How to Prepare Sharing Your Work at an Academic Conference: MALAS's Carson Poole on her AGLSP 2021 Conference Experience

by Carson Poole 

2nd Year MALAS Graduate Student, SDSU

As the deadline for 2022’s AGLSP Conference, Biblio-TECHa is now open, I was asked to reflect on my experience at 2021’s (virtual) conference. The theme of last year’s conference was “Unmute Yourself: Voice, Representation, and Power”. 

I believe I was the only student from SDSU in attendance, with Dr. Nericcio acting as my panel’s moderator. The topics addressed in the panels were diverse, entertaining, and very well thought out. Since it was a Liberal Studies conference, the topics for presentations were across the map: several people presented on music analysis or music history, others presented on business theory, and some presentations were on literature. 

My experience was really smooth and stress-free for being my first time presenting at a conference. I recorded my material and had a live (Zoom) Q&A with other panelists after my video was played. The Q&A made me nervous initially, because I wasn’t sure if anyone would ask me an “over my head” kind of question, but the other panelists were very kind, respectful, and open to discussion. 

Over the course of the three-day conference, I learned a lot about topics well outside of my own expertise, which made my academic-nerd heart sing. The panels transitioned smoothly, with breaks in between. Everything ran without any major hitches, save for a few accidentally muted mics. The challenges of a Zoom conference are very different than an in-person one, so I can’t give much in the way of advice on public speaking in front of other people in a conference hall, but if you are confident in your material then the speaking part will come easier. 

Carson Poole at Balboa Park, San Diego

As far as my preparation for the conference, I had already entered into my application with a clear topic idea. I had prepared a rough abstract beforehand and tidied it up before submitting it. The abstract was honestly the hardest part of my application—summing up my work in such a limited space was a challenge. As this conference was virtual, I had to record my material in a 15-minute video, which was nice because I could make multiple takes and revise as I went. 

For an in-person conference like this year’s will be, I think recording it beforehand might be something worth doing as it helps to fine-tune the content of the speech. If you’re thinking of applying, go for it! The experience was a very rewarding one for me and I think it would be the same for you.