Benefits of attending Conferences?

At an early stage in everyone’s PhD process they will ask themselves the question: shall I attend an academic conference? Immediately other questions come to mind. Do I have anything worthy to be presented? Can I just present my literature review or theoretical framework, or should I wait until I have my first results from my case studies? Perhaps it is better to go first to several workshops and graduate students conferences, get experience in presenting in front of my peers, and then make the jump to a senior academic conference?

These doubts are absolutely normal, and we all went through those, but in my experience the earlier one goes to senior academic conferences, the better. You learn and gain so much in these events that you should not postpone it to the later stages of your PhD. Of course, it is important to have something presentable. Do not go if you are not clear in your mind. But if you only have a literature review, a theoretical framework and some hypotheses, that’s fine. Write an abstract and try your chances. Writing abstracts that catch the eye of the conference selection team is a skill. Start training as soon as possible.

The greatest benefits of attending an academic or professional conference are the opportunities to build your network and increase your awareness of new trends happening in your area of interest. I had the pleasure of attending some wonderful conferences and tradeshows from 2010. This year, I plan to increase my conference participation not only by attending, but by presenting and volunteering as well. Here are some of the benefits of attending one International Conference. 

·         Conferences Grow Your Professional Network

·         Conferences Build Your Knowledge Base

·         Conferences Expand Your Resources

·         Sharpen your skills: 

·         Meet experts and influencers face-to-face: 

·         Learn in a new space

·         Explore new ways of working:

·         Break out of your comfort zone: 

·         Get greater focus:

·         Absorb the energy of like-minded individuals: 

·         Invest in yourself: 

·         Meeting other researchers

So attending any international or national conference is certainly gives you more and more benefits. So always try to invest in yourself which will give you much higher return in tems of knowledge in long-term.