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Tips for a first-time conference presenter?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

I am giving my first professional conference talk in a few months (at a conference slightly out of my AOS), and I am so nervous! In particular, I'm feeling pretty anxious about the Q&A section — I'm not sure what the audience will be like, but in any case, I've never been someone who's good at thinking on her feet (I'd rather go home and think about mull on a bit before responding). Does anyone with similar Q&A anxiety have tips for handling Q&As at conferences?

Congrats to the OP! I empathize, as I've never felt like I'm the best on my feet during Q&As. One tip I have is to try to prepare in advance for questions that one is likely to receive. This is quite a bit like preempting reviewer concerns in a published paper (something many of us don't necessarily like to do, but have learned to do in the publishing process). Oftentimes, it's not all that hard to imagine which parts of a paper's argument an audience is likely to have questions or objections about. So, my suggestion is to try to think those through, so that you're not "surprised" on your feet when the Q&A rolls around.

Do other readers have any helpful tips?

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12 responses to “Tips for a first-time conference presenter?”

  1. Q

    Key lesson for Q&A. Everyone is allowed to say: that is a good question, I will have to think about it for a bit … perhaps I can get back to you later, at the conference. That is, you can do that at least once (it is like a get out of jail card in Monopoly). But the other thing is to go slow, and allow your self time to collect your thoughts. Decent people (and there will be some in the room), are more interested in hearing what you have to say, than seeing someone impaled!

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  2. Conference attender

    Here are a few bits of advice for Q&A. Try to engage with the questions as best you can. It’s okay to say that you’ll have to think more about the question later, but it’s helpful to walk the audience through your initial thoughts in response to a question. Sometimes the questioner is mistaken, so keep in mind you can say that you don’t accept part of the question or an assumption of the question.
    Good luck!

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  3. P

    Get as many eyes on the piece as possible beforehand. If you are still in grad school, there are likely at least two or three faculty members in your department who have some kind of knowledge of your area. There are probably a few other grad students who know something about it, and others who would nevertheless be willing to read it and offer thoughts.
    I’ve had very good luck at conferences. I mean that I’ve had friendly audiences. There have been challenging questions, but nothing hostile or aggressive. This is not universally the case, but in my experience it’s common.
    I think it was my 2nd or 3rd conference presentation where I was giving a paper part of which involved an argument that prominent philosopher X was mistaken about objection Y to position Z. When I walked into the room, prominent philosopher X was sitting in the front row. This was a bit alarming. But the tone of my paper was friendly and respectful despite my disagreement with X, and indeed, X was very friendly and respectful during the Q&A, and I think a year or two that paper presentation helped me a great deal in my application for a postdoc, because X was involved in the decision-making.
    Realistically, decent folks in the profession see grad student presentations as important learning experiences for the students, and will think of their questions as helpful rather than destructive. You’ll often make good contacts and possibly new friends. Try to let that prospect counterbalance the inevitable nervousness.

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  4. Imposter Syndrome

    I also get nervous for conference Q&A’s. The best way to get over those nerves is to think of it as a conversation. Don’t assume people are out to get you and allow yourself to explore the questions with genuine curiosity.
    I am also a slow thinker. One way to buy yourself some time is to respond by first summarizing the question and asking if you have articulated the question accurately. This gives you a moment to think and allows you to make sure you have understood the question properly.
    Best of luck! Imposter syndrome is real and it takes time to feel comfortable in these situations.

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  5. academic migrant

    Prepare pen and paper or anything that you can take notes quickly. Some people ask multiple questions, and it is, at least for me, difficult to keep track of all of them. Pen and paper is also good to quickly write down good suggestions, sometimes even of relevant literature. (It is possible to approach people for their questions and suggestions after, but you can’t easily approach multiple people at the same time.)
    Remember that most people are there to be friendly. Moreover, it is extremely unlikely that anything you say or not respond to will lead to dire consequences.
    If you have the luxury, get your friends or colleagues to hear an early version of the talk too. It is unlikely that they will anticipate all the questions, but it may help you to get a feel for the Q&A.

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  6. ABD Grad

    Although I’m still very early in the game, I’ve been to several conferences and presented my work. I’ve learned that this (especially the Q&A!) is my least favorite part of the job because I get so nervous. I’m not good at thinking quick on my feet. Nevertheless, here is some advice that I have found helpful.
    1. Don’t think of your talk (or especially of impressing everyone with your talk) as the “ultimate” goal of your work. The goal is to publish! Presenting at a conference is just a way of getting feedback on your work and to do some networking. Let’s say it doesn’t go very well. At least you have a line in a CV and got some feedback that you can incorporate in the next draft and improve your paper before sending it to journals. This has happened to me before: my talk did not go very well and one audience member trashed my view. I was too rattled to come up with a good answer. Although I think the criticism totally missed the mark, it did show me how some people might misunderstand my position. I added a section with a clarification to the paper. The paper is now published in a good journal, which is what matters most.
    2. This one is difficult, but don’t think of the Q&A as a match which you have to “win.” I was presenting once and there was a well-known philosopher X, which already was intimidating to me. During the Q&A, philosopher X asked me a question, which I didn’t really understand. I tried to talk around the problem and gave some examples. After the talk, philosopher X approached me and we talked about the stresses of Q&As. What he said was very helpful: “Q&A’s aren’t really there for you to give good answers to questions, but to further a conversation and start thinking about things in your work you wouldn’t think about by yourself.” It’s fun when you have a ready-to-hand takedown of a criticism, but you’re not failing when that doesn’t happen.
    3. Audience matters. I have presented this one paper at several conferences. A few times audiences where already predisposed to dislike my views and gave a lot of criticism. One person even concluded their comments (there was no question there) with “and that’s why your view collapses on itself.” The paper is now published in a good journal and received an award at a different conference. All this to say: some audiences will be more into your work than others and that’s ok.

