Presenting at conferences
Some ideas/advices for PhD
students
Jean-Philippe Bonardi
University of Lausanne
Faculty of Business and Economics
(HEC)
Really important to present at
conferences
• To get feedback on your research
– But not the only thing, by far!
• To learn about how to present/sell one’s
research
– Very important thing (for phd defense, for grants, for
job market, to get co-authors, etc.)
• To hear about others’ ideas (even on different
topics) and generate new ideas for one’s own
research
• To better understand the ‘sociology of the field’
• To find jury members, people working on similar
topics, future co-authors, future recruiters, etc.
• For HEC as well….
Types of conferences
(example from Strategy)
• The large ones US / International
– Academy of Management
– Strategic Management Society
– Academy of International Business
• The ‘large’ ones / European
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European Academy of Management
Egos
DRUID
European Association for Research in Industrial Economics
• Smaller ones (there are lots)
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ACAC (Atlanta Competitive Advantage Conference)
ARCS (Association for research in corporate sustainability)
Business and the Environment Conference
Many others organized as ‘one off’
Differences between large and
small ones
• Large
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Relatively high likelihood of being accepted (over 50%)
15 minutes presentation
Attendants often from any field
Papers presented not always very connected to each other
General discussion / questions from the room for 20 minutes for all the
presenters
• For these large ones, important to:
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Be really on the point  focus on key ideas
Few slides
General intuitions and results rather than technical aspects
Not expect too much from the room
Keep in mind that you have won if people take a look at your paper
when the conference is over (this is really what people do!)
Differences between large and
small ones (2)
• Small ones
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Much lower acceptance rate (great if you’re in!)
Real advantage for ‘well known’ researchers
Presentations significantly longer (30mn?)
Generally one discussant per paper  deeper comments
Most people from a similar field
• For these:
– Can go much more in the details
– Be ready to take much tougher questions / comments
– The objective is to convince attendants that you are bringing
something to the field with the paper you present
Conclusion
• Conferences are an important part of what
we are doing
• You want to pick your conferences based
on where/by whom you want to be
recognized
• Keep in mind that they take time, though:
During your Phd and early on in your
career, one large international and one
smaller one are good numbers