Resources on Attending a Professional Meeting
November 2005
Compiled by Karen Muskavitch (muskavka@bc.edu), Boston College
People at Boston College
Your research advisor and your mentors
Your school or departmental graduate program director
Other graduate students and post-docs
Sites on the Web:
Check the website for the conference you would like to attend
Check the websites of prior or similar conferences
Review the information available on the website for your professional society
Boston College GSAS information on Conference Expense Funding.
http://www.bc.edu/schools/gsas/services/students/conference/
Boston College GAS information on Travel Reimbursement
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/svp/st_org/gsa/travelreimb.pdf
Graphics Services of BC Media Technology Services (services exclusively for BC faculty and staff)
http://www.bc.edu/offices/ats/mts/graphics/
Attending Professional Meetings Successfully, Survival Skills and Ethics Program, University of
Pittsburgh. Booklet in pdf format with information on preparing for, attending, and presenting at
professional meetings. You have a copy in your packet.
http://www.survival.pitt.edu/library/documents/Attending%20Professional%20Mgt.pdf
Also check the Resources pages at the site for an extensive bibliography on may aspects of graduate
school life and professional development.
http://www.survival.pitt.edu/library/index.asp
Guidelines for Preparing AAA Posters, American Anthropological Association. Some pointers with a
bibliography.
http://www.aaanet.org/mtgs/poster.htm
Handbook for Speakers, American Chemical Society. Has information on formal oral presentations (inc.
slides), poster session presentations, and ACS meeting Regulations.
http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html?DOC=meetings\handbook.html
The "art" of giving a good conference talk, Sharon Downes - University of Sydney. You have a copy of
this in your packet.
http://online.anu.edu.au/BoZo/Scott/SharonTalks.html
Conference Paper Guide, Claremont Graduate University. A collection of guides and tips for a variety of
conference presentations in humanities and social sciences.
http://www.cgu.edu/pages/861.asp
Prize-Winning Posters, Clare Sansom in Science NextWave
http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2004/12/16/11
How to Make a Great Poster, Dina Mandoli on website of Amer. Soc. of Plant Biologists. You have a copy
of this in your folder.
http://www.aspb.org/education/poster.cfm
Graduate student emails regarding attending conferences. Includes personal experiences and frank advice.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~danhorn/conference.txt
Of General Interest to Grad Students with Some References to Presenting at Meetings
Re-envisioning the PhD, a project at the Univ. of Washington – a variety of resources for grad students
http://www.grad.washington.edu/envision/index.html
Information on Conferences and Presentations at
http://www.grad.washington.edu/envision/phd/obtaining_phd/conferences.html
Science NextWave – many resources for graduate students, post-docs and junior faculty. Search on
“conferences” or “meetings” for relevant articles, or browse. Access to much of the site is free. For
very recent information, you may need a subscription.
http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/
Graduate Student Resources On the Web! A privately maintained site with many links of interest to
graduate students, however a number do not work.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~danhorn/graduate.html
How to Be a Good Graduate Student, Marie des Jardins (1994) includes a section on attending conferences
as well as sections on other aspects of grad student life
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.html
Books
Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A guide to better posters, presentation, and publications, 2nd Edition,
Mary Helen Briscoe. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY. 1996.
Displaying Your Findings: A practical guide for creating figures, posters, and presentations, Adelheid
A.M. Nicol and Penny M. Pexman. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. 2003.