Resume Question: Listing conferences attended?

[newms]

Hey everyone. I have a question about resumes/CVs. Is it practice to list a conference you attended, but didn't present a paper/poster at on your resume? I ask because I'm planning to attend a top conference in my field later this year, but I won't be participating as a presenter, just an attendee. Thanks for any insights.

[fuzzylogician]

Hey everyone. I have a question about resumes/CVs. Is it practice to list a conference you attended, but didn't present a paper/poster at on your resume? I ask because I'm planning to attend a top conference in my field later this year, but I won't be participating as a presenter, just an attendee. Thanks for any insights.

No, it's not customary to list attendance in conferences where you didn't present anything.

What you can, and should, do with your attendance is use the opportunity to meet as many potential advisors as possible. Introduce yourself and make a good impression, and your acceptance chances will improve.

[newms]

No, it's not customary to list attendance in conferences where you didn't present anything.

What you can, and should, do with your attendance is use the opportunity to meet as many potential advisors as possible. Introduce yourself and make a good impression, and your acceptance chances will improve.

Thanks for the reply. I do plan to try to meet as many of them as I can.

[fuzzylogician]

Thanks for the reply. I do plan to try to meet as many of them as I can.

Great! You might want to contact them ahead of time and schedule time to have coffee with them during a break or to talk to them during a talk you both decided not to attend, otherwise you might find that in these big conferences professors prefer to spend time with other professors. Sometimes it feels like they all know each other and are using the conference to advance their own plans or catch up, so some professors may seem (and be) less approachable. It's be a shame to waste an opportunity like the one you have (and I speak from experience here, having not been able to introduce myself to a professor who was constantly busy and then suddenly left early the year before I applied; talking to him could have saved me some time and money on an application because it turned out that he was about to change schools).

Edited September 8, 2010 by fuzzylogician

[newms]

Great! You might want to contact them ahead of time and schedule time to have coffee with them during a break or to talk to them during a talk you both decided not to attend, otherwise you might find that in these big conferences professors prefer to spend time with other professors. Sometimes it feels like they all know each other and are using the conference to advance their own plans or catch up, so some professors may seem (and be) less approachable. It's be a shame to waste an opportunity like the one you have (and I speak from experience here, having not been able to introduce myself to a professor who was constantly busy and then suddenly left early the year before I applied; talking to him could have saved me some time and money on an application because it turned out that he was about to change schools).

Thanks again for the great advice! The conference listed the accepted papers this week and I saw that 6 profs I'm interested in working with (one of whom I've met already) have papers that will be presented, so I will definitely try to contact them before and schedule a meetup.

[hahahut]

Maybe study their papers beforehand and ask some damn good questions during their presentation's Q&A. Later when they meet you, it might help them to burn a strong mark that would take at least this whole application season to fade.

[newms]

Maybe study their papers beforehand and ask some damn good questions during their presentation's Q&A. Later when they meet you, it might help them to burn a strong mark that would take at least this whole application season to fade.

That's my plan! The conference is late in the application season so they won't have to remember me for too long before they review my application. The conference is also in in the city that one of the schools I'm planning on applying to is located, so I 'll use the opportunity to visit there as well.