5 Tips for a First-time Conference Proposal Writer
Last week, Tim Slade's 3 Reasons You Should Be Speaking At eLearning Conferences article came through the wonderful Instructional Designers in Education Facebook Group. I remember what it was like to be new to submitting conference proposals. I definitely received some help and advice that I am still grateful for. Before you could say spit spot, I rattled off four tips for my ID colleagues. Therefore, with this article I pay it forward to the next generation that wants to get started sharing their voice. I added one...no, two more tips for you, LinkedIn community!
Tip #1: Team up with a partner who has more publishing qualifications and offer to do all of the hard work.
If you are just getting started publishing or are within your Master's Degree program, you might not have much of an academic reputation yet. I suggest you find someone with a doctorate, offer them first author position (that's a big deal in academia) and offer to do all the writing and presenting. They just have to review/edit the submission and agree to put their name on it with your name. (Double check the conference submission guidelines; most allow any author on a submission to present.)
Side tip: If there will be any chance that your name will change in your lifetime, decide on your publishing name. However, if you do change your name in the future, remember that publishing credit remains yours regardless of what name you use.
Tip #2: In order, attempt these types of presentations:
- Posters
- Round Tables
- Panels
- Individual Presentation or Concurrent Session
This is using the power of probability on your side. There are many open poster slots for a conference. It can be 100 slots (or as high as 300 or 400!) for the same time slot of 1 to 3 hours. That means that many submissions can be accepted for these because you'll share a large space for that time slot. The opposite is true for Individual Presentations, sometimes referred to as Concurrent Session (meaning that different tracks or themes of presentations) that occur at the same time (concurrent) but in different small rooms. Conference rooms are amazingly expensive (and the technology even more amazingly prone to failure) so those are going to be the brass ring-type of slots. Work your way up to the brass ring but start with Posters. Poster sessions are low stress and low stakes. Get over the awkwardness, really.
Tip #3: Do not be intimidated by writing the proposal.
Conferences are designed for the exchange of questions and ideas. Rarely does a conference "answer" something definitively; that territory is much more for peer-reviewed journals. Conferences are meant as a time for like-minded people to gather to ask "what if." Ideas, proposals, suggestions, hypotheses, and early data & results are all the main territory of conferences. Don't forget that qualitative data is data. For the quantitative data folks out there--your personal experiences count even if your data isn't ready.
The writing burden varies but, of course, stick to the requirements. Rarely would a conference ask for more than 2 pages single-spaced. If you are working in a Master's Degree program, chances are that you are writing one paper that size each week. You can do this.
Tip #4: Never underestimate that there are people interested in you.
What you do on a daily basis will draw attendees to your session just to learn about your job or outlook. There will be people in the audience that want to know about:
- What it is like to work there
- What your job title means you do all day
- What is on the horizon for your company or institution
- What did you try?
- How did you get permission?
For the first few conferences I presented at, I spent the majority of my presentation time answering questions about my job rather than presenting my topic.
Tip #5: Before you go, visit your Marketing or Public Relations Department.
One word: freebies. Freebies can make the hesitant session attendees come in the door. Visit your Marketing or Public Relations Department. Explain that you are presenting at such-and-such conference and that you'd like to give away some freebies at the end of your session. They always have a closet with last year's logo on the key chain or the water bottles that don't close fully and they are happy to get rid of that stuff. For you, it is conference gold! Who doesn't like free conference swag?
Bonus Tip #6: Learn at the bar.
Yes, I wrote that.
Many years ago, I learned about the power of informal learning from Jay Cross. I'm paraphrasing him horribly but I think he said that when surveyed after a conference, the majority of conference attendees said that the 'session' where they learned the most was 'at the hotel bar'. This is not an admonition to imbibe. You don't even have to go into the bar. But never underestimate the power of finding like-minded researchers, thinkers, staff, and future colleagues at conferences during the informal times. If you look over a tray of different cookies and quietly say "I want one of each" and someone on the other side of the table says "Me too," you just made a friend. Eat your cookies together and ask each other which session was your favorite. You never know when you've met your Dragon Slayer.
I still remember the first researcher that came up to me after one of my presentations and said he was interested in my work. I was floored, astounded. Little old me?? My ideas? Wow. And as of today, we are working on a project together and he is still reaching out to new presenters saying "I'm interested in your work;" best five words in the conference vocabulary after the word, "Accepted."
Best of luck to you!
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This article originally appeared on LinkedIn on December 16, 2019
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-tips-first-time-conference-proposal-writer-heather-dodds-ph-d-