When is it too early to present at conferences?

[quilledink]

While working on my Master's thesis I decided, on a whim, to submit an abstract of it to a large (and prominent) conference in my field. I'll be starting a PhD in the fall, and I guess I assumed it was good practice for abstract writing--not necessary that I'd get in! But I did, and now I'm wondering: when is it too early to be presenting at conferences?

 

I know that I'm at an awkward career stage--I'm moving from a country where having an MA before a PhD is normal, whereas it's not in the States and so a first year PhD student has much less experience than I do. But still--MA under my belt or not, the first year (semester, really!) in a PhD seems like it's a bit too early to be presenting.

 

Anyone have any thoughts/experience with this? How did it work out?

 

(For reference: I'm in a field which blends humanities and social sciences. Most research is communicated via texts and articles in journals)

[fuzzylogician]

I don't think there is such a thing as 'too early,' really. Some exposure early on is good. The most important thing is to make sure that you give a good presentation, so I would hope that even though it's work you bring with you from another institution, your new advisors will be willing to help you prep for this presentation. The more inexperienced you are, the longer it will take you to prep, so you will want to start early and give at least one practice talk. Keep in mind: a not-so-good presentation by a young student will usually be forgiven, but a good one will be remembered. Your Masters work will surely have lots of interesting and varied content so this will be a good opportunity to learn how to turn that into an engaging talk, which is not an easy skill to develop. It will also give you a low-stakes opportunity to see what conferences are like and to meet some new people. If there is any way to use this work in your PhD program (develop it into a qualifying paper, use an extension for a final paper for some class, develop it into a journal submission), this is a great opportunity to do so and involve someone from your new school in the process.

 

I would say, go for it. The main reasons I would see not to do it are if you don't get any support from your new institution, if you've completely changed directions and this work is not pertinent to what you do anymore, or if your travel will not be reimbursed.

[quilledink]

Thanks fuzzylogician! That seems like sound advice--I hadn't even thought about involving my new supervisor, but will definitely do so (my MA research is related, though indirectly, to what I want to do during my PhD). Thanks!

[bhr]

I presented at a major niche (is that a thing?) conference in my field in the summer before starting my MA. I'll have added a handful of other major conferences by the time I start a PhD (if I'm lucky), including one that sounds like it's in your field this week. As long as the work is good, I don't see why there would be a reason not to try to present it.

[rising_star]

It's definitely not too early, especially since you'll be presenting on research you've already completed. It would be different if you were in the planning stages of doing the research and had no findings/results to report. You should definitely talk to your new supervisor about the presentation. They might have advice for you, want you to practice your talk in advance, etc. 

[TakeruK]

It's never too early! I presented at conferences during undergrad! In my opinion, as soon as you have research done and interesting results (or even preliminary results to share), you should present. And at some types of conferences in my field (e.g. the one organized by our national society), the idea is to just update people what you're working on--so people present even if they have no results, especially if they are more junior people (e.g. undergrads or first year grad students). It's never too early to get some practice and get your name attached to your topic.

 

Just one tip as a fellow Canadian: If you are attending prior to starting your PhD program, don't introduce yourself as a Masters student! I would just say "grad student". I presented at a US conference at the end of my Canadian MSc and I introduced myself to people in this way and they all made comments like "Oh not everyone needs a PhD" or other vaguely patronizing comments since a Masters student in a US is either in a non-PhD route, or failed out of their PhD program. If you are going to have time to explain our grad program, then sure, go for it, but often, you only exchange one or two lines as introduction and then it gets awkward if you have to spend extra time explaining yourself!!

[dr. t]

I have heard people advising against conference presentations "too early". They are wrong. The more practice you get at communicating your ideas, the better you will be at it. This will pay dividends quickly.

[serenade]

I have heard people advising against conference presentations "too early". They are wrong. 

Completely agree. My MA advisor told me they were insignificant because I was "only" MA; he also thought MA students shouldn't write theses, publish papers, or basically engage in any kind of professional development. Learned to take his most of his advice with a grain of salt. 

[quilledink]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Guess I'll just have to make sure my MA thesis is as polished as it can be well in advance!

 

Just one tip as a fellow Canadian: If you are attending prior to starting your PhD program, don't introduce yourself as a Masters student! I would just say "grad student". I presented at a US conference at the end of my Canadian MSc and I introduced myself to people in this way and they all made comments like "Oh not everyone needs a PhD" or other vaguely patronizing comments since a Masters student in a US is either in a non-PhD route, or failed out of their PhD program. If you are going to have time to explain our grad program, then sure, go for it, but often, you only exchange one or two lines as introduction and then it gets awkward if you have to spend extra time explaining yourself!!

This is great advice--thanks. It's so normal to do an MA here that I forget it's looked down up in the states. I will have started my PhD by then, though, so that should make things a bit easier.

[lewin]

Completely agree. My MA advisor told me they were insignificant because I was "only" MA; he also thought MA students shouldn't write theses, publish papers, or basically engage in any kind of professional development. Learned to take his most of his advice with a grain of salt. 

 

What? If anything you get more credit for doing these early, e.g., "She organized a symposium at [conference with 30% acceptance rate]? That's really impressive!"

 

Good thing you figured out not to listen

Edited May 27, 2015 by lewin

[dr. t]

Some advisers still think it's 1965

[TakeruK]

Some advisers still think it's 1965

 

Maybe we should make an academia parody of Bowling For Soup's "1985"

[med latte]

I am so glad I saw this thread! I'm in a similar boat -- I'll be presenting a paper this fall, the same time I am applying to PhD programs (I finished an MA about 10 years ago).  I had intended to submit the proposal as a poster presentation, but later discovered that I had made an error on the application and submitted it as a paper. Now it's been accepted and I've confirmed my participation....and I've been second-guessing myself. 

 

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. 

[St Andrews Lynx]

Sometimes if your results aren't published or near publication state then it could be too early to present them (because other people might steal your ideas and publish them before you).

 

But age wise? No such thing as too early! 

 

At my first big mega Chemistry conference I had yet to start my PhD program and was overwhelmed by the experience. Second time around I was a lot more confident and got so much more out of the conference (better organised to attend stuff, more networking, more fun). I'd encourage you to start conferencing early - even if you aren't presenting anything - since it is great practice for when you really need to network, get new ideas and find jobs.