Great news! I've come back from my first conference as a PhD student and it went great. 

• For the first time, I knew a good amount of people at the conference
  • It was great introducing my present colleagues to those of past - matchmaker!
• I spoke with a number of interesting poster presenters about the intersection of our research
  • I've already incorporated some of their suggestions in my current projects

If you read my first post on getting the most out of conferences, you may recognize a few of 'tasks' or suggestions I mentioned. 

You may be thinking, "Bailey, what was your goal for this conference?" Read more to find out. 

How do you feel when you go to a conference? Are you nervous? Overwhelmed? Personally I wonder if I’ll ever get to the point in my career where I feel at ease, looking forward to seeing colleagues from all over the nation I’ve collaborated with on projects.
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My advisor runs a weekly breakfast club for his advisees, and with a national conference coming up in the next few months, we wanted advice on how to get the most out of conferences. He came up with a top 10, that I’ve organized and elaborated on below. I’ll expand on a few in my next post (Part II).

All of these tips fall under the category of preparing for your own success. They should be done before the conference, and then acted upon. Make a game plan and you’ll return home feeling accomplished.