I can still remember my first ISA conference. I was a PhD student eager to present early work at the freezing Montreal conference (not the last Montreal, the one before that). I remember being gobsmacked hearing academics talking about how they were booked up with meetings and hadn’t attended a single panel. I thought: What did that mean?; What was this ‘other’ conference or set of meetings happening and why was it happening at the same time as the ISA?; How was it possible to attend the ISA, but not attend any panels? But several years later, as I look at my ‘ISA Schedule’ I’m struggling to carve out time to attend panels that aren’t my own. Don’t get me wrong- this isn’t going to be a post about how important I am, or how busy I am: I’m not, and I’m not. And, don’t get me wrong, I love attending panels. For me, there is no greater conference satisfaction than folding over pages, highlighting panels, and placing stars beside ‘must see’ roundtables. But conference creep happens! With four days of conference, and 4 panels a day, there are exactly 16 opportunities to attend a panel…in theory. Here’s how to loose those opportunities, one at a time.
1. Your own presentations. This is a no brainer-Â the average ISA-er is on 2-3 panels (based on my total guestimation- note that participants are technically only supposed to be on 4, but there are a whole host of ways that gets ignored…a good topic for another post). Let’s round up to 3. That means you only have 13 possible panels to attend.
2. After-panel creep. If all goes well, your panels have attendees who ask questions and may even want to chat later. Or, you continue conversations with panelists (whom you only see each year at the ISA- there is SO much to catch up on!). Suddenly, you are far too late to bother sneaking in to another panel. This is an earnest excuse..and now you are down to 10 possible panels.
3. Pre-panel panic. I’m not sure about you, but normally I have one panel that really freaks me out. Either I forget why I agreed to participate, my paper is not fully formulated, I’m intimidated by the co-panelists, or I’m a discussant and I can’t quite figure out what two of the papers are about (hypothetically). This leads to pre-panel panic, which, for me involves pacing my hotel room, changing outfits, replenishing deodorant excessively, and listening to Beyonce. Now I’ve lost another panel and I’m down to 9 possible panels.
4. Lunch meeting. Ok, unless you pack your lunch, eat it on the hallway floors, and then don’t feel the need to brush your teeth before hitting the next panels, there is almost no way to organise a lunch meeting and get to the next panel. So trying to catch up with former colleagues, current research collaborators, publishers, editors, co-authors, or students means you lose a panels or two….and now you are down to 7 possible panels.
5. Hounding publishers. If you are pitching a book to various publishers at a conference then- forget it- you can just erase about 4 more panels from your list. The ISA is a great time to meet with publishers, but also a terrible time to meet with publishers. It is loud, busy, everyone is exhausted, you will inevitably be the 40th person the publisher has met with, and you will end up rehashing the same conversation by email the next week anyway. It is an important part of attending conferences, but imperfect and time consuming.
6. The Oops panel. Everyone has done this, right? You map out your day, highlighting a panel that you absolutely MUST attend. You find the room and sneak in a couple of minutes late, finally get settled and look up to see….the wrong panel. You wanted post-conflict reconstruction and you’ve now got an entire panel on Australian foreign policy. It might be interesting, but you secretly wish you could find a way to leave without looking like a total ass. *While we’re on the topic, why the F are so many rooms called the Colonial and why is there is Colonial A and a Colonnade A?
7. Jet lag. All of us non-US based scholars know that on exactly the second day of the conference at about 2pm a dark fog descends on the conference. One has two choices: let your head roll back and shamelessly sleep through a panel (been done), or head up to the room for a snooze and a fresh coffee.
8. Um, spa dates? Just FYI, these are legitimate business meetings that myself and another Duckie have held for about 8 years. They just happen to take place while we are getting pedicures or steaming. Don’t judge.
9. Less legit reasons. These include a whole host of difficult-to-justify but sometimes necessary conference outings, including: hangover, shopping (you forgot something, it is colder than you expected, you spilled coffee in your suitcase etc), meeting with old college/local buddies, and sight-seeing (I mean, if you are going all the way to NOLA, Hawaii, Toronto or wherever you might as well see at least one thing outside the hotel).
