Making Contact

Social contact may be as important as the scientific program, so here are a few ideas. At some conferences it is possible to obtain a list of the names of all the participants and the hotels in which they are staying; this can be a valuable way of finding friends and key people. It may be worth making a phone call to some people early in the conference to try and arrange to have a drink or a meal with them. Once you have made useful contacts, provide them with an aide memoir. Personal sticky address labels are probably better than formal visiting cards. Also have reprints of your paper at the ready but do not thrust them on people. Formal presentations are not the only way to be seen and heard at a conference. Asking pertinent questions is a useful way of breaking into the circle of people who are interested in a subject. Careful preliminary reading of abstracts, especially if they relate to your own specialty, can forearm you with pertinent questions and comment, but make sure you ask your question at the end of the right paper. It is also an abuse of discussion time to make your own presentation.

Presentation

This is your opportunity to confront the scientific community with either a verbal or a poster presentation. If you feel isolated and lonely as a newcomer your presentation will be your entry into a group of scientists with similar interests. Each form of presentation has its advantages and limitations. The research or the service information you present will have taken weeks, months, or even years to collect, so it is worth taking some trouble to make the presentation worthy of the effort.

Oral presentations. Carefully note the duration of the presentation; does it include question time? Early preparation with a trial presentation to your departmental colleagues can sharpen focus. Allow time to modify doubtful slides. There are many useful texts about how to prepare presentations, including the production of slides. Well known principles include: do not read from a manuscript; for international audiences speak particularly clearly and slowly and be careful about using jokes; lead your audience through key points with slides; explain the graphs and illustrations; plan for disasters; and acknowledge your team.

Loss of slides with your luggage is a nightmare; keep them in your hand luggage or possibly take a second set. Slide projectors and bulbs may fail. Guard against trying to present too much material. A brief incisive presentation is a pleasure, whereas if you overrun your time you upset everyone. Your presentation should stimulate questions. It is good to consider what some of these might be, for example, requests for more detail about the method or further tables for which there was not time in the presentation. It is impressive if you can respond to a question with a specific answer: "Would the projectionist please show reserve slide number." Some speakers go so far as to get a friend to "plant" a good question.

Posters. These are rated below oral presentations in prestige value, but they do give serious workers the chance to examine your results carefully and discuss them with you in detail. This is not possible in the rushed question time after a verbal presentation. Posters are especially valuable for the presentation of material in slightly more complex graphs and tables than can be quickly projected on slides. Carefully follow the instructions about poster preparation. Computer graphics packages and laser printers have made the preparation of posters much less of a chore, but lettering should be bold and graphs clear so that the material can be easily read from six rather than three feet. The temptation to present too much is greater with posters; they should have one, or at the most two, clear "take home" messages. It is not always possible to speak to interested colleagues during the official poster contact times, so it is useful to have a pad and a box for messages and for names and addresses of scientists who would like more detailed results when these become available. Another useful idea is to have a pile of expanded abstracts, preferably with graphs and your contact phone, fax, and e-mail numbers, available below the poster. This gives your work free publicity.

A conference should be a healthy mixture of the social and the scientific, and should provide stimulation and renewal. But if you have the choice between a large international conference and a small one focused on your area of interest, always go to the small one.