16 December 2009
By Matthew Salois
Less than two weeks after returning from a conference in Texas, I took off last weekend to Southampton to present another paper at yet another conference: The UK Society for Behavioural Medicine. I was definitely a fish out of water being the ONLY economist among 300 epidemiologists, health psychologists, and other public health professionals. If I learned one thing about my recent experience it is that we can ALL benefit from jumping out of familiar waters!
I have only ever attended and presented at economics-related meetings and so my experience with the UKSBM represents the only time I have ever attended, let alone presented at, a non-economics conference. The experience could not have been more rewarding. I had the largest audience I have ever presented in front of (roughly 50-60 when usually I only see no more than 20 people in the crowd), which helped create a lively discussion and yielded insights that will serve my paper quite well.
The networking opportunities were also wonderful. Many of the professionals that saw my presentation were quite intrigued with the economics aspects of a problem (obesity) that usually they only see in a medically-related context. On the flip side, I greatly benefited from seeing more of the health and medical aspects to problems I often view with a rose-colored economics lens. The conference also helped me to brainstorm about a dozen potential research ideas!
Before the conference, I really expected to find myself hanging out in the corner a great deal, given that I knew not a soul upon arriving. But I found that not only were the participants very friendly and eager to know more about me (many had never met an economist) but I also found I was far more brave about introducing myself and engaging in conversation. I think feeling like the lone economist gave me a sort of protective shield - I could ask stupid questions without feeling self- conscious since I was the "outsider". Furthermore, I could provide sage economic wisdom being the "expert" economist in the room.
I highly recommend making the effort to go outside your comfort zone and present at a conference that may not be in the main circle of your discipline. The potential gains are great and you will no doubt benefit from the experience.
Sarah Davies16 December 2009 at 10:32 PM
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Thanks for this, Matthew - it sounds like a really inspiring experience. Can I ask whether you were an invited speaker, or just submitted an abstract in response to the cfp? And if you had any problems getting funding, given that it was perhaps an unusual conference for you to choose to go to?
Matthew Salois21 December 2009 at 05:12 PM
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Hi Tennie. I submitted the paper in response to a call for submissions. The funding agency, the National Prevention Research Initiative (NPRI) is actually an inter-disciplinary call for this type of research. Not only did they fund the project, but the full costs of attending the conference as well!
Deborah Conte21 December 2009 at 09:04 PM
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What a great story, Matthew! I am heading to a conference next year in a field totally alien to me (I have changed fields slightly since end of PhD and my new boss is in charge of said conference, so long story short, I HAVE to go...) I was slightly terrified, and kind of dreading it if I'm honest. But after reading your post, I'm now actually quite looking forward to it! I shall promise to write about my own experiences too :-)
Matthew Salois28 December 2009 at 05:18 PM
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Hi Deborah. What field are you changing from and then into? I do hope your time at the conference next year proves to be a valuable one. I look forward to hearing about your experience. Sarah, my apologies for calling you Tennie! Not quite sure what my brain was thinking!