August 17, 2022
What I Learned From Attending My First Conference
This conference was held at the University of Wisconsin - Superior and was a two-day event making it my first ever conference. One of the things I liked about this conference was how small it was allowing me not to be overwhelmed and get more connected with everyone personally. We were able to network with other McNair scholars from different universities which was something I felt comfortable doing. Something I learned from the research summit was how different the graduate school application process is for everyone. I was under the assumption everyone had the same central system but most applications are tailored more individually to the graduate school. Through learning this, those applying directly to the school can apply for the McNair fee waiver more easily than those using a system such as the OTCAS. This allowed me to be more aware of the people I need to contact in hopes of allowing me to bypass the application fees the OTCAS has. Another takeaway would be how to find research conferences in my field of study. I found this interesting how each area of study could differ in the availability of choices and the size of attendees. Being a part of the kinesology department, there are many memberships and associations I'm able to connect to different conferences around the U.S easily. I also was able to present my current project to a number of McNair scholars which was a great way for me to work on my speaking skills in a setting I have never been in before. My peers were able to give me feedback that I will be able to utilize further in my project.
Overall Experience
Overall, I thought the conference was educational but at some points, I already learned about certain aspects they were talking about and felt like they were repeating the same material over. When talking about the process of asking for references, it felt repetitive and could have been shortened as they mentioned the same points over again in different presentations. We had also gone through an etiquette dinner where I felt like it was useful knowledge but could've been condensed as we were given information that didn't pertain to a conference or interview dinner we may have in the future. For example, the director was giving us information about the British setting and how it differs from the American setting in how to properly tell the waiter we are finished eating. On day two, we were given a diversity statement presentation which was something we had been given during the last academic school year through our own program. This was interesting to grasp again but it was a 90-minute presentation we had already seen before so I felt it could've been condensed as well. I also personally thought the diversity statements in the presentation had a more negative tone with no positive examples being given to us. Afterward, I had gone up to the presenter and discussed how I thought there should be a balance of both negative and positive examples given as it was directed only to one type of audience. The quality of food given to us was something that contributed to my sickness and something my peers were not fond of either. Many other students felt sick after night one and I personally left early on day two because of being sick from the food consumed. I think as a whole. the conference could’ve also been a one-day summit instead of two.
