Comments on: Conference Etiquette: The In-Absentia Presentation

By: servetus

servetus — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:18:22 +0000

Would it be defrauding if you asked only for the ticket that you had purchased in advance as reimbursement, and your paper were read? Incidentally, my university has never asked me for boarding passes. The ticket receipt, which you can get without flying, is enough.

By: bsgirl

bsgirl — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:04:26 +0000

Servetus, I am about as jaded as they come and even I had not thought of the possibility that someone would try to defraud their university out of conference funding. But, I think that would be difficult because generally you have to provide receipts to get refunded … hard if you didn’t actually make your flight, etc.

By: Notorious Ph.D.

Notorious Ph.D. — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:02:34 +0000

I’m going to be presenting for a panel this spring in which the organizer and one of my co-presenters has already announced that she won’t be able to make it. Now, the reason is that, since organizing the panel, she became pregnant, and the conference will be very close to her due date. Utterly understandable. But dammit! I only did this conference because she asked me to, and because I wanted to be collegial with another young scholar in my subfield. Gah.

My own conference sin? About a year ago, I presented at Major Disciplinary Meeting with a horrendous cold that I came down with the day before flying. While my co-panelists were presenting their papers, I drained both of the pitchers of water provided for panelists, and blew my nose in disgusting fashion between each paper. I grossed myself out, and can only imagine how rude the others found me. But really, what could I have done?

By: servetus

servetus — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:52:03 +0000

I think there is another issue involved, too, which is the question of what happens if you are really unable to attend for whatever reason, you are fortunate enough to work for a university that reimburses conference expenses, but you can’t go. It’s possible that some people in that situation would still be reimbursed if their paper were read by someone else, i.e., if they could say that they still made their contribution. Just a thought.

By: k8

k8 — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 04:36:43 +0000

Recently, I was at a conference where this happened several times, but it was because some freak weather closed some major airports. Some presenters actually emailed their papers while at airports to people at the conference. The one occasion of one person reading another’s paper that I experienced was actually very good. But then, the reader was familiar with that person’s work and is the editor of a journal that recently published an article by the absent presenter that is related to the presentation.

I suppose the only other thing I would add is that if a person is reading another person’s conference paper, then s/he should read through it at least once – it is really obvious when the presentation is the first time the reader has read the material.

By: Flavia

Flavia — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:08:17 +0000

I commented on this phenomenon on my blog, too: three of the eight or nine panels I saw included an absent presenter, and given that I don’t think we’re in the same field. . . that’s a hell of a lot of absences! Curiously enough, all of the chairs I heard read papers did a good — and in one case, a truly exceptional — job. I’ll admit to tuning out more readily, though, for the reasons you mentioned.

But in fairness, the absent presenters I was informed about seemed to have had genuinely unexpected emergencies (one had been admitted to the ER a few hours earlier), and quite a lot of flights *were* delayed or snowbound; that’s what comes of having the convention in a) late December, and b) Chicago. So though I found the whole thing a bit irritating, it didn’t occur to me that anyone was working the system. As you note, the convention is as much a social occasion as an academic one, and I would imagine that many presenters would be sincerely sorry to miss that.

(But since I really *like* this conference, it’s possible that I’m giving others too much credit!)

By: Dr. Bad Ass

Dr. Bad Ass — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:47:56 +0000

This kind of behavior (having someone else read your paper) while you’re snug at home) is not only conference terrorism, but it is needless. Because really, if your paper is on the conference schedule — has been accepted after being reviewed by whoever does that — then who will know if it was actually presented or not?

Perhaps a better alternative would be for the panel chair to put up information about the paper, along with contact information for the author, so that interested parties can contact the author for a copy?