I have recently returned from back-to-back overseas conferences in Scotland and Ireland, along with the more important business of visiting family in between. Here are a few of my thoughts and observations from attending (microbiology) conferences:

• I am immensely privileged. To be able to travel overseas and attend educational conferences is a real privilege. It combines my love of microbiology and my passion for travel. It is certainly something I never take for granted. I feel privileged, but definitely not entitled.
• I am not the only introvert. Looking around the conference hall, it is easy to see I am not the only introvert in the room. I am not the only person that finds it difficult to speak to complete strangers whilst sober. For introverts who don’t know many people at the conference, talking to industry reps at the booths is an option, as at least you then have an excuse to strike up a conversation.
• Industry presentations should be taken with a grain of salt. Whilst it is fine to chat to industry reps, care must be taken when attending industry sponsored presentations. One must always remember that the company is paying for the privilege of holding this presentation, and at the end of the day they are trying to sell you something. So, the chances of listening to a completely unbiased presentation is really quite slim. Don’t get me wrong, you can certainly learn stuff at industry presentations, but one should always keep in the back of your mind “What is the underlying agenda here?”
• Doctors are generally quite posh. The clipped and well-polished accents. The confident voices & mannerisms…  My recent conferences reminded me that by and large, doctors come from well-to-do backgrounds and may not have that much in common with the patients they are treating. This has been an issue ad infinitum, and is still a work in progress.
• People generally know a lot more than myself. The older I get, the more I realise I don’t know, and this is highlighted by conference presentations where I find myself saying to myself, I should have known that, but I didn’t. I realise that the presenter may have specialist knowledge in the area of their presentations, but there is nothing like a good conference to make me feel like a charlatan.
• Post-graduate research presentations are fiendish. Post-grad research presentations, usually on PhD work, are often complex, esoteric and well beyond my intellect.  Very occasionally, one comes along where the concepts are explained really well. Most, however, are a hard listen.
• It’s all about location, location, location. There is no shame in saying that I choose conference locations in order to combine a visit to family, or to visit somewhere I really like, or to see somewhere I have never been to before. Obviously, the conference has to be relevant to your specialist field, but if you are somewhere that you really want to be, you are more likely to learn more.
• You don’t need to attend every talk. Big international conferences are often multi-day, 7am-7pm marathon affairs, with over 20 presentations a day. Few people, and certainly not me, can focus for this length of time, day after day. Pick talks you really want to attend and go to them. Along the same lines, look for time blocks where the topic content is not so relevant to you, and take some time out.
• Nobody cares what questions you ask. Even introverts like myself should pluck up the courage to ask a few questions during a conference. It adds to your knowledge, and helps you remember the presentation. Even if you feel the question is not important enough for the occasion, trust me, no-one really cares what questions you ask. People have better things to worry about.
• Onsite conferences will be around for a long time to come. To those people who thought the COVID pandemic would spell the end of onsite conferences, sorry, you are very much mistaken. People like to connect, to travel, to do something different. That is why onsite conferences will be around for a long time yet.

Michael