By: Maggie Bushman
As a research team, March marks the beginning of conference season. Conference season is an important time for our team. We rely on these events to not only share our work, but to hear other perspectives about our findings that can lead to new questions and ideas. We love learning what is new in our field, and seeing innovative advancements in science. We get to cheer on our colleagues and connect to our collaborators. We also leverage our social media strategy to create connections with others in our field.
Let’s be honest, for researchers, presenting at a national conference is like our Super Bowl. We get to share years of work and preparation with colleagues in our field, sometimes boiling down what we’ve done to a 1-2 minute elevator speech. No, we don’t get to go to Disney World after our presentation, but we leave feeling invigorated and inspired to take our research to the next step.
Like many events over the past year, we are no longer attending conferences in person due to COVID-19. Our new reality is that we are all attending and presenting virtually from the comfort of our own homes and offices.
Some may argue that presenting virtually means that we are missing out on the whole conference experience. We’re missing the nervous energy and excitement of a banquet hall full of researchers and meeting up with an old colleague for coffee or lunch.
We hope that in the future we will be able to gather again in-person, but for the time being we will move forward any way we can, even if that means attending virtually.
Here are some of the benefits of virtual conferences:
- We still get that rush of adrenaline before we present
We might not be feeling the nervous energy of a giant banquet hall in a new city, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get excited about presenting virtually.
Virtual presentations of our work still allow us to share our findings with colleagues from around the world and receive insightful feedback and questions that can lead to future projects.
Even though we aren’t attending in person, the opportunity to present our work is not lost on us.
2. We get to attend conferences we normally wouldn’t
Virtual conferences allow us to attend events we normally wouldn’t, whether that is because we don’t want to travel during Midwest winters or we don’t have the funds to send team members to the same event. Thus, we get to reach out beyond our usual conference ‘circuit’ to explore new groups and topics.
3. We still get to connect with others
In general, conferences are a place to build connections with other researchers in our field. In person and virtually this is done through social media, more specifically Twitter.
One benefit of virtual conferences is that you can be live tweeting and responding in real time. For me (Maggie), at in-person conferences it always felt uncomfortable to be on my phone live tweeting while someone was presenting. Now that can be done even more efficiently and without feeling like you are disrupting the presentation.
4. It breaks up our remote work week
Remote work can sometimes feel very repetitive, even in research. Attending virtual conferences throughout the year can help break up that routine.
Conferences provide so many opportunities to learn something new and spark innovative ideas, whether that is from a plenary session, a poster presentation or a virtual workshop.
5. You get to wear your blazer with your sweatpants
This is a benefit that is unique to virtual conferences. With video presentations, you get to sport your professional attire AND your comfiest sweatpants if you choose to do so.
There might not be another opportunity to present in your sweats so I would live it up while you can.
Virtual conferences are not the same as in-person, but there are still many benefits to presenting your work. We hope to see you all in the coming months, virtually that is.