What I wish I knew before presenting at a conference

Are you a postgraduate student who is expected to present your research findings at a conference? Or are you an undergraduate student who is thinking about doing a master's or PhD? Speaking at a conference for the first time can be daunting to think about, let alone to actually do!

As a postgraduate student myself, I attend conferences (events where researchers share their work with each other) and sometimes give my own presentations on disability and neurodiversity at these too. I’m the first person in my household to go to university and I am still learning as I go about the world of academia. At the time of writing, I’ve contributed to ten conferences/events: and while I don’t know everything there is to know about all conferences for all subjects, there are definitely some things I wish I knew before I started.

What does it all mean? 

One of the main things I struggled with at first was reading or hearing words I didn’t understand. People talked about the number of ‘delegates’ (the people who attend) and the ‘chairs’ (the people running each group of sessions). The people speaking weren’t described as giving a presentation, talk or speech but were ‘giving a paper.’ It confused me that a ‘paper’ can mean multiple things in this context: when an academic writes a journal article, the article can be called a ‘paper;’ academics often give a paper based on a paper they have written or are planning to write. When I first started I didn’t realise this, and found it all a bit confusing.

Your Audience

My first conference paper was about peer learning strategies, and I co-presented it as part of a team at a peer learning conference in 2020. While this may not be true for every conference, I think one thing that helped me with my nerves for this event was that I knew that people attending would be interested in, or at the very least they would want to learn about, peer learning. This has helped me with most (if not all) of the rest of the conferences/events that I have contributed to, as I try to remember that the delegates are unlikely to be people who think that the topic being discussed is unimportant or uninteresting. They have chosen (and sometimes paid) to hear about a specific or broader topic in their own time so it is not like trying to dissect the latest Love Island recoupling with someone who can’t stand hearing about reality TV – they actually want to be there. 

Scheduling

The main thing I wish I knew before I signed up to give any papers is that the details of the conference programme may not be fixed. I thought that the schedules for these events would be definite and that once I had been told my date and time and put the details on my work and personal calendars, that would be that. However, this has not always been the case.

For one event, I got an email on the day to say that my time slot had changed slightly, meaning that there was more time to fill and I struggled to decide how to manage this and what to add. For another conference, I found out when I joined the Zoom call that my slot had already happened. I thought I was prepared for my slot and had the schedule printed, sent to my family, flagged in my email inbox, emailed to myself and screenshotted on my phone for good measure. I hadn’t realised that I had been consulting an old version of the programme and that my slot had moved. Luckily, I was still able to give my paper at both events but for the second situation, it meant presenting without much warning, which was a bit* (*extremely) scary!

What I’ve learned from these experiences is that I need to always keep an eye out for new versions of the schedule and for any updates about the timings changing for my paper. Saving the details on the day that I first receive them may not be enough to make sure that I am prepared, so I encourage you to double (or triple) check things like this – just in case.

Preparation

Now, there are a lot of sayings that you have probably heard already about preparation like ‘fail to prepare and prepare to fail’ (or something like that). But what do you actually need to do to prepare for the day? I think that everyone’s preparation looks a little different. 

I like to have my conference content (for example, PowerPoint slides or a poster and notes about what to say) backed up in different formats, including having a printed copy in front of me and a copy screenshotted on my phone.

Sometimes, I think that holding a piece of paper up can make it harder to read if the light makes what is on the back shine through when you are trying to read what is on the front. A singular piece of paper can also shake a bit if the person holding it is shaky which can make it harder to read, not to mention, I have accidentally dropped my physical paper copy on the floor or knocked it off the table before when it is not weighed down by the rest of the notepad.

While some people might recommend practising in front of other people (like friends and family), I tend to find this more stressful than just practising alone – and not particularly helpful. However, I do find it helpful to record a voice memo of myself and listen to it back, as this helps me to understand the pace I am talking at to make sure I don’t embody a sloth or go full cheetah mode.

It’s not just your paper that you might need to prepare, but yourself too. When I first started contributing to conferences, I wasn’t sure what to wear or what to do to get ready. Now, I prepare myself by wearing or packing clothes which are right for the possible temperature of the room and by eating or packing food that I might need. For me, water, a fan, clothing that keeps me cool and sweets are conference essentials. But what might preparing look like for you? Maybe it could involve exercising to destress, drinking a coffee, bringing a stim/fidget toy or packing your phone charger. 

Once, I even got my nails done specifically for a conference. While I’ve yet to see this on any conference event websites so far, matching my nails to the themes of my paper actually helped me to feel ready and focused on why I was presenting. I opted for bright, unique, colourful patterns as my paper was linked to neurodiversity and I wanted my nails to reflect what that means to me.

When preparing your work and yourself, remember that it is okay to be nervous. Public speaking is a super common phobia and it is normal to worry about it. I’m not going to get into all the ‘what ifs’ of things that you could worry might go wrong or I'll scare us both. But I will say that a lot of the time, your paper will be over before you know it. 

The requirements and expectations of different conferences may vary, and you might have as little as 8, 10 or 15 minutes to give your paper (and this can fly by). Having some form of introduction and conclusion section is generally useful. So far, I have planned to introduce and conclude all of mine (although sometimes the concluding section has been something I have had to rush through or past due to running out of time). 

Sometimes, there is time for questions immediately after each paper and on other occasions, the questions sections are grouped together, for example 15 minutes to discuss any questions after every three papers. Nervous about the Q&A? Remember that if you’re asked a question that you’re not sure about, you don’t have to have all the answers and you can leave it open by saying you don’t know or you’ll get back to the person who asked it. 

So, what about the actual speaking part? Some people find it easier than others to speak well and sound confident. Recently, I’ve found the advice of Vinh Giang on YouTube particularly useful for enhancing effective communication (for example, the importance of pausing and the power of storytelling). However, I also think that sometimes it’s okay to recognise that we might sound nervous and that’s okay. I think sometimes there’s a myth that if you teach, give presentations or give papers, you have to sound amazingly confident and assured or you can’t do it at all. But I think it’s often better to focus on the fact that you know your stuff and that you have something to share about your research. I tend to think “this is about the topic, not about me” and this helps me to stop focussing on my worries to focus on the discussion I want to contribute to and the difference I want to make. 

In summary, giving your first paper at a conference can be nerve-wracking and it can be difficult to know what to expect. Last year, I gave papers at three conferences/events and the year before, one of the papers I gave was at a conference that I’d actually co-organised myself. For me, contributing to conferences can be valuable, enjoyable and rewarding but that doesn’t mean I don’t get nervous. While I’m still learning as I go and don’t claim to know everything about all conferences on all subjects, I have learned a lot from my experiences so far. 

Conference schedules can change, a piece of paper can fly away and it’s completely okay to be nervous. You don’t always have to practise it in front of other people and can prepare in a way that suits you. The delegates are probably interested in your topic and you can do this – good luck!

Image courtesy of CIO Magazine.