Worth it to present poster abstract in person at conference?

[docren004]

I’m a third year med student and my abstract got accepted to a prestigious conference for a different field than I want to do residency in for a “Poster Presentation (Onsite) and ePoster.” My school has awarded me a travel scholarship to attend the conference, that will only reimburse me for my actual travel expenses. However, it may not be enough to cover the actual expenses, so I’d probably wind up paying out of pocket to go. I’ve read online that poster presentations are, in reality, usually pointless wastes of time.

Will it help me get into residency to fly to the conference and “present” the poster in person? I’m registered for the conference online currently. Can I just say on ERAS that I attended the conference, presented the poster, and was awarded a travel scholarship, and just not mention that it was all virtual and I never actually took any money out of the scholarship I was awarded?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GoSpursGo]

What expenses are "travel expenses" but not "actual expenses?" Like food or something?

Going to a conference can be kind of fun, and there are usually some student/young investigator type mixers where you can get some good networking in. If cost is an issue, you could always just fly in for the day of your poster presentation and not stay for the whole conference. Even if you're not going into that field you never know how random connections can wind up being useful. But to directly answer your question, yes, you can list all of that on your CV even if you just present virtually.

Whether or not your school will be super thrilled that they awarded you a scholarship that could have gone to someone else is a separate question you should ponder.

 

[docren004]

What expenses are "travel expenses" but not "actual expenses?" Like food or something?

Going to a conference can be kind of fun, and there are usually some student/young investigator type mixers where you can get some good networking in. If cost is an issue, you could always just fly in for the day of your poster presentation and not stay for the whole conference. Even if you're not going into that field you never know how random connections can wind up being useful. But to directly answer your question, yes, you can list all of that on your CV even if you just present virtually.

Whether or not your school will be super thrilled that they awarded you a scholarship that could have gone to someone else is a separate question you should ponder.

No no, they'll love me attending virtually! (They tried to talk me into that, actually.) That just means that I won't actually take any of their money at all, since I won't be travelling. So that money will go to someone else.

Ok, thank you.

I'll see if there's a way I can go in person within the award budget and without paying anything out of pocket, as you suggested.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

If you're asking: will actually going somehow help me match better? Answer: no.

If this isn't a field you're interested in, networking will be of limited use. Going to meetings are fun if they are about a subject / topic you are interested in and want to meet other people with similar interests.

Going for only the poster session is somewhat pointless IMHO. And if a flight is late you can travel for nothing at all. Not to mention the carbon cost.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

I was in a similar situation in medical school but the school only paid for the registration and offered to let me skip a few days of my surgery rotation.

The conference was in Hawaii.

I took my best friend and spent literally 15 minutes at the actual conference (long enough for my friend to take a picture of me in front of the poster with my “top poster” ribbon for credibility).

Honestly if it’s not somewhere you’d actually like to travel then I would skip it, I will disagree with the prior poster and say that most “connections” you could build is probably a waste of time. Most conferences I’ve been to have reminded me of going to a fan festival or Comic-Con only it’s for nerds who are super into medicine as their hobby in addition to their job (nothing wrong with that*). If that’s not you it might not be that fun.

 

[rokshana]

I’m a third year med student and my abstract got accepted to a prestigious conference for a different field than I want to do residency in for a “Poster Presentation (Onsite) and ePoster.” My school has awarded me a travel scholarship to attend the conference, that will only reimburse me for my actual travel expenses. However, it may not be enough to cover the actual expenses, so I’d probably wind up paying out of pocket to go. I’ve read online that poster presentations are, in reality, usually pointless wastes of time.

Will it help me get into residency to fly to the conference and “present” the poster in person? I’m registered for the conference online currently. Can I just say on ERAS that I attended the conference, presented the poster, and was awarded a travel scholarship, and just not mention that it was all virtual and I never actually took any money out of the scholarship I was awarded?

Generally if someone isn’t there to present the poster, it gets withdrawn.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Generally if someone isn’t there to present the poster, it gets withdrawn.

Since there is an ePoster option, probably not. Realistically they just care that somebody paid the registration fee.

 

[docren004]

Generally if someone isn’t there to present the poster, it gets withdrawn.

Since there is an ePoster option, probably not. Realistically they just care that somebody paid the registration fee.

I double checked. Yes, because I paid the $0 registration fee to attend virtually as a student, I can "present" it as an ePoster virtually. Attendees can even message me with questions online apparently, so I can truthfully say I was available to answer questions about it.

I am guessing that is how it used to be, and this new virtual option even for non-predatory conferences is one of the pandemic's persistent silver linings, such as they are.

 

[rokshana]

I double checked. Yes, because I paid the $0 registration fee to attend virtually as a student, I can "present" it as an ePoster virtually. Attendees can even message me with questions online apparently, so I can truthfully say I was available to answer questions about it.

I am guessing that is how it used to be, and this new virtual option even for non-predatory conferences is one of the pandemic's persistent silver linings, such as they are.

I know when meetings were virtual, that was the option… noticed at meetings this year, some have gone back to the traditional paper poster presentations.
I enjoyed presenting my posters, but they were always in my specialty, so…
Good then that you can still participate and not have to go…though if not got me out of a few days of my surgical rotation, that would have been a bonus!

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Dude, you’re hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt AND the school is paying for your flight and your worries are about spending money on a Big Mac?

You need stuff on your ERAS that shows you did something besides studying and pretending to auscultate for rales and rhonchi.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Dude, you’re hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt AND the school is paying for your flight and your worries are about spending money on a Big Mac?

You need stuff on your ERAS that shows you did something besides studying and pretending to auscultate for rales and rhonchi.

I agree, but realistically there’s no difference between going in person vs ePoster

 

[SurfingDoctor]

I agree, but realistically there’s no difference between going in person vs ePoster

Ah, didn’t realize it was an ePoster.

Then they don’t have to pay a person to travel AND no one will ever remember you for it.

 

[Butterbar]

No difference in virtual vs in-person. Go if you want to visit the location, do it online if not.