What You Should Know About Attending a Conference

Written by Mona Heidary 

Thumbnail & Banner Photo by Alexandre Pellaes on Unsplash

“If you know why, you can live any how”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Among the main goals you can set for yourself is becoming more competent in your career, educational and personal life.  You would have to  work constantly to make it feasible. This constant work entails looking for as many opportunities as possible to develop your skills and improve yourself. The paths through this progress can be really diverse. Doing research, writing articles, attending conferences, presenting at seminars, attending additional courses, and participating in on-the-job training courses are some of the options one might have. It is also of high significance to keep in mind that these paths can be interconnected, especially when it comes to education and career. When you have a good understanding of your goals in terms of professional or educational growth, you need to look for paths that ensure your progress and align with your needs, interests, and personality traits.  

Conferences are among the most beneficial mediums to enhance the quality and efficiency of one's education and profession. Conferences have a lot to offer whether you decide to participate and present or to attend and learn from the others' research. 

Many scholars present the valuable outcomes of their hard work and research in a session that anyone interested can attend and benefit from. These sessions are followed by a question and answer session where you can discuss what you have learned and raise your questions. The presenter or other participants can answer these questions, which can also  be the basis of future research. The unique feature of seminars is how they deepen the attendees' knowledge and broaden the horizons of possible future research. Moreover, they can be excellent representations of shortcomings and challenges; therefore, solutions and ideas to address such problems might also be generated during conferences. In many cases, this works as a chain: the attendees come up with ideas and become interested in new fields of study. Additionally, they might find aspects about the subject that need to be covered thoroughly,  and consequently conduct some research to add to the existing knowledge and contribute to that field of study. 

Completing a master's degree can act like a bridge between theory and practice, and many grad students are eager to improve their knowledge and expertise to benefit from a deeper understanding of their field of study. Having acquired this knowledge, they can act more confidently and efficiently regarding work or education. Therefore attending conferences can serve grad students well in achieving such goals.  

The process of attending a conference as a presenter requires some steps,. Most presenters work on a specific topic for a while, and they find it essential to share their research findings with other people interested in the field. The next step is finding an appropriate conference at which they are willing to present. After checking some details like the deadlines, the place, and eligibility criteria, potential presenters start writing a proposal for the conference. The proposal usually provides the committee with an overview of the content that the presenter wants to share. If the proposal is accepted, the presenter must prepare the material, slides, handouts, etc., for the presentation day. During the session at the conference, presenters usually highlight the questions they had in their minds before doing their research; they talk about the findings of their research, challenges and problems they faced, and also what further studies can be done. Many researchers publish their work as an article in journals after the presentations. 

Photo by Alexandre Pellaes on Unsplash

On the other hand, an attendee must take different steps regarding participating in a conference. These people usually look for conferences related to their field of study. After checking details like the time, place, and topics that will be covered, they decide which conference to attend based on their interests and/ or needs. Then, they go through the registration process, which might include paying afee. They will be provided with a schedule of the day of the conference where they can find information like topics, critical points of the session, names and backgrounds of the presenters, times, and places. They set their plan and decide which sessions to attend based on their primary attendance purposes. After participating in each session, they can raise their questions and discuss their ideas with other participants and/ or the presenters. 

Many universities are concerned about their students' growth which can contribute to deepening and broadening knowledge; therefore, they decide to provide their students with the opportunity of attending conferences. Such universities ensure that their students are equipped with adequate knowledge, enabling them to do quality research to be presented at conferences. However, some students prefer to benefit from attending the conference and learning about other aspects of their work. Some master's programs at Saint Mary's University offer such facilities to their students to experience different aspects of their field of study. This way, they can better understand what they are doing, their prospects, and how they can continue. 

To summarize, mentioning how significant professional and educational development can be for grad students is essential. Planning your academic and professional development can give you a good understanding of where you started, what steps you have taken, where you stand, and what steps you need to take to achieve your goals. One of the most important mediums that can purposefully facilitate professional development is attending conferences. This article briefly covered the steps a student needs to take to participate in a conference as a presenter or attendee. It also focused on universities' emphasis on attending a conference and their actions to help their students participate in such events. The most important feature that one needs to remember when planning to participate in a conference is one’s aim and how this conference will help one achieve it. If the main goal is sharing and discussing your findings with others, presenting at a conference is a good idea. However, if you prefer to learn about what others have done in your field of study, you may choose to participate and attend different sessions.