How to make people remember you at a conference
If you are a young scientist who just kick-started his/her research career, participating in a conference is one of the best ways for you to get yourself known/recognised and find potential future collaborators/jobs/partners (which is incredibly important if you are pursuing a career in science, as explained here). One good way to make yourself memorable could be to make a good poster and win the best poster prize if there is a poster competition (usually there would be one, just to spice up the nerd-filled atmosphere a little bit). But often this is out of your control. I joined a proper conference for the first time last November and noticed a few things that I did or things that I could have done that maximise the “memory impact” on the people I met there. Here I would like to share three of them, which I found less obvious, yet we all know their importance, however, their significance is typically ignored:
- Be playful with the poster:
The poster session is the best place to show your work and “express your personality”. If there are no restrictions on how you should present your work, put up things on your poster board to make your section look special, or “interesting”. For example, at that conference, I presented a poster on porcine viruses. I could have hung a stuffed pig doll on the top left and a stuffed virus doll on the top right of my poster. I could have put up some of my artworks themed on viruses. They might not be directly related to my work, but the playfulness will make me more noticeable than the others. Once people are attracted to your poster, give them a friendly smile and ask them if they would like you to talk through your poster.
2. Ask questions
While in the lecture or during the poster session, ask questions! It’s always nice to show others your interest in their works, so they might be interested in your work too. Sharing allows collaboration with one another and could lead to interesting and meaningful conversations. If you are lucky, you might find someone who has skillsets complementing yours, and that could potentially develop into a fruitful collaboration. Or you might discover that one is the others’ missing piece in their research, and here we go with your eureka moment!
Asking questions at the end of a lecture also gives you another advantage — there are likely not many people raising their hands at the lecture so by asking a question at the end, people will recognise you as the one who asked the question. You might be given a microphone as you are asking your question, and that’s helpful, because then, the entire lecture house will be filled with your voice, so now you are making another layer of impressions on everyone in the room! How efficient is that! Your question might ring the bell of some in the audience, who might reach out to you afterwards. And here comes another opportunity to discuss and network.
3. Make your business card
At the end of the conversation, consider giving out your business card. Most people who go to conferences would not think of making a business card so this one would make you truly stand out. Style your business card in a way that is like a miniaturised version of your poster. You can have one of the figures on your poster as the decoration of your business card. So after the conference, people will remember you, say ‘Yes, yeah, I met him, he was the guy who worked on XXX’
Poster sessions and the end of the lecture Q&A sessions are often limited in time. Giving a business card with contact details attached gives people opportunities to reach out to you after the conference.
I actually got my current job with the business card strategy, so I would highly recommend this approach to any young scientists who are going to the conference.