Graduate Student Conferences?

[NOWAYNOHOW]

Thoughts on presenting papers at graduate student conferences?  I know the topic of sham conferences (or vanity conferences) has been brought up on this site, but I was wondering what people thought were the benefits or potential disadvantages to presenting at university graduate student conferences. 

 

I have been invited to present at a few being hosted by GSO at pretty great universities, but just want to know I'm doing the right thing for my research (MA level) and for doctoral applications coming in the fall. 

[uromastyx]

I think at the MA level it's fine to have a couple grad student conferences. It will show a particular initiative. If you will be applying to PhD programs then it's probably good to have a couple grad conferences on your CV. You may also consider mentioning that you were invited.

BUT I don't believe that grad students should do more than a couple of these. You should be looking into regional (as well as national and international) conferences.

This is simply my opinion. My MA advisor told me that grad conferences were a waste of my time, but I still did one before moving on to regional and international conferences. I do feel, however, that grad conferences will be fairly irrelevant if/when applying for jobs after the PhD.

[Dal PhDer]

I've been told different things by different professors. I think if you're looking to build your CV for grants/jobs, they're not as good as non-student conferences. You'll want to attend local, national, and international conferences...I would say 1-2 a year for local/national, and 1 international for your degree {that's kind of what I've been told}....BUT...student conferences are great experience and practice, so they're great in that respect and are a valuable experience.

 

I would recommend getting involved with the student conference as well. Being a part of it, and developing/organizing it will add to it's placement on your CV and is great experience.

[NOWAYNOHOW]

Thanks for your responses! 

 

Dal PhDer, Uromastyx, since I'm looking at these opportunities as chances to refine my presentations and get better at publicly speaking about my work, I suppose participating can't hurt.  I also want to add more academic work to my CV (now it is mostly cool and irrelevant professional experience from a former career) so a graduate conference here and there will hopefully show I'm comitted and ambitious. 

 

I am always on the lookout for bigger conferences, but I'm not always a great fit for the conference theme (oddball topic in a small field) and not sure I'm capable of succesfully presenting at that level yet anyway.  I hope practice makes perfect!

[fuzzylogician]

There are two major advantages to a student conference. The first is the experience you get from presenting your work in a low-stress but still formal environment. The presentation will also go on your CV but by the time you apply for jobs you should have higher scale conferences and publications than a student conference on your CV. The other advantage is networking; this will vary by university but often local professors will attend these student conferences (at least in my field) and it can be an opportunity to present your work in front of someone famous and get some useful feedback. Getting to know other students is also helpful - remember, these will be your future peers in your future job, they'll be the people reviewing your papers for journals and conferences, and they might be someone whose house you could crash at when you need a cheap place to stay when attending a conference in their area. It's always a good idea to put your name out there, especially if you can do so with minimal effort (i.e., I would not create a brand new talk for a student conference, but as a MA student and even in the first 1-2 years of a PhD program I think students can benefit from taking an existing talk and giving it at such a conference).

[Zeugma]

What a great question!   I'm coming from a literature/foreign language background, but I think much of this shares its similarity with other academic disciplines. 

Graduate student conferences (GSCs) are wonderful for getting the ball rolling, particularly if it is your first time delivering in front of a formal academic audience. Usually, GSCs are less "(in)tense" then many larger, nation-wide conferences. It gives you an opportunity to meet your future colleagues in your discipline and to speak with professors or researchers in the department hosting the conference. Typically, GSCs ask for very small registration fees, which can be a great bank saver, especially if you are flying in.

However, GSCs (in my experience) have generally been less organized because they are run by one or two graduate students, whereas nation-wide conferences (such as those run by the MLA) are organized by the organizational branch and referee committees. For non-GSCs, the panelists are generally professors (or advanced graduate students who are on the job market) and the overall "quality" that I have usually felt for these conferences was generally higher than that of graduate student conferences. I am certainly not casting aspersions on GSCs, but in terms of quality and rigor, I have felt that the MLA-affiliated conferences were generally more organized. (You get what you pay for, as they say.)

Additionally, GSCs usually are in panel form, whereas in many non-GSCs, the "round-table" trend is seemingly making more of an appearance. 

What I usually recommend is to have a few GSCs on the CV (just to say that you've done and met people in the same area as you), but greater import is usually placed on non-GSC, either in the States or elsewhere internationally.  

Best of luck!
Z

[Joavi]

Interesting discussion...I'm wondering now, what are everyone's thoughts on submitting to the student section of a national conference as opposed to a specific interest division? Are there any major pros and cons to picking the student section? Does whether or not the special interest division have a student paper competition play in?