Conference Etiquette - How to Get the Most Out of the AEA Conference

I just booked my travel to the American Evaluation Association (AEA) conference that is in DC in October. I remember attending my first AEA conference in 1999 in Orlando, FL. I was still in graduate school at that time and still pretty green about how one should behave at a conference. I would go to the sessions that sounded interesting, eat lunch with people I knew and spend any free time taking in the local sites. Boy....lots of missed opportunities there! I wish I had had someone to pull me aside and tell me about all that conferences have to offer besides just stimulating sessions. Networking, networking, networking....I try to drill this concept in my students. Conferences are more than just a fun vacation away from classes and hanging out with your graduate school friends.

I've presented at hundreds of conferences over the years and I'm amazed by some conference goers, em...how do I say this...less than appropriate behavior at the conference. From walking in late to a talk and disturbing the speaker to answering a phone call during the middle of a presentation! My favorite is when the presenter reads his/her paper...verbatim, sitting down, looking down and not engaging the audience. What, I paid $1000 to travel to listen to someone read their paper? Ugh!

So as I prepare for AEA this year I plan on reviewing a few suggested Dos and Don't's with my students before we all travel to DC. If anyone has any additional suggestions I'd love to hear them! Hope to see many of you at AEA!  :)

Some Conference Do's and Don't's:

Do

• Prepare your presentation/poster well in advance of the conference
• If creating a poster, make it look professional and inviting to your audience (tacking up a few 8.5 by 11 sheets of paper on a board is not what we want to see)
• If creating a paper presentation have slides and/or a handout prepared and practice your speech beforehand
• SHOW UP FOR YOUR PRESENTATION/POSTER SESSION! Throwing up the poster and going out to explore the town doesn't count as doing a presentation. And putting up a piece a paper to capture emails of those interested in your poster doesn't count either
• Go to a TIG meeting or two.....great place to network and meet new colleagues. And lots of times there is free food!
• Talk to people you don't know....introduce yourself, make small talk. I've met the most interesting and diverse people at AEA...people I never would have gotten to know if I just hung out in my hotel room all day
• Get involved! Join a TIG and offer to help out. It's a great way to meet others in your area and it looks great on your vita!
• Bring business cards....and get cards from those you meet. Follow up with those you meet right after the conference. You never know what opportunities for future projects/presentations there could be with those you meet there
• Attend as many sessions as you can....you can learn from others strategies for presenting, learn about new directions in our field, and meet future colleagues

Don't

• Skip the morning plenary sessions so you can get that extra hour of sleep. Those sessions are some of the most well attended. So many networking opportunities...as well as listening to a top notch speaker
• Text your friends/significant other during the presentations. A quick hi is one thing but completely ignoring the presenters and texting the entire time....why even attend if you do that?
• Talk loudly to your neighbors during a presentation...even if you are in the back, guess what...the presenter can hear you....and boy it is distracting and rude
• Walk into a presentation after it has already started loudly and continue to make noise as you find a seat up front. Yeah, that is not distracting or anything
• Go into a presentation and grab a handout and leave. Why listen to what they are saying if you already have the handout right? Geez
• Stick like glue to your advisor/classmates and go to every breakfast/lunch/dinner with just them and no one else. You don't need to network at all
• Go out at night with your friends and overindulge in alcohol (boy have I seen this too many times). You never know what future employer you are going to run into when you are sloshed