The Art of Conferencing

Abstract

While for most in academia conferences only occupy a fraction of the year, they encapsulate the essence of an academic life. Indeed, even though many would think of conferences as being solely in the realm of scholarship, they also involve the other two aspects of our jobs: teaching and service. In this article, we endeavor to tell with our two voices a tale of the importance of academic conferences in one’s career. Including some first-person perspectives, we outline the structure and extant research on our conferences and the professional organizations from which they stem, propose some tips on giving good presentations and performing service, as well as underscore the importance of developing and maintaining strong ties with our peers and colleagues, while taking advantage of the traveling conferences allows us to get under our belts. We conclude with some general recommendations for successful conferencing throughout the academic lifetime.