Collins Lab Blog

Guidelines for meetings

I originally put these together when a student of mine asked me what to expect as she set out for her first scientific meeting. Since then other students have found them useful and I’m now posting them on the blog.

Strategies for meetings

1)    Go with a poster, something to contribute. This will immediately establish your credentials as a scientist with data/ideas to contribute to the field and also makes it straightforward for others to approach you.

2)    Plan ahead; especially for a big meeting, identify those talks and abstracts you are interested in ahead of time.

3)    Make an attempt to meet at least one new person each day.

4)    If there is someone from another lab you wish to meet, think of some questions/conversational gambits ahead of time to make dialogue easier to initiate and smoother overall.

5)    Take notes in the talks, prepare to give a presentation on the meeting when you get back to your home lab or department so you can articulate what you enjoyed about the meeting, what you discovered, what new information you received. This is good communication practice and helps prolong the “scientific rush” you get from the meeting.

6)    Try not to be overwhelmed by meeting renowned scientists, you only get one chance to make a good impression. We are all human and everybody likes it when you can tell them that you enjoyed one of their papers, but, don’t say this unless you did enjoy it and can articulate why you did. (journal club anyone?)

7)    Conversely, don’t focus on only meeting high-profile scientists, get to know your peer group in other labs. Not only will this give you first-hand insight into the work of that laboratory, it can be the basis of a continued relationship and professional network.

8)    Allow yourself plenty of time to look at posters and interact with the poster presenters. When you are a poster presenter, and somebody stops by your poster, initially summarize your poster briefly and then you can get an idea for which aspect of your poster your visitor may be interested in discussing in greater detail. Don’t assume that the visitor is unaware of the background to your work, but don’t assume that the individual is an aficionado either.

9)    It’s a good idea to introduce yourself when you walk up to somebody’s poster. If I am standing at my poster, I always like it when the people walking round are considerate and introduce themselves; something like “Hi I’m Nasun Bart from Cornell University and I work on apoptosis.” Don’t make the person squint at your name-tag

10) Learn to keep your cool when someone tells you that they, or someone they know, is going to scoop you. Unless the paper is in press, you really have no idea what the status of their work is relative to yours and don’t get manipulated into describing your confidential unpublished data.

11) Have a strategy if you get too overwhelmed, either a friend whom you can spend some time with, or know the location of the nearest coffee shop.

12) Many scientific societies offer career guidance information at meetings such as workshops or “meet the expert” sessions. Plan to take full advantage of these opportunities.

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