Conferences and the PhD
In person, hybrid or online - which one do you prefer?
(Photo by Andrei Stratu on Unsplash)
Lately I have been receiving emails regarding various conferences all over the world. Due to Covid bringing about hybrid conferences, and the virus still being around - and for climate change reasons - a lot of those conferences that have otherwise only been in person, are trying to adjust in order to help everyone attend them.
In-person conferences: After around three years of no in-person conferences, they have started taking place again. Personally, it is hard for me to attend them due to my jobs, but I would love to start going again. I have not been to an in-person one since 2015, at IATEFL Manchester!
Online conferences: These, along with hybrid, are the best in my opinion. They are not the same as in-person regarding personal contact and conversations during lunch or coffee breaks, but you can still have contact with people over platforms like Discord or in break-out rooms on Zoom and Teams as well. I have made amazing contacts during these two years of online conferences and I am still in touch with these people. You can have the opportunity to take part in conferences that otherwise you would not have had the chance to, either because of time restrictions, or the long distance and expenses. For instance, I had the chance to attend a great phonology conference at Princeton from the comfort of my home and I heard really great talks and learned a lot. I also took part every year since 2021 at the large linguistics conference at Penn State, which is one of the greatest if you are interested in linguistics, This year, it will only be in-person, so I can’t travel to Pennsylvania at that time.
Hybrid conferences: I know this is a lot of work for the organisers (just as hybrid teaching is as well). You have to make sure that the speakers are heard well in the room itself - and online as well. This is a huge opportunity for all of us who cannot travel for various reasons. And the conference organisers have done a great job so far of including us all, those who are physically there and the ones that are at home or in their office.
When I first thought of PhD conferences, I must say that I thought they would be quite formal and maybe even a bit stiff. The truth is, they are nothing like that as far as I have seen. I have seen talks with humour, people without notes (and the opposite, but most of the researchers just have them there to consult them – I have rarely seen people reading from their notes; not being critical here, I would not like to read a paper out loud ever. That’s just my personal opinion though). I have met some really amazing and pretty cool people!
As a teacher presenter, I would often walk into the crowd sitting there listening, while I was doing my talk or workshop, and kept in personal contact with the teachers – it would not be in an intimidating manner, but I went around to people to make the atmosphere more comfortable.
The benefits of attending and presenting at conferences are huge. I was rereading a post I wrote regarding conferences exactly ten years ago – and even though conferences as a teacher and as a PhD researcher are quite different, I agree with most of the benefits you get in both cases after reading my old post again. If you are interested in reading it, here it is as part of a series I wrote about and presented about in various conferences: Conferences, Workshops and Swapshops – PD in Focus 1.
Share your experiences of conferences in the comments! I am looking forward to hearing about them.
