Another weekend lost to academic meetings. Yet, I keep telling myself — if I think of these conferences as an opportunity to learn, the cost is actually quite small.
I attended another conference yesterday, which meant I had no real weekend to rest.
When I can’t relax on Saturday and Sunday, my mind stays wound up, and I sleep poorly. Then Monday comes, and I go straight into work, still tired.
The dry air from the conference hall’s air conditioning has also left my throat sore.
It was the domestic counterpart of the international conference held the day before, in the same venue and almost at the same hours.
Since it was a Japanese meeting, the presentations and discussions were, of course, in Japanese.
Slides and posters may be in English, but without Japanese discussion, it’s hard to grasp the finer points.
Conferences are, in many ways, troublesome things.
You pay the registration fee, spend hours preparing your presentation, and sometimes even find yourself organizing the meeting itself.
The money only goes out — in that sense, it’s a pure loss.
Of course, we do collect participation fees, but financially it barely breaks even, and the time we spend on it is unpaid.
Even so, if you think of a conference as a place to study, it becomes one of the cheapest investments you can make.
When I recall how much we used to spend on our children’s cram schools, the conference fee seems like nothing.
You listen to lectures and presentations prepared, at least to some degree, by competent people.
You exchange ideas and discussions.
Not everyone gets a chance to ask questions, but the opportunity is open to all.
And if you’re the one presenting, you study even more in preparation.
In that sense, a conference is undoubtedly a “participatory classroom.”
The cost of participation is a small price to pay.
Of course, not every presentation is excellent.
So I choose carefully, and if a session turns out dull, I quietly close my eyes for a moment — to rest, and to prepare for the next one.
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