when to attend conferences?

[tomyum]

I am a second year graduate student. I got stuck with some problems in my research durin  I don't have concrete results yet.  A lot of my cohorts are going to conferences to present theier research and I feel like I am the only one who is not signing up for conferences. When do graduate students need to start attending conferences and do you need to publish before you can apply to attend a conference?

[anthropologygeek]

You should start going in your undergrad even if you have nothing to present

[rising_star]

For presenting, you should go when you have some sort of preliminary results to present, at least in my field. But the right time to go really depends on your field and what the trends are within your discipline.

[uromastyx]

As early and often as possible!! You do not need to be published to present work.

[fuzzylogician]

Indeed you don't need to be published to present but I think risingstar has it right - it's not always that important to present in your early years in a PhD program. Ask your supervisor or more advanced students in your program. In my field I wouldn't advise anyone to get too concerned before their third year, but then it'd be a good time to start presenting some serious project at conferences.

[Eigen]

You don't say what discipline you're in, which might help. 

 

Going to conferences is great for networking- go early and often. I wouldn't worry too much about not presenting early on, but later it will really help people fix you in their mind with an area of work. 

 

At least in the sciences, you do need to have published to be presenting- not from some internal requirement, but from worries about it being scooped. Similarly, in the sciences, you'll need your advisor's permission to go and present your work, and they should be prodding you if they don't think you're presenting enough.