So there you go. The most earnest of conference attendees will struggle to get to the panels and roundtables they have earnestly taken note of (and I haven’t even mentioned business meetings, editorial meetings, workshops, or job interviews!!).  What is the solution? More time? A longer conference? Less sleep? This year I’m blocking out sections of each day as panel-only time and booking super-early morning meetings rather than lunch meetings (why?!?) in the hopes of getting in more of the conference. What’s your survival strategy?
A world of yes. All of this is me (apart from the Beyoncé. I’m more of a Beth Orton, myself.) My strategy is to decide early on the panels I absolutely positively have to attend (and I make sure that the ratio is at least 1:1 of number of panels I’m involved in to number of panels I attend, because I think that the one thing you missed is that sneaking feeling that if I’m only rocking up to the panels that I’m on then I can’t really complain if I’ve got two people in the audience at my own panel, one of whom is supposed to be in Colonial A not Colonnade A) and I block them out. Everything else fits in around that. So this year I have five panels I’m involved in (not appearing on, because see above about conference limits, but panels linked to panels I’m on, or panels that my students are on) and five panels I’m attending. Every other available hour is booked up with Very Important Meetings (coffee dates with colleagues that I only get to see when I visit the northern hemisphere. We will definitely talk about work stuff and for me it’s in those social spaces where the occasional very good idea emerges, but they’re not project meetings or anything close to it. Also, now I know you have spa dates I want those too…). I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But mostly excited. I still get really excited about the ISA and about missing the ISA too.
I end up getting super pitted and missing most of the conference
Megan, would you have tips for PhD students in terms of networking? It strikes me that unless someone is in their final year or two, and has an article in the works for journals, it can be a bit tricky to navigate given the utter size of the conference and how booked everyone’s schedule is. Any tips would be greatly appreciated from you and others who are reading in terms of how graduate students can make the most of the experience besides attending panels and presenting.
Great question NSM. I’ll pass on the advice I was given (and I think it worked): 1. Go to panels with presenters who you want to approach and try to think of a good question to ask during the Q&A. Make sure you introduce yourself before you ask your question. Then, approach the panel afterwards and introduce yourself- thank the panelist(s) for answering your question and ask if you can follow up with them via email. Tell them about your work and tell them why you are interested in talking more.
2. Find what section you think is your ‘home’ (you can choose more than one). Then attend their receptions, sit in on their meetings (if they are open) and try to introduce yourself to other grad students and to some senior people, if there is an opportunity. The Feminist Theory Gender Studies section was always a friendly place and I found I could go to the receptions in the early days when I didn’t know anyone, and just end up chatting with people over drinks and food.
3. On that note- go to a reception every night. Just work on chatting with anyone else who looks like a loose end. You’ll be amazed at how these small conversations can start friendships that last for years.
4. As your co-panelists for coffee. Usually they are in your area, and it’s the perfect opportunity to get to know them better.
5. Ask your supervisor or a professor or lecturer you know to bring you along to something.
6. Be as brave as you can. I was so nervous at conferences but I set out to meet two specific heroes of mine at one conference. I remember I just went up to one after her panel and introduced myself- I told her I loved her work and that I would be honored to get to chat with her because I needed a mentor. It worked- we had coffee, and she became a mentor. We laugh about how geeky and forward I was now.
7. Hang out anywhere with lingering academics- the junior poster sessions, the book tables, etc- during free time. If you see someone you want to meet, say hello, acknowledge their work and introduce yourself. Practice makes perfect.
Just remember that everyone else is in the same boat at your stage. Each conference you’ll meet a few more people until you have a thriving network. – Hope that helps.
That is excellent advice Megan, many thanks! And on that note, see everyone at ISA.
Echoing the thanks for the sound advice, it is much-appreciated. Hoping my earnest offer of a fully-dressed french-fry sandwich goes over well with my academic idols and intriguing fellow loose ends… (It is delicious! I swear!)
“You wanted post-conflict reconstruction and you’ve now got an entire panel on Australian foreign policy”. J’accuse. I remember being surprised to see one Megan MacKenzie in the audience for an Australian Foreign Policy panel I was on at APSA at Sydney in 2014, only to leave before anyone started presenting…
Great post, though does suggest the other hypotheticals aren’t that hypothetical either!