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January 2022
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A collective effort to document club member experiences for the benefit of passing on knowledge to our community.
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Archives
January 2022
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A collective effort to document club member experiences for the benefit of passing on knowledge to our community.
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I’ve been waiting with much anticipation for the 2020 Western Society of Naturalists (WSN) meeting! I’d heard so much about this conference from graduate students as well as other undergrad students in ecology. Although it was a bit disappointing to be stuck at home instead of enjoying beautiful Monterey Bay, the experience turned out to be really great! This was my first ever scientific conference, as well as my first time giving a talk! It was definitely nice to be able to pre-record my presentation and not have to worry so much about getting it perfectly right. It was a little painful to sit and watch myself speak. I was incredibly touched by the support I got from friends and colleagues who watched and sent me very sweet messages. Now I can’t wait to give a longer one and actually get into the nitty-gritty of my data! It was also great to learn so much about great research going on throughout the entire West Coast! However, with the virtual format, I did have some difficulties focusing on so many talks. It felt like rapid-fire mini-lectures all day for three days straight. 5 minutes seems too short to really immerse yourself in the research you’re listening to. My one regret from attending WSN is that I didn’t take full advantage of the networking opportunities it gave me. They used interesting software that encouraged you to “bump” into other attendees at virtual tables and strike up a conversation. I find it hard enough to introduce myself to strangers face-to-face that I ended up only speaking to people I knew or not attending those sessions at all. I also didn’t work up the courage to send a message to someone until after the conference was already over, which isn’t an effective way to make connections. I learned that I need to really put the effort into meeting other scientists and talking to the ones doing interesting research. Overall, my WSN experience really encouraged me to attend more scientific conferences. It was really great to attend along with several people I am already close with, so we helped each other navigate the goings on. I’d encourage anyone else who is interested in WSN or other conferences to go for it! -Madeline Frey (Co-President)
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2022
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