Conferences are a key development activity and a fundamental part of a research or technical career
Conferences are how you hear about what is going on in your field, not just the keynote talks and lectures, seminars and workshops but in the conversations at the end of sessions, during the breaks and over lunch.
From a personal development perspective, presenting a poster or a paper and getting questions and feedback from delegates is hugely beneficial. You are gaining key skills and experience and also getting valuable input to your subject matter – corrections, new ideas to help solve problems, new areas to investigate to broaden and deepen your work. You will also get the chance to hear from more experienced workers in your field and from distinguished and eminent leaders.
Networking
A key benefit of conferences is networking. If, like me you are of an introverted disposition (it doesn’t mean you can’t talk to people, just that you don’t have to as you draw your energy from internal resources rather than external ones) then the phrase networking session gives you a sinking feeling at the prospect of standing hopelessly on your own whilst everyone else has marvellous conversations in groups around you. The Early Career Mathematicans’ group in their annual conference have an Unconference to facilitate this. The sessions are structured around topics you select and work very well in prompting discussion, interchange of ideas and helping you get to know the people in the workshops you join. However, if you do ever find yourself in an unstructured ‘do-it-yourself’ networking session, a tip I found worked reasonably well, is to look for a person standing on their own and rescue them by going to talk to them. This element is seriously curtailed in online events so take time to note who participates in the sessions you join and who asks good questions so you have an opening for when you get the chance to meet in person in the future.
Conferences are an important part of professional life whichever route your career takes for sharing new ideas and best practice as well as getting to know peers and colleagues. Make sure you include your participation, whether as a speaker or delegate, in your CV. During the summer period there are a number of events held by the Joint IMA-SIAM Student Chapters so look out for ones that you can attend. The positive of remote events is you don’t have to be able to travel and cover accommodation costs.
Erica Tyson
University Liaison Officer.
