Submitting to a conference and giving the talk

To present at a conference, you respond to its call for papers or abstracts before the deadline, wait for the review decision and, if accepted, present your work as a talk or poster in the slot the programme assigns. The two crafts involved are different: an abstract has to convince a programme committee in a few hundred words, and a talk has to hold a room’s attention for a fixed number of minutes.

Step 1: Choose the right conference

Not every conference is worth the time and travel. Ask your supervisor which meetings matter in your field and check:

• Audience: a large international meeting, a specialist workshop or a doctoral symposium?
• Format: talks, posters, panels, published proceedings?
• Reputation: who organises it, who sits on the programme committee, and what earlier programmes looked like
• Costs: registration, travel and accommodation, plus any discounts for students
• Dates: abstract deadline, notification date, early registration deadline

Be wary of invitations from unknown organisers with very broad topics and high fees. The warning signs are the same as for predatory journals.

Step 2: Write an abstract that gets accepted

Programme committees often read many abstracts in a short time. Make yours easy to evaluate.

1. Problem: one or two sentences on what is unknown or unsolved.
2. Approach: what you did, with enough detail to show it is sound.
3. Results: the main finding, with numbers if you have them. If the work is ongoing, state what will be ready by the conference.
4. Significance: why the result matters to this audience.
5. Fit: use the conference’s terminology and choose the most suitable topic area or session.

Then check the formal requirements: word limit, structure, whether references or figures are allowed, author details and the preferred presentation format (talk, poster or either).

Note: If your work could lead to a patent, speak to your institution’s technology transfer office before you submit. Published abstracts and public talks can count as disclosure; see patents for researchers.

Step 3: After acceptance

• Register before the early deadline if you want the reduced fee
• Confirm the length of your slot, including time for questions
• Check the technical setup: projector format, own laptop or upload, adapters
• Note the upload deadline for slides or posters
• Apply for travel funding early; our overview of research funding lists typical sources

Step 4: Build the talk

A short conference talk is not a compressed paper. It is an invitation to read the paper and talk to you.

Part	Share of time	Content
Opening	short	The problem and why the audience should care
Question and approach	about a quarter	Research question, method in a simple diagram
Results	the largest part	Two or three key results, one per slide
Conclusion	short	The take-home message in one sentence, next steps
Questions	as allotted	Prepared backup slides for likely questions

Slide design tips:

• One idea per slide, with a headline that states the point (“Treatment reduced error by half”, not “Results”).
• Large, readable figures; remove anything the audience does not need.
• Little text; the audience should listen to you, not read.
• Slide numbers, so people can refer to them in questions.
• A final slide with your message and contact details, left visible during questions.

Step 5: Rehearse and deliver

1. Rehearse aloud with a timer at least three times. Most first rehearsals run long.
2. Do a practice run for your group or colleagues and ask for honest feedback.
3. Prepare the first two sentences word for word; after that, speak freely from the slides.
4. Arrive at the session room early and test the setup with the session chair.
5. Face the audience, not the screen, and speak more slowly than feels natural.
6. Stop on time. Chairs will cut you off if you overrun, and you lose the questions.

Handling questions

Repeat or paraphrase the question so everyone hears it. If you do not know the answer, say so and offer to follow up. Hostile or off-topic questions are best met politely and briefly; you can suggest continuing the conversation after the session.

After the conference

Follow up with the people you met, update your CV and turn the feedback into the next version of your paper. The step from conference to journal is covered in how to publish a research paper. If you presented a poster instead, see how to design a scientific poster.