Conferences
Well, I'm about 2 hours away from leaving with my boss for a meeting at Princeton University. I think I mentioned before that I've never been to Princeton before, and I'm anxious to check out the campus firsthand.
I think this is about the 5th major conference that I've attended--about one per year since I've been involved in science as either a technician or a grad student. I've left some with increased enthusiasm for my work, others with a sinking feeling that everyone else is doing better science than I am, and still others with little more than a headache.
You can definitely suffer from information overload at these things. Especially at meetings like this where you sit through about a million 12 minute talks in each session. Add to that the posters that you'll see, and the people you'll talk with, and you end up with more information than can sink in in 5 days. I guess that's why you take all those notes. Of course, I don't know that I've ever opened up my notebook from a conference more than once or twice after getting home.
The good thing is that my advisor is going to this meeting. That lets me off the hook for having to give a dreaded "meeting summary" to the lab at our next lab meeting. Can you imagine trying to fit the contents of 5 days of meetings into a 45 minute presentation? Just hitting the highlights can be a challenge.
A few summers ago, I was at a meeting at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island. It was held the same week that the power went out in New York (and much of the Northeast, I think). For a while, we were all mulling around outside (since it was too dark indoors), and I remember thinking to myself, "this sure is a strange group of people that I'm associated with." So many of them fit the classic mad scientist/absent minded professor stereotypes. I left that meeting wondering if I was really fit to be a scientist. Unfortunately, that question has still not been answered.
Meetings can be a great place to build ties with other scientists. I've definitely had a few good conversations with people and felt like I grew from my association with them. While I'm not a very social person, I recognize that the social aspect of meetings is probably just as important as the presentations. Afterall, the technology exists to have virtual meetings over the internet, but I bet that no one would substitute those for seeing people in person. It will be a challenge to get myself past my shyness and build some bridges at this meeting.
I'll have to follow up with a post in a few days with my impressions of Princeton, the meeting, and the people I meet.
I think this is about the 5th major conference that I've attended--about one per year since I've been involved in science as either a technician or a grad student. I've left some with increased enthusiasm for my work, others with a sinking feeling that everyone else is doing better science than I am, and still others with little more than a headache.
You can definitely suffer from information overload at these things. Especially at meetings like this where you sit through about a million 12 minute talks in each session. Add to that the posters that you'll see, and the people you'll talk with, and you end up with more information than can sink in in 5 days. I guess that's why you take all those notes. Of course, I don't know that I've ever opened up my notebook from a conference more than once or twice after getting home.
The good thing is that my advisor is going to this meeting. That lets me off the hook for having to give a dreaded "meeting summary" to the lab at our next lab meeting. Can you imagine trying to fit the contents of 5 days of meetings into a 45 minute presentation? Just hitting the highlights can be a challenge.
A few summers ago, I was at a meeting at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island. It was held the same week that the power went out in New York (and much of the Northeast, I think). For a while, we were all mulling around outside (since it was too dark indoors), and I remember thinking to myself, "this sure is a strange group of people that I'm associated with." So many of them fit the classic mad scientist/absent minded professor stereotypes. I left that meeting wondering if I was really fit to be a scientist. Unfortunately, that question has still not been answered.
Meetings can be a great place to build ties with other scientists. I've definitely had a few good conversations with people and felt like I grew from my association with them. While I'm not a very social person, I recognize that the social aspect of meetings is probably just as important as the presentations. Afterall, the technology exists to have virtual meetings over the internet, but I bet that no one would substitute those for seeing people in person. It will be a challenge to get myself past my shyness and build some bridges at this meeting.
I'll have to follow up with a post in a few days with my impressions of Princeton, the meeting, and the people I meet.
posted by pro_blogger at 11:43 AM
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