Presenting same content twice at research conferences

[adel9216]

Hello, me again.

Newbie question: is it common to present the same content at different research conferences? I'm really confused about what is accepted and what is not when it comes to this. I have seen researchers present similar content in different conferences though.

I am asking because I am presenting tomorrow a conference in the UK in English. I am wondering if I could present the same content at a local conference in my hometown in French, but I don't know if that's okay.

[adel9216]

Also, I wanted to say that I'm truly appreciative for this forum. I am a first-gen university graduate, and there are a lot of non-written rules in academia and in grad school. I'm truly grateful that I can come here and ask senior researchers and faculty members about details like this. So thank you, again.

[Ruralguy]

People do it, but I'd recommend changing it some meaningful way.

[Puget]

If the audiences are different (which it sounds like they will be) I think it is completely fine. A talk is not like a paper-- it is transmission of information only to the audience in front of you (unless you post the slides), so it is not duplication unless the audience overlaps. 

[Parasaurolophus]

It's absolutely fine. What you shouldn't do is present the same paper at the same conference.

[mamselle]

I've been chewing on some similar topics within a cluster of 2-3 semi-related research efforts for a bit now.

If I'm invited to speak at a seminar or public interest event, I use something I've already done (if I don't have anything fresh I want to try out on them). But otherwise I want to maximize the exposure of as many facets of my work as I can.

If I can change the focus slightly, I get more mileage out of the event, since I can explore a different piece of the work; it makes me pull together a segment I've maybe (oh, never!) been avoiding or putting off; and I get different feedback resources to work on.

It also means I have a different title to list on my CV.

It's a bit different, perhaps, in my case since I'm functioning as an independent scholar, so I don't have as many inbuilt structural encouragements (read: requirements for tenure, etc...!), nor do I have folks down the hall with whom to bounce ideas around.

So preparing presentations is a slightly bigger deal for me; I want to make each one different to get my work out.

But I can see how, if you're just getting started and you have schoolwork on your plate as well, a different strategy might make sense. You've got time later to diversify.

M.

(I'm sorry I won't be in France when you're presenting; if you wanted audience, I'd attend!)

[traductio]

If the audiences are different (which it sounds like they will be) I think it is completely fine. A talk is not like a paper-- it is transmission of information only to the audience in front of you (unless you post the slides), so it is not duplication unless the audience overlaps.

This is certainly my approach. My work often spans two disciplines, or the subject matter lends itself to two different audiences. If I present a paper on, say, media coverage of French ideas of laïcité (not a project I've done, but along the lines of what I've done), first at a media conference, second and a French studies conference, then I get different types of feedback. I also get to check with two audiences likely to read my work in different ways. Often I'll make revisions between the conferences based on the feedback I get at conference one, but really, it's a way to work through ideas.

Et si vous faites ça une fois dans une langue, une fois dans une autre, c'est sûr que vous parlerez à deux publics différents qui vous donneront des commentaires différents.

[mamselle]

Ah, oui, d'accord!

(Do the old Forum rules apply, that we need to supply a translation at the same time?? If so: "Yes, I agree.")

I wasn't thinking of that possibility, but it does indeed exist....in fact, come to think of it, I've done it.

But that was also a case of the two different situations I was describing.

I was asked to present materials to classes in topics I'd presented on in conferences earlier, so re-doing them was both in different languages, and to different <<publics>> (audiences) as well.

The thought plickens...

M.

[traductio]

(Do the old Forum rules apply, that we need to supply a translation at the same time?? If so: "Yes, I agree.")

I forgot about that old Fora rule! (I'm also prepping a presentation to deliver in Montreal next week, so I've got French on the brain.)

So a quick gloss -- Et si vous faites ça une fois dans une langue, une fois dans une autre, c'est sûr que vous parlerez à deux publics différents qui vous donneront des commentaires différents. If you do that once in one language, then in another, you're sure to address two different audiences who will give you different feedback.

[lightning]

I've done it many times, but only for conferences that do not publish proceedings (usually). Also, I tend to do this for small regional conferences that are in different countries. Sometimes I will present content at the major international conference in my field and publish in the Proceedings, and then I'll submit the same abstract used for that international conference for a regional conference in some far-flung place that I have always wanted to visit, for scholars that are completely outside of my circle, with no proceedings. Or sometimes, I will use the small regional conference as a warm-up for the big international conference, so I can get feedback from a safe crowd that I will probably never see again. In all cases, I always retrofit the content to the theme of the duplicate conference, and sometimes I do make major modifications.

[mbelvadi]

Hello, me again.

Newbie question: is it common to present the same content at different research conferences? I'm really confused about what is accepted and what is not when it comes to this. I have seen researchers present similar content in different conferences though.

I am asking because I am presenting tomorrow a conference in the UK in English. I am wondering if I could present the same content at a local conference in my hometown in French, but I don't know if that's okay.

I heard a sociology podcast where the academics described this as self-plagiarism, but in my field, library science, it's totally common, so the standard may vary by discipline. I completely agree with everyone else who said that if they aren't both being published in proceedings, just a live talk, and you're likely to have different audiences (and your language shift totally qualifies), then by all means, go ahead - you're serving your scholarly community better.  I will also give the same talk at a major national conference that I know most of my regional colleagues can't afford to go to, then reprise it at our local/regional conference, sometimes with only minor modifications and that mostly as a result of feedback from the first.  I'll list both on my CV, and I've never had a colleague question that - we all do it.

[adel9216]

Merci tout le monde pour vos réponses! Thank you everyone for your thoughtful replies.

[Myword]

I wish I had this problem.

[adel9216]

I wish I had this problem.

Why?

[saramago]

Adel, just be careful though. You do NOT want to get a reputation as someone who tries to multiply the number of lines on her CV by two by presenting everything twice, once in French and once in English. I had a colleague who sort of did that (albeit with other languages) for several years and her integrity was sometimes questioned. On the superficial level, make sure your titles are not sheer translations of one another, but at the substantial level, do try to minimize overlap between talks (and/or, to minimize the number of times where this overlap is substantial). It is about your reputation, and once you lose it, it never comes back.
My two cents.