WEBVTT

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[Morse code beeps]
[Whoosh]

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[Helicopter rotor]

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Hello.

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Welcome to the Success at Conferences
Workshop.

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My name is Evan Kramer
and I'm an AeroAstro

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Communication Lab Fellow,
and I'll be your instructor today.

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To kick things off, we'll get started
with an introductory activity.

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If you have been to a conference before,
please

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reflect on what worked well
and what didn't.

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Is there
anything you wish you knew ahead of time

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before going to the conference?

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If you've not been to a conference before,
what challenges do you anticipate?

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Please take five minutes for this activity
and feel free to write down

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your thoughts to reference as we go on

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throughout the workshop.

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[Alien spaceship beeps]

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Our lesson goals are as follows.

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At the end of this workshop,
you will be able to know how conferences

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fit into your academic journey
and what to expect from them.

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You will be able to systematically
establish actionable conference goals

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and next steps to tailor your experience
in order to achieve them.

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And you'll be able to create a milestone
timeline

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using a list of common conference
logistics to help prioritize your efforts.

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Let's first define what a conference is.

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Conferences
involve gathering to exchange ideas

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about a predefined set of topics.

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This involves
sharing your own ideas and engaging

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with others’ similar and competing ideas.

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Conference attendees
include members of academia,

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industry, government,
and the general public.

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All of whom are working towards
similar end goals.

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Conferences can take place in locations

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that require a day or more of travel,

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or in your backyard,
at your home institution.

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In terms of your academic journey,

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conferences are a solid stepping
stone towards sharing your work

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in more formal formats,
such as a journal article.

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With definitions established,

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what does finding success at a conference
really look like?

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Well, success at a conference
looks different for different people.

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It is common to have multiple questions

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milling around in your head
leading up to a conference.

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You could define success
as achieving favorable answers

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to these questions,
including; Will anyone come to my talk?

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Will I make meaningful

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connections with future collaborators?

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Will I attend sessions that inspire

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future research directions?

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While different people might be looking
for different things at a conference, one

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generalizable statement is true
about finding success;

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you get out what you put in.

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Finding success at conferences
requires effort.

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You might be asking, “So

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if conference success requires effort,

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what kinds of effort are worthwhile?”

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From a high level, we can break down
worthwhile efforts into two categories,

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creating a goals list, and creating

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a chronological checklist and timeline.

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Both of these efforts must be put in
before

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the conference begins to maximize success.

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Perhaps most important
is the creation of a goals list.

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This requires reflection
on what your underlying motivations

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are for attending
the conference in the first place.

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Some examples

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might be to gain experience creating
and delivering a technical presentation

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to experts, receiving feedback
that identifies strengths

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and areas of improvement
for your work, and understanding

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what the current state of the art
is of a field.

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The second category of worthwhile efforts

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has a more logistical focus to it.

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Creating a conference
checklist and conference timeline

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helps chronologically order
major milestones and deadlines

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so that you are prepared
and not feeling overwhelmed

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before, during, or after your conference.

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In fact, creating a checklist

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and a high level
timeline is the first thing you should do

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once you decide
you'd like to attend a conference.

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We'll go into more detail
on these worthwhile efforts

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on the following slides.

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Let's focus on setting conference goals.

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In this activity,
we ask you to define a list

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of conference goals that will help
you approach the conference methodically.

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The intended outcome is that this will
hopefully

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make you feel more prepared and confident.

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Please take five minutes to respond
to the prompts in the Defining Conference

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Goals worksheet.

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[Alien spaceship beeps]

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Awesome!

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Now you have some practice
drafting your conference goals.

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Ideally, drafting your goals should happen
weeks to months before the conference.

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Simultaneously,
it is important that you handle

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some logistics in this time frame as well.

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Most importantly,
you'll want to figure out who is covering

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your conference travel expenses.

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This will likely be your primary advisor,

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so make sure to bring up your interest

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in attending a conference early
to get this on their radar.

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Once you have funding sources sorted out,

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you'll want to register
and book excursions as early as possible.

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Most conference registration fees
are cheaper the earlier you submit them.

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You also want to.

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Consider where to stay
during the conference.

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Check for accommodations
recommended by the conference,

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as they typically offer discounts.

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While the previous slide covered
some high level logistics

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considerations, here we present
some specific questions to consider.

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In terms of getting to the conference,
you'll want to check if you know

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anyone else in your lab or department
who is also going, to coordinate.

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If you're traveling internationally, check

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if you require a visa to travel.

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Consider how close you want to stay to

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the conference venue and how you will get
to the conference venue.

