though, don't let it intimidate you if thats what you're worried about and as I'm sure you know you have as much right to be there as any of them, like you said you all have to start somewhere and presenting at a conference is a massive achievement in itself.

Are you going on your own or is anyone else from your university presenting? Good luck, hope it all goes well for you, Natassia x x

Hi all,

Just thought I'd give you a quick update and let you know how it went. Well they were possibly two of the most bizarre days of my life- I'm not sure I'll ever go to a conference again where the emphasis was mainly on drinking. One well respected lecturer fell asleep on my shoulder in a nightclub!
As I expected, everybody's papers were brilliant and it scared the living bejezus out of me. Everybody was very confident and composed and the paper's were innovative and interesting and entertaining. On the other hand, almost everybody went over time and many seemed to be reading from full length papers and rushing to fit it all in in time.
On the day of my paper I was seriously considering running away ('Nobody would ever find out!') but I dragged myself up there, one step at a time. And it went really well 8-) I was nervous and shaky to begin with, and I think people could tell, but as I got into it I felt better and there were no major stumbles. Because me and the other girl on my panel stuck to time quite well I got loads and loads of questions, but I managed to answer most of them and with the ones I didn't I didn't feel too bad saying 'I hadn't thought about that,...' To be honest, most of them weren't really questions- they were people saying 'this is what I know about your subject', but it was really helpful as I got loads of suggestions for things to look at and places to go with it. Lots of people came up to me afterwards and said they really enjoyed my paper and chatted about it.
I would like to improve my confidence and presentation style somewhat, but I think I'll stick to saying, as I did there, that my paper is a work in progress and that I'd welcome comments. Nobody else did that and I do think it helped people to feel at ease with talking about my paper.
Natassia I didn't feel too left out coming from an ex-poly but there was a lot of 'so where is that exactly?' Overall though it really wasn't as much of a big deal as I thought it would be. Bonzo your suggestions made me chuckle- there were quite a few people who, while didn't mutter 'numbskull' under their breath looked as though they wanted to whilst answering questions.
But seriously, anybody reading this who has their first conference coming up- if I did it ANYONE can (up)

Well done! It sounds like you had a really positive experience that you really used to your advantage, and you probably didn't sound shaky at all at the beginning! The only thing I've been to apart from a normal lecture was a public lecture by a well-respected professor in my field (dissertation supervisor told me about it as it was relevant, otherwise undergrads don't get told about things like that), and I found the questions at the end to be the most interesting and important part for me, as they provided a way of consolidating what had been said, and then it all became much clearer for me. So its really good that you and the other girl on your panel got to answer loads of questions and have feedback, it would have probably made yours stand out from the others and would have made it more thought-provoking.

I don't think I have to worry so much as everyone knows where my university is, however it is practically next door to a really good university and so it is a bit overlooked in the area, if that makes sense. However, for my MSc subject (interdisciplinary and fairly new) it totally stands out. I am more worried about when I go for a PhD place (as I want to) and they decide to take someone from a 'better' university based on name rather than what I have actually studied. I guess one of the ways to avoid that is to do my PhD at the same university, which would be ideal. So many things to think about at the moment though, and I haven't even got my undergrad results yet!