Conference season is coming up and my supervisor signed us both up to a series of conferences that are running over the next few weeks. Having already participated in a couple of them, I kind of know what I'm in for and wondered how you guys tackle online conferences.
Is it bad that I sometimes don't/can't pay full attention to certain talks?
My approach is to treat the presentations like an offline presentation as much as possible: force myself to sit back, hands off my computer, I'll even try to take notes by hand. Anything that keeps me away from the keyboard, cause if I'm there, I check my emails, and ... you know. Sometimes I view stuff on my tablet and sit in an unusual spot (couch, even outside) so I stay away from my desk.
Apart from that I treat attention as a (in my case very) limited quantity. I admire the people (often older PIs) who seem to be able to pay attention to talks for 12 h straight. I cannot. I'll scan the program in advance and make sure to focus on the talks which will be of the highest relevance to me. (Of course having too narrow of a focus can mean missing out on unexpected gems and inspiration. But if I try take everything in, it will be closer to nothing. There's a trade-off to be made here.)
Update: PLoS CB's Ten simple rules for attending your first conference also has some complementary suggestions, see in particular rules 5 and 6.
@cheersmate already mentions many useful strategies that primarily revolve around being away from the computer or at least having your hands off its keyboard.
Other strategies in this regard that I've seen people use or use myself:
my supervisor signed us both up to this series of conferences that are running over the next few weeks.
Whether it's real-life or online conferences - unless you both have extremely high stamina, or you absolutely must attend (e.g. since you're presenting) - attending multiple consecutive conferences back-to-back with a full(ish) schedule is not a good idea, and few people would be able to maintain proper focus after, oh, a week of that I would think.
Having already participated in a couple I kind of know what I'm in for and wondered how you guys tackle online conferences?
Not all that well frankly. Not only is it tiring, but after enough days staring at a monitor I can get a migraine.
Is it bad that I sometimes don't/can't pay full attention to certain talks?
Your having physical and psychological limits is not "bad". Also, even if we had told you: "Piece of cake, no problem" - you can't take others as your measuring-stick. It's not as though you've made some wrong moral choice or something. Every one of us has their limits.
Anyway, I would take the time to go over the schedule carefully - even if the first session of the day has already started - and to actively avoid diving head-in to session after session after session. Instead, make sure you identify some cant-miss ones. Beyond that - don't be too "adventurous" with adding sessions that are close to your must-attends. Allow for some time to take a stroll, a jog, or even a nap (Yeah, I said it. A proper actual nap.) between sessions if you can no longer concentrate, or are getting annoyed, or having a headache etc. Also remember you don't fully recharge after a night's sleep; nor fully recharge after a couple of days of rest between conferences.
Finally, find the time to absorb and reflect on sessions you've attended, during and after the conference. Possibly with colleagues or even with your supervisor if your relationship is pleasant enough.
One thing I learned over the last year is to empty your schedule. If you go to a conference during normal times, you have a week without meetings or most other commitments, to focus on the conference. Do not try to have an online conference on top of your regular work day! (Especially if the presentations are in a different time zone, and happen during your afternoon / evening. Yes, theoretically you could fit both in your day, but you will not find focus on either. Trust someone who tried that already...)
Cancel your meetings for the week, and focus on the presentations. Otherwise your focus, your work life and your mental well being will suffer from the conferences.
Otherwise I can only agree with @cheersmate and @Taw: focus on the most interesting talks, and do your best to ask a questions at the end. It both shows you payed attention, and makes you think about the material, in order to come up with a question.
Hope this helps.
If possible, meet with other people (your advisor, other PhD students) and watch online together. Either at one of your houses or in a room in your university. Being distracted when other people are in the same room is less likely (peer pressure).
Obviously,this depends on the pandemic situation at your place, that other people are willing to join in, and that you want to attend the same talks.
When I need to focus on a video stream, what I usually need is:
And then I focus on taking notes. Every minute or so. This will:
I'm not transcribing the video. But I focused on annotating good phrases, keywords, individual names, sketches... As if I will need this after, in a way to easily find something that is somewhere in some video.
And it's exactly that which occurs afterwards, by the way...
I had to give a presentation for my company at a Euspen session a couple of weeks ago, at very short notice (like less than 2 days). I did a practise run with Zoom and PowerPoint, and quickly found that the two don't like each other. Normally you'd share the application and that'd be it, but when you run a presentation with PowerPoint then it'll try to put your presenter notes on Zoom instead. It's easily fixable (either share that screen instead, or use the slide view), but you need to be ready for it.
The presenter before me was not ready for it, and imploded rather badly. Since he was from our biggest competitor, I felt sorry for him, but not that sorry. :)
You've got the list of talks. See what you think is relevant and what isn't. You can stay focused for 10 minutes more easily than for an hour.
Don't eat too much. The hunger will keep you awake -- The opposite of, "A large meal will make you sleepy". Also, don't overdo the caffeine. A cup or two of coffee can do you some good, but as you know, too much can really mess with your sleep pattern.
First of all, record it! Doing that, you feel free to review parts you missed by inattentive moments or interruptions, rewind, fast forward or play fast the entire conference. Thats all you need!
