Is it worth presenting at postgraduate conferences?

I've just been asked on Twitter as to whether it's worth presenting at postgraduate conferences and thought I'd share my thoughts in a short post.

Answer: it depends what you want to get from a conference. If you are looking to meet intellectually stimulating people, get experience presenting and genuine feedback on your work, then a postgraduate conference is great. You'll meet peers with whom you can collaborate and you are likely to receive more attention than presenting in a small parallel session at a bigger conference.

What you are unlikely to receive are the career progressing networking opportunities afforded by conferences that span the whole field. Grim as it is, knowing the right people can go a long way in academia and your fellow postgraduates will most likely not afford you the recognition in your area that is required to get an academic job. This isn't always the case, consider that you could meet a peer with whom you could co-author a published paper, which would certainly advance your career prospects, but it's worth considering.

Featured image by atmasphere under a CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Is it worth presenting at postgraduate conferences? was originally published by Martin Paul Eve at eve.gd: Martin Paul Eve on September 06, 2011.