How We Do Science: Conferences

Welcome to the first installment of "How We Do Science"! Today I'll be talking about scientific meetings or conferences, and my adventures attending the 2019 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, CA. 

What is a scientific conference? 
It is a big meeting at a convention center or hotel ballroom(s) where scientists gather to present their research, ask questions, connect with collaborators, network with other scientists, and learn about the current research being performed in a specific field. AGU is one of the largest scientific conferences, with more than 24,000 attendees from 113 countries (stats for 2018 meeting). 

There is usually a mix of poster and oral presentations. Poster presentations are given in a big hall or room, where everyone has their own board with a poster that you created showcasing your research. Posters can be tiresome since your session can last for at least 2 hours, and you stand by your poster for awhile (have a water bottle available). I enjoy posters because you get an opportunity to interact more with folks who are interested in your work. An oral presentation is usually about 12-min long with 3-min for questions. These are given in groups of 4 or 5 and make up a 60-min or 75-min session. When you submit your abstract, which is a paragraph summarizing what you plan to present, you can decide if you want a poster or would like to be considered for an oral presentation (there tend to be less spots available). 

For big conferences, there can be many sessions going on at the same time across multiple meeting rooms. Sometimes these big meetings, like AGU, can have celebrities in the field or public figures as keynote speakers. For example, this year AGU had Dr. Mae C. Jemison (first woman of color in the world to go into space), Former California governor Jerry Brown, and current Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Dr. Kelvin K. Droegemeier. For smaller conferences (which I really enjoy), all the sessions occur in one big ballroom and you get to interact with the same group of people for the entire week. 

Why do scientists attend conferences? 
Presenting at conferences is a great way to publicize your research to a specific audience, as well as get feedback on work in progress. Conferences bring many scientists together in one place, thus making it easier for in-person meetings to plan and discuss research collaborations, especially if you have international collaborators. If you're looking for a job or applying to graduate school, conferences are a great venue to meet with people you're interested in working with and ask questions. Conferences are a great place to expand your scientific network (pro tip: bring some business cards). Additionally, it can be used as a space to meet scientists who share similar identities (e.g., LGBTQIA+, underrepresented minorities, early career, etc.) and join a community where you can find mentors and peers to share advice and receive support. There are definitely other reasons why scientists attend conferences, and it often depends on where you are in your career and what sector (private, academic, or public) you work for.

For more thoughts on scientific conferences, check out the following articles: 
How to get the most out of attending conferences
For graduate students, why it's important for you to present your data at scientific conferences

Why did I attend AGU? 
I attended AGU this year because I wanted to:
1) promote and share my current research, 
2) learn what's been going on in the field of mountain precipitation, cloud processes, and machine learning, 
3) meet researchers studying precipitation and climate over Mexico, 
4) learn more about collaborative science and working with communities, and 
5) catch up with friends and meet new colleagues to expand my network. 

Before AGU

July: Submit an abstract-- In 300 words or less, describe why we should care about your work, your science question and hypothesis, the approach/dataset you used to test your hypothesis, your results, and conclusions/broader impacts of your work. Not easy, especially if you haven't completed the research yet! Some call this a "promissory abstract", and use it as motivation to complete the work by conference time. 

October: Find out if you got a poster or oral presentation and when you will present, book plane tickets, pay registration (hotel rooms can be reserved earlier than this, but I stayed at a friend's place to save on costs)

Late November/Early December: Work on poster, get feedback from co-authors, print it

Couple days before conference travel: Spend many hours looking through the program and planning out the talks/posters I will attend. Some sessions are related to my research, others are related to what I will be studying next, others are using methods that I'm interested in, and others just sound cool (most of the machine learning or artificial intelligence talks sound really interesting...)

Although I have a planned schedule, I also need to stay flexible in case there's a spontaneous meeting with colleagues or I stumble upon an interesting session that wasn't on my schedule. Most of the oral presentations will be recorded, so if I miss a talk I can probably listen to it later. Some posters are uploaded to the meeting website, and could be available online as well. The most important aspect of the conference for me is to interact with people and share knowledge. 

