Thoughts on skipping a conference?

[deleted427955]

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Got an abstract accepted to the Eastern Psychological Conference in Boston. I am from Baltimore - gap year, just finished applying to clinical programs. It's a good 10 hour drive, plus $300 for the hotel and some other misc. expenses which I would have to take a chunk out of my rainy day fund to afford. My question, can I put the poster on my CV but not attend? I would like to go but since I am paying out of pocket I just don't know.

 

[jmcWU2014]

Nope, that wouldn't be ethical. Putting a poster on your CV implies you presented the information. the equivalent would be listing a manuscript as published that you submitted for publication and it was rejected.

 

[G Costanza]

If you don't go, make sure you tell the hosting organization that you won't make it with enough time for them to edit the program. Nothing says unprofessional like not showing up for your own presentation.

 

[PhDToBe]

Flights between Boston and Baltimore are very cheap, if that helps.

 

[cara susanna]

Couldn't the OP have someone else present the poster?

 

[Pragma]

Why apply to present at a place that you can't (or dont intend to) go to? Totally wack. Wouldn't want you as my student.

 

[JustNoticing]

yikes, a lot of jumping to negativity on this thread. Conferences are extremely expensive, and even a "cheap" flight from baltimore to boston can be a lot of money for someone who might be making $10 bucks an hour as an RA and may be in the process of spending $3k on applications. OP is also likely new to the whole game, and may have submitted the poster along with others. Your best bet would be to have someone else present it if there are other authors who are going to the conference. Then you can keep your name on it and have it on your CV.

 

[WisNeuro]

yikes, a lot of jumping to negativity on this thread. Conferences are extremely expensive, and even a "cheap" flight from baltimore to boston can be a lot of money for someone who might be making $10 bucks an hour as an RA and may be in the process of spending $3k on applications. OP is also likely new to the whole game, and may have submitted the poster along with others. Your best bet would be to have someone else present it if there are other authors who are going to the conference. Then you can keep your name on it and have it on your CV.

It's somewhat warranted. Part of the process. If you can't go, don't submit. Now, if an emergency popped up (death in the family, medical emergency, etc) sure, send an e-mail and skip it. But, as soon as you apply to that conference, budget those funds as gone.

 

[IT514]

If you have someone else presenting it for you, thats fine. It shouldnt go in your CV under presentations, for sure, if you dont present it. If the abstract is published, AND others present it for you, you could list it under "published abstracts" (which you should keep seperate from real "Publications"). I agree with Pragma that you shouldnt send something to a conference that you really dont plan on attending (not going as far to say you would be a bad student though). I understand that things come up. I did this once, but I had other authors present for me, and my excuse was the birth of my child, literally on the same day as the poster session.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

IMO, EPA isn't even worth attending. 😛 However, I agree that you should make all efforts to attend if you submitted an abstract. Does your PI have funding for conference travel? Does your school have travel or conference funding?
Do not put it on your CV... especially if you're not even planning on making a poster (since I believe it's in mid-March and I doubt you've already made the poster).

 

[deleted427955]

Thank you all for the feedback.

IMO, EPA isn't even worth attending. 😛 However, I agree that you should make all efforts to attend if you submitted an abstract. Does your PI have funding for conference travel? Does your school have travel or conference funding?
Do not put it on your CV... especially if you're not even planning on making a poster (since I believe it's in mid-March and I doubt you've already made the poster).

What makes you say it isn't worth presenting? Just because it's only a regional conference? My adviser suggested ACBT but the deadline had passed and I wanted to add it to my CV for this application year.

Why apply to present at a place that you can't (or dont intend to) go to? Totally wack. Wouldn't want you as my student.

Thanks for jumping to conclusions. The study I work on ended unexpectedly two months ago (AFTER i submitted the abstract), the PI offered to let me to stay on part time (10hrs/wk) for the next year because he knows how important the position is for me. Going from full time to not even half time is making expenses tight and I am not sure the $500 price tag is worth it.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Thank you all for the feedback.



What makes you say it isn't worth presenting? Just because it's only a regional conference? My adviser suggested ACBT but the deadline had passed and I wanted to add it to my CV for this application year.



Thanks for jumping to conclusions. The study I work on ended unexpectedly two months ago (AFTER i submitted the abstract), the PI offered to let me to stay on part time (10hrs/wk) for the next year because he knows how important the position is for me. Going from full time to not even half time is making expenses tight and I am not sure the $500 price tag is worth it.

