Conference presentations in early stages of ph.d. studies

[adel9216]

I got invited to speak at a national conference that's exactly on my research topic. I could not say no. But I have no original data, so I guess I'll just be talking about the importance of my research topic? :/

That's what my advisor suggested, that I speak about the context of my research. But I'm hesitant to start speaking about my methodology because I don't want my idea to get scooped..what's the limit of what I should tell? (Im in the social sciences)

[larryc]

ATTDCA.

Apply To The Damn Conference Already.

Conferences are by definition for unfinished work. The idea is to get feedback. And good conference committees understand that grad students are the future of the organization. It is important to integrate them into the conference, including a few as presenters.

The worst case scenario here is that they say no, and you you learn a lot about conferences and pitching your research along the way. You absolutely should apply.

[Kron3007]

ATTDCA.

Apply To The Damn Conference Already.

Conferences are by definition for unfinished work. The idea is to get feedback. And good conference committees understand that grad students are the future of the organization. It is important to integrate them into the conference, including a few as presenters.

The worst case scenario here is that they say no, and you you learn a lot about conferences and pitching your research along the way. You absolutely should apply.

I dont know about that.  Yes, it is for presenting incomplete work, but not for presenting proposals (at least in my field).  I had an advisor that made me do this once and it was a waste of everyone's time IMO.  I would personally avoid presenting if you have absolutely no data and generally only send students to conferences when they have data to present.

[adel9216]

Attending a conference is a great idea for a PhD student. If you can get funding, go to the best. If you can't, go to something in your region.

yes. for the conference I am attending in may, they have invited me, so they'll be paying for all of my expenses they've said. It's out of town, but still not too far. I will present on the context or some sort of lit review of my research but will make clear that I don't have results at this stage, and they said it's fine. I have a strong feeling that most people in the audience won't know about my topic, because it is very understudied where I live. I think they will learn something, at least.

I'm also organizing a conference in May as well.