I find it increasingly difficult to understand the importance that is attached to conferences. My university e-mail is frequently stuffed full of forwarded invitations to attend a huge range of them. As it happens, I am unable to afford attendance at any of them unless they do not charge a registration fee and are also located in my home town. I often wonder whether I would bother to attend them, however, if they were both free and convenient? The answer, still, is a resounding no. Well, not completely no, I must say that postgraduate conferences can be quite entertaining, controversial, confrontational, and lively with plenty of opportunities to meet and interact with others. The academic conferences however with there rigour, lack of passion, and any signs of life from there monotonous speakers responding to the same boring questions asked, are a major snooze fest. I firmly believe that reputations in academia are a massive hindrance to stimulating discussions and answering important questions on a variety of topics. Even on what should be highly charged discussions on subjects in relation to youth justice (my field), continue in this mundane, tedious monologue. Indeed, so unmotivated have I become about the state of academia, that I don't bother to read journals or even books anymore, they're dreary for one thing; I know what they're going to say for another. That's it in a nutshell, once you've been to one conference you've been to them all (whether you realise it or not).

I have organised a conference in the past, just a small one with 20 or so attendees (so more of a seminar really) and I was surprised at how much time it took up - but it didn't cost a lot.

From my experience it is the accommodation in most universities that really racks up the cost. The price that colleges charge for some really quite sub-standard rooms sometimes is shocking. Add that to travel costs as well - that is where the price comes from.

Not the actual event. More webinars is what we need.

Hi Ali,

Sometimes, and this is my experience, you only have a limited number of conferences to attend in your field that can be justifiable expensed. Not all supervisors are that accommodating when it comes to attending only partially relevant, expensive conferences.

It probably depends on your learning style, too. Personally I tend to have my best idead when I'm listening to others describe their research - even if it's only tangentially related - and when I'm explaining what I'm doing and why. I just work better in a "conference" environment, so I love going along and would take every opportunity. But that's just my personal preference ;)

I agree that if I had to pay my own way to attend conferences, I would be attending very few, since grad students don't earn much, and postdocs not much better.

I have been fortunate in that funding has made it possible for me to attend conferences. Often this has been from grant monies from one of my advisors, sometimes from NSF funding, or from other fund pools that my department provided specifically for grad students. My current postdoc position includes an allowance for travel expenses for conferences.

It is true that I do not necessarily get much from every talk at every conference. But the talks do give me a sense of what is the current cutting edge in my field. If every talk bores you, if you are not interested in current research in your field, then you have to ask yourself why you are pursuing studies in your field.

But to echo comments by others, the far more important aspect of conferences (for me) is to network with others in my field: to renew past acquaintances, to make new ones, to get face time, to become known as a person in the field. The more you become known, the more likely you will be invited to give a talk at a conference or seminar. You never know when this may make a difference when you are on the job market, applying for your next position. As one of my thesis advisors told me, you should take every opportunity to give a talk. And remember that every talk is a job talk, whether you realize it or not, so give it your best.

Of course, if you are only pursuing a master's degree as a terminal degree, with the intention of getting a non-academic job afterwards, then conferences may indeed be a waste of time for you. But if you plan to become an academic, you need to realize the importance of conferences.

I do understand your second point very well Linda. It is very possible as a PhD student to go for months without meeting anyone who really understands your work, so conferences can be a source of support and motivation in that respect.

It could be the format of conferences that make people feel they are not as productive as they could be. A room full of people taking it in turns to stand at the front and speak for anything between 15 minutes to an hour makes it very hard to remember everything or engage with everything.

I saw this posted on Twitter earlier and I think that it is a positive step, even though I can't play a ukulele myself.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11396474

There is a need to change the format of academic conferences to increase the positive effect they should have and increase engagement amongst participants.