I just got back from INGroup11, an interdisciplinary conference for people who study groups. You can read the twitter commentary at #INGroup11.
It was one of the best conferences I have ever attended. I realize that by saying something like that (or even worse, the tweet confessing that I was “in love” with the conference), I don’t look like one of the cool kids who never get enthusiastic about anything. I don’t get enthusiastic about most things, but when I stumble across a paper I’m reviewing, a research idea a colleague or student shares, or a conference I am attending that I think is really good, I’m not going to tamp down my enthusiasm just to look cool. It wouldn’t help anyway: I am long past looking or being cool.
In any case, I think every academic or scientist needs to find the conference that they (at least secretly) get excited about. Maybe it’s the main conference in your area, which provides a broad exposure to both the research and the leading researchers in your field. This is a good idea for grad students and assistant professors who are looking for job connections or review letters.
Personally, I don’t find the broadest mainstream academic conferences to be that useful because I get tired of justifying once again after 15 years, that REALLY! Virtual or online groups are REAL GROUPS that have meaning and impact on their members. (Michael Hogg, I’m looking at you). However, the conferences that are big enough to have sub-groups (like OCIS at AOM, Organizational Communication at NCA, or a couple of groups at ICA) tend to be good places to interact more intimately with researchers in the field.
So why did I like INGroup so much? Intimacy and close connections certainly come to mind. I have never had so many intellectually stimulating conversations about others’ research and my own in my academic career. It was a supportive, engaging, and stimulating 3 days. Honestly, the papers were good and the keynote by Richard Hackman was very good (although I kept freaking out every time he mentioned his collaborator Anita Woolley by her first name), but it was the interactions during the meals and extended breaks that were so intimate and engaging. Most of the time at these conferences, former grad school friends and current colleagues hang together in pretty tight groups that are hard to break into. It seemed the norm here to reconnect with previous connections and also to meet and learn about new people and research. It’s a great fit for me.
So apart from finding your “tribe” in a conference, what else should you do? Get involved! So many academics say that “Oh, I can’t do that! I’m not very good at networking at these things!” Of course, you’re not. You’re an academic! We’re all a bunch of social goobers compared to mainstream corporate America!
It’s a lot easier to just volunteer to do something. (And from an environmental psych/behavior settings perspective–DOING SOMETHING in a setting makes it easier to appropriately be there) Contact the incoming president or program chair and tell him or her that whatever they need you to do–from finding good restaurants near the venue to serving as a reviewer or associate editor–you’ll do it. Go to the business meetings and see what volunteer opportunities interest you and sign up. Not only is it a great way to check off some national service boxes, you get to know the people in the field that excite you, and potentially, you can develop a leadership role in keeping the conference that still excites you exciting.
So I’m coming back from a great conference enthusiastic about what the right conference can do. What advice would you give to people looking to make that connection into our academic conference community?