Conferences are an important part of many people’s academic careers: they provide the opportunity to present your research to specialists in your field; to talk with friends and colleagues at other institutions; and to learn about new publications, methods, and current research. They can also cause anxiety or disappointment (especially those conferences that include job interviews). But being prepared for your next conference, whether it’s your first or your fiftieth, with some tips from the ProfHacker archive, can help you enjoy your trip and get the most from the experience.
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Conferences are an important part of many people’s academic careers: they provide the opportunity to present your research to specialists in your field; to talk with friends and colleagues at other institutions; and to learn about new publications, methods, and current research. They can also cause anxiety or disappointment (especially those conferences that include job interviews). But being prepared for your next conference, whether it’s your first or your fiftieth, with some tips from the ProfHacker archive, can help you enjoy your trip and get the most from the experience.
Social Media Before, During, and After the Conference
As tweeting at conferences has become more common (in some fields anyway), various concerns have been raised about the professional ethics and etiquette of participating in a conference backchannel. Adeline’s Open Thread post on Best Practices for Live-Tweeting Conferences includes links to guides to best practices written by scholars in different fields as well as some critiques of this use of social media.
Anastasia’s Presenting for Twitter at Conferences points out that the intellectual and informational value that Twitter provides both to the in-person conference attendees and those observing via social media depends not only on the audience members. She says “The presenters can play a big role in determining how accessible their work is to those looking in” and offers concrete suggestions about how to encourage people to tweet about your presentation if that’s something you would like to do. Erin has written about Choosing #Hashtags which can help make your particular panel session and your conference as a whole more available to interested users.
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Katy Meyers’s guest post Using Twitter and QR Codes at Conferences describes how, as a presenter in a poster session, she used QR codes to link to her project website and CV and contact information.