Well, you're in a different field than me, but I meant that as a personal opinion. There are many conferences that are much more worthwhile for me to attend -- even in Boston (CNS) and around the same time (SAN). EPA is fine for those with a broad interest in psychology, or new grad presenters/undergrads. I personally save my funding for more applicable conferences.

I still expect your PI/department might have money for conference travel, and you should ask if you have not yet.

Regardless, the consensus is that you should not put a poster on your CV if you do not present it or have it presented. Is it technically published in the conference proceedings? Yes... But poster presentations are about the presenting experience, and you don't get that if you don't go.

 

[Pragma]

Conferences are expensive. I usually recommend that students go to local conferences to keep the costs down. If they can swing the larger conferences and pay for travel, the more power to them. There are some travel grants you can usually apply for via the institution. But in this situation, I would have your poster withdrawn if you aren't going to go.

 

[MCParent]

Just not showing up, at a small conference like that (no one would notice if you didn't go to poster at APA, not that that makes it ok), will probably get you on a delinquent authors list. Nothing might come of that, of course, but why do it that way? If you can't present either get someone else to do it for you who is on the poster, or call them and say finances are unexpectedly prohibitive and you can't attend.

 

[InNae]

Skipping a poster is viewed as unprofessional by most, and the reason doesn't really matter (i.e., no one is there at the empty posterboard to tell people that finances were an issue). Worse, it reflects on your coauthors and your institution. It's less serious if you retract it officially so that it's pulled from the program in time, but I am always unimpressed when I go to see a poster with an interesting title/abstract and instead find an empty posterboard. If you really won't attend, do everything you can to at least have someone put the poster up with reprints and contact information for questions.

By the way, you probably would be able to pay for a cheap flight (usairways currently $146 RT) + 1 night shared hotel/Air BnB + food for less than what you're planning to do with gas, parking, etc. Ditto what others wrote about asking mentors about possible partial assistance (e.g., poster printing fees).

I completely understand financial constraints, and even so, I highly recommend that you do what you can to follow through with your commitment.

 

[psychRA]

As others have said, if you don't present the poster, you can't put it on your CV. See if there is any possible way to have someone else present it for you. If there are other RAs in your lab, ask them about this before you approach your PI, so that you have a potential solution in place before you explain that you can't attend. If no one else can cover it, consider whether there is any way that you can make it to the conference. It's a 7 hour drive from Baltimore to Boston, so if you hit the road that morning for an afternoon poster session, you could be there in time to present, and then you can head home again. It won't be a pleasant day, but still better than bailing on the poster. If it's a morning poster session, drive up there the night before and then head out after your poster session, which will require 1 night in a hotel instead of multiple nights. It's not ideal, but at least you can still present and put the poster on your CV.

While some may feel that the feedback in this thread is harsh, you are likely to encounter people in the field who share the same opinion that it's poor form to skip a conference when you were scheduled to present. An undergrad RA in our lab had a poster accepted and then decided not to attend a conference once, and our mentor was really angry - not just because she wasn't honoring her commitment, but because others had also put time into helping her with the poster. I was able to take over the poster, so it got presented, but neither of us (mentor or myself) would have put time and energy into helping the RA with the poster submission in the first place if we had known that she wasn't going to present it. I don't need any more posters on my CV at this point.

 

[InNae]

It's a 7 hour drive from Baltimore to Boston, so if you hit the road that morning for an afternoon poster session, you could be there in time to present, and then you can head home again.

OP, although I agree with everything else in the post above, PLEASE do not drive 14 hours in one day. Not safe or healthy for you or anyone else on the road with you.

Edit to add: Yes, it's perfectly possible to drive 14 hours safely in one day, but 14 hours with at least a couple of hours of conference stuff sandwiched in between is a different kind of energy monster, and you'd be wrapping up the very long, exhausting day driving at night.

 

[Ollie123]

Someone should definitely present unless you formally withdraw it - though the latter can look bad and might impact your ability to submit to that conference in the future (not to mention generally creating a bad impression of you and the lab). For a poster, I honestly doubt many people will care too much as long as you formally withdraw it - emergencies happen and people generally understand that. Personally, I think as long as you make it and SOMEONE presents it you can still put it on your CV as long as you include an asterisk and make it clear that you were not the presenting author. I see this done with some regularity and don't see the harm as long as you are making it abundantly clear what actually happened (i.e. you didn't present).

Agree w/ InNae its not a smart/safe idea to make the trip there and back in one day unless you can share driving with at least 1-2 other people. Its just a poster, so any benefit to your CV is not worth the stress and potential danger of something like that. I'm used to driving long distances and that would be a bit much for me - especially since depending on timing you are likely cutting into hours you would normally be sleeping.