conference addiction... how many conference should I attend?

[dunnowhatdo]

Hallo everybody, 

I'm finishing my Ma in Art History in Germany and now I feel a little bit more confident about my qualities as a student. I sent an abstract to an international conference entirely dedicated only to an author (let's pretend like you want to be an expert on Oscar Wilde and the conference is just on him). and I was pretty surprised because my paper was accepted. The conference will be this summer.

Now I'm planning to take part in let's say another 1 or 2 conference for this year, in order to put something on my cv and maybe use the feedback I receive on those paper to work out a possible idea for a Ph.d.

My main concern is wether I should go in Ma-organised conference with just one keynote speaker or it would be just a waste of time. Most of those conference are held in Uk and I don't have fundings for my Ma, so I would have to pay for the plane and the stay.

 

I sent only another abstract for a conference in Uk and now I'm waiting for the result.

 

My question is: do you distinguish on your cv if it was a graduate student conference or a normal one?

How do you distinguish those two by looking on the call for papers?

I mean, there are conference organized by ma students but they are sponsored by other institutions or things like that. 

With graduate students conference do you guys mean those conference held each year at the end of the semester?

 

thanks for your answer

 

 

[Guest |||]

Typically conference attendence isn't vastly important on your CV unless you are a keynote speaker or recieve some sort of particular award. 

 

It is expected you will attend conferences, and they will be a few lines on your resume, but aside this, do not overassume their importance.  The true use of conference is networking, meeting people, exchanging ideas - that is, the value of a conference is the conference itself, not what it adds to your CV.

 

 

By the by, I have heard though, that people who list many conferences are seen as wanting to travel more than do actual work.  Not official, just word of the grapevine.

[dunnowhatdo]

I totally agree with you, in fact I try to choose conference in departements which I think share similar perspective on my field of research. Also I don't think that if I write on my cv that I gave 3 paper on this topic it sounds like I just want to travel, it would maybe show that I'm ambitious and so on. 

 

When I look at cv's of young professors they list even minor conferences, and in my case it is better to show that I did something aside writing my ma dissertation, so I can claim, if not a growing expertise on a topic, at least the will to research. 

Also, my academic cv is empty, I mean, I never gave a paper and never published anything, but in Europe is pretty normal at the ma level.

 

Maybe I'm too idealistic and I of course think  that is better to publish an article than to give a paper, but why not refine ideas for an article with the feedback received at a conference?

[fuzzylogician]

Conferences you attended but did not present at should not be on your CV (unless norms in your field are different from mine, which is worth checking). You should list all conferences you present at. Student conferences are conferences aimed only at students who have not yet earned their PhD and that is normally stated as part of the call for papers. Those conferences count as less and are normally only good to attend in your early years in a MA/PhD program; later on you should be presenting in national and international conferences.

[dunnowhatdo]

Of course I put on my Cv only conferences where I gave a speech.

 

The conferences to which I applied so far are:

 

one international conference of 3 days. 

 

one conference organized by a postgraduate student journal but not restricted to student.

 

Let's see if I manage to give another paper, so maybe my cv won't be that impressive and big, but ut'd show that I have an interest and ambition.