During AGU

Day 1 - Wednesday (day 3 of AGU) 

2:00am: Time to wake up! I have to get dressed, prepare a breakfast burrito, and wake up my boyfriend to drop me off at the bus stop 

4:15am: Arrive at the Denver International Airport. Get stopped at security because I didn't take out my burrito out of my jacket and place it on the bin...

8:00am: Land at the San Francisco International Airport. Figure out how to use public transit to get to the convention center in downtown SF

9:00am: Finally arrive at the conference! Get my badge ready, leave my bags at luggage check (so thankful for this amenity), fill up my water bottle, and we're ready to science. 

AGU Poster Hall

Most of the morning involved going to poster presentations (I had 15 on my list), and had a handful of talks I attended in the afternoon. The session I was most looking forward to was "Collaborative Science -- How Scientists Can Empower Communities". 

I also had time to explore the Exhibit Hall, which is a giant ballroom where numerous exhibitors have booths promoting their companies, laboratories, university, etc. Some of the key things that people look forward to in the Exhibit Hall are the free NASA posters and the 3:30pm AGU Brew break (free beer, if you're willing to wait in a long, long line). I enjoyed meeting folks from the Mexican Geophysical Union and checking out the new textbooks. 

Exhibit Hall

7:00pm: Go to the University of Michigan Alumni Reception! Get some free snacks and drinks while I catch up with friends from graduate school. 

8:30pm: Go to the unofficial Colorado State University Atmospheric Science Alumni meetup! Lots of hugs and catching up with friends. 

10:00pm: Take a 30-min train ride to my friend's place (thanks for letting me crash on your couch, Veronica!)

Day 2 - Thursday (day 4 of AGU)
This day is a bit of a blur, since I was still very tired and trying to keep up with everything. My AGU app shows I had 23 posters and 6 talks on my schedule. I do remember having tasty sushi and sake with old and new friends! 

Day 3 - Friday (day 5, end of AGU)
*Presentation day!*
6:00am: Time to wake up! Get ready, make sure I don't leave anything behind, quietly leave the house, and walk outside to wait for the bus. 

7:30am: Put up poster on my designated board, take a photo and post on social media to let people know I'll be at my poster from 10a-11:30a (I will be frantically trying to get to all the other posters I want to see that are part of the same session as me)

10:00am: Poster presentation time! Explain my work to various folks that stop by - some strangers, some friends. 

12:00pm: Bump into friends (This happens a lot. Sometimes it's a quick, Hey! Sometimes you bump into people and they know you, but you cannot remember their name or where you know them from...so you just go with it.) and sit for a few minutes -- relaxed enough to remember that I haven't eaten anything or had coffee. Let's get some food...sounds easier than it will be, as everyone in the convention center has the same idea and it will take some time to find a place that's not too far, has space for our group of 5, and can serve us quickly.

1:00pm: Quickly shove pizza in my face, while reading over my "script" for my 3-min presentation and also trying to be involved in the conversation. 

1:15pm: Realize I'm running out of time, say goodbye and briskly walk back to the poster hall (Rob, how much do I owe you for pizza??)

2:00pm: Presentation time! You got 3-min to explain "Why do you study the Earth and Space?" 

4:00pm: Rush back and forth between the poster hall (Moscone South) and the building where all the talks are happening (Moscone West). 

5:15pm: Pick up my luggage and get to the train that will take me to the airport.

6:00pm: Make it to the airport on time, then learn the flight is delayed. Get tacos and chill.

11:30pm: Arrive in Denver. 

1:00am: Finally lie down and go to bed. I'm pretty sure I got the "AGU flu"...we'll see how I feel in the morning. 

Although I most definitely got a cold and my feet were swollen when I got home, it was overall a pretty successful conference! 

This blog cannot possibly contain all the information on scientific conferences, so if you have a question leave a comment below or send me an email to amorales@ucar.edu