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Will you rent a car
or get reimbursed for taxis or Ubers?

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Once you're at the conference,
what are your go

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to ways of connecting with people?

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Will you have business cards?

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Will you scan LinkedIn QR codes?

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Making sure you cover
all these bases will reduce

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your stress
leading up to and at the conference.

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As we approach the 1 to 2 week

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pre-conference mark,
you'll want to consider a few logistics.

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First, you'll want to create
a more granular schedule.

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Download the conference
mobile app and identify keynote

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speakers and session topics of interest.

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Identify individuals
you would like to speak with

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and attempt to arrange meetings
via email or LinkedIn,

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keeping in mind that most leading scholars

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typically attend conferences
to share their own work.

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With the conference mobile app handy,

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and a list of potential meetings
you might have during the conference,

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you can create your own
granular conference schedule

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that accounts for,
not only professional events,

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but also meals, exploring exhibit
halls, and free time.

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Lastly, prepare for your presentation
if you'll be giving one.

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Prepare and practice
your presentation in the assigned format.

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Be sure to pay close attention
to all formatting

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requirements
for oral and poster presentations.

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In addition
to preparing for your presentation,

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you'll want to also practice
a concise elevator pitch

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of your work and interests.

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This will be really useful
when meeting new connections.

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Okay, we've covered goal setting

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and logistics
considerations for conferences.

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Let's take this time to do an activity
on creating action items.

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Action items set concrete
objectives for achieving goals.

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Please take five.

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Minutes to complete the action items.

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worksheet.

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[Alien spaceship beeps]

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Now you're there.

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So how should we approach it?

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Well, first and foremost,
take advantage of your efforts.

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Attend conference keynote presentations
and technical sessions

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based on your curated schedule.

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While following your curated schedule,

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be sure to be an active conference goer.

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What this means is to be diligent

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about taking notes
and asking questions during Q&As.

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Stick around after sessions

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to talk to presenters of interest.

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And lastly, make sure to be flexible.

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Conferences are dynamic.

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And while you may have curated
an extremely detailed schedule

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ahead of time, it's
okay for your schedule to be dynamic too.

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Welcome unforeseen invitations
to networking sessions

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and impromptu lunch invitations
from people you meet.

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While the conference might end,

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your work shouldn't immediately stop too.

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There are few remaining important
activities for you to do to ensure

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that you get the most
out of your conference experience.

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First, take some time
to summarize your experience.

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Write down or create slides
about what you learned,

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who you spoke with,
and what actions you'd like to take next.

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Also, be sure to download conference
proceedings you'd like to reference,

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since these often go behind paywalls
shortly after the conference concludes.

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Next, you'll want to follow up with people

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you've met by sending emails
or LinkedIn messages.

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Schedule future meetings
with collaborators you'd like to pursue.

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Finally, reflect and plan for next time.

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Did you achieve your goals?

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What went well
and what can be improved for next time?

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We've talked a lot about logistics
and strategically

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organizing your efforts
during this workshop.

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A tool to help You handle
these efforts is a conference timeline.

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Conference timelines
visually present major milestones

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before, during, and after the conference.

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They're useful resources
for strategically directing your efforts

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throughout your conference experience.

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Note that a more granular
week-of-conference timeline

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should be created
using the aid of the conference app.

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Furthermore, important sources
of information for creating your timeline

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are the conference social media pages,
as they often post updates

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to the technical program
and extracurricular activities

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as the organizing committee
finalizes them.

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We invite you to check out the conference
timeline activity

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to create your own draft
conference timeline.

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In this activity, you're provided
a reference list of milestones

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in a checklist format on one side
and a blank timeline on the other side.

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As a first pass effort,

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create a milestone timeline
by filling in the blank timeline

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with the items from the reference
checklist and durations along the top bar.

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If you have a particular conference
in mind, try

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to write absolute,
rather than relative, dates

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in the top bar.

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[Alien spaceship beeps]

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That concludes

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this workshop
on finding success at conferences.

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You should now be able to know
how conferences

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fit into your academic journey
and what to expect from them.

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Systematically establish
actionable conference goals

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and next steps to tailor your experience
in order to achieve them.

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And create a milestone timeline
using a list of conference

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logistics to help prioritize your efforts.

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I hope you find the presented tools
and resources

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useful in your upcoming conferences.

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This workshop was created
and presented by Fellows

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of the MIT AeroAstro Communication Lab.

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You can find other workshops
related to technical communication

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in the MIT OpenCourseWare repository.

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Thank you.

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[Morse code beeps]