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  7. betablockers

    I recommend situational anxiety meds. Talk to a doctor.

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  8. Kyle

    If you have any friends or colleagues in the audience, ask one of them to write down the questions you receive. It will be helpful for when you go to incorporate the feedback later on, since your memory of your Q&A will be likely be hazier. Everyone in my grad program does this as a service for each other, and it’s a huge relief.

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  9. another ABD grad

    I’m still finishing up grad school, but I’ve been lucky enough to present my work at a variety of venues. Sometimes, I think a talk that I’m going to give will go well, and it doesn’t. Sometimes I think it will go terribly, and it goes really well. So allow yourself to feel nerves. So many of us do! Just don’t let them tell you that your talk is going to go poorly–they’re not a reliable indicator of that!
    Additionally, I’ve learned (the hard way) that a lot of the work you have to do in a Q&A is to make a long-winded, rambling question (or a question that seems to miss the point) match up with a point you actually made. Sometimes this requires changing the original question a little into a question that you have ideas about. To this end, I find it helpful to explicitly say things like, “your question gets at this particular issue…” And, often, I’m undecided about how to respond and I’ll say things like “I’m tempted to answer in one of three ways…” (or some kind of hedging like this, which gives me time to think without committing to one answer).
    I wish you the best!

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  10. Hermias

    You can frame the expectation, for yourself and the audience, of what the QandA is for. Some people go at it with the attitude that they have nothing to learn; they present an adamantine argument and then wittily rebuff the misunderstandings of their foes. This is fun, but is incompatible with being slow on your feet. Instead, you are there to learn from the questioners – you want to hear their perspectives on your paper, how they view the topic differently; you are a supplicant seeking their sage wisdom. Also, please do not drug yourself to obscure entirely normal feelings.

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  11. Conference Joy

    Adding to Academic Migrant’s point, have a pen and paper — not just for the reasons it may help, already pinted out, but to write down EVERY question and comment. This is an easy way to give each questioner a sense you’re taking them seriously, that they’re “landing.”
    Equally important, yes — it’s fine to say “that’s a good question,” etc. — but don’t do that too repetitively or perfunctorily, or it backfires, like this is what you’re programmed to say. So they’ll think you’re falling back on the impersonal perfunctory compliments precisely because the real you, whom the formal language is hiding, doesn’t get or like the question especially.
    The best way the remedy these no-no’s is to actually enjoy each question or comment. That may sound impossible, but it isn’t. You need to stay focused on the fact that all these people have gathered to think about and discuss YOUR work. Appreciate how exciting that is, what a privilege and opportunity it is. Try to get in that happy-to-be-here mode; it’ll show if you aren’t. And to see how every question or comment has something valuable in it.
    Relatedly, you should try to radiate enjoyment, like you’re having fun. Like this is a natural activity, you in your element. Philosophy at many higher — and hirer — levels is still a club of people who think there is no better joy than arguing this stuff with fellow geeks, ideally over beers, but it begins in the sessions. (There’s a lot to criticize in this norm, and its occasionally exclusionary impacts, but I’m just reporting it.)

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  12. Michel

    My advice: practice your talk. Then practice again. When you go up there, you should be able to turn on your autopilot. Plus, practicing will help you stick to the time.
    I think that helps with the Q&A, too: a smooth talk builds your confidence for the Q&A portion, and helps to cultivate a friendlier audience, too. I’m crap at thinking on my feet (or in general, really!), but the dirty secret is that for many questions–including many of the worst–you really don’t have to.
    Once you’ve given the same talk a bunch of times, you’ll start to see certain questions, or variations on them, occurring again and again; and once you’ve hit upon an answer, it’s easy to trot it out again. You can sort of recreate this experience for yourself ahead of time, too, without having to give a pile of talks. So, as others upthread said, have a think about which elements of your argument might be controversial or unclear, and think about how you’d reply to questions on those issues. You can’t script the entire Q&A, of course, but you can definitely anticipate significant chunks of it.
    Another dirty secret is that you can shape the direction of your Q&A. You can do it during the talk, by pointing to things which might you don’t have time to discuss but which might be worth addressing in the Q&A. You can dangle tantalizing morsels, too (you don’t have to/shouldn’t cram everything you want to say into your talk, so leave some big soft targets dangling). Or you can even work to shape the discussion in the Q&A, using the old politician’s trick of pivoting to safer ground when you start to feel out of your depth.
    If you have a friend in attendance, you can also pre-arm them with a question. It doesn’t have to be a softball, it just has to be one you’re comfortable answering.

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