While summer might be the best time for students and teachers to take a break from the fast-paced life of the academic school year, for graduate students and professors, it is also the best time for working on research projects without the distraction of attending and/or teaching classes. In my opinion, it is also the best time for attending academic conferences, as it is much less likely that attending a conference will interfere with any teaching responsibilities.

Luckily for those of us in the children’s and young adult literature field (ChYALit), our major annual conference takes place during the summer months. The Children’s Literature Association Conference (better known as ChLA) usually takes place in June (at least, for the past few years in which I’ve attended). ChLA began in 1973, and it is just one of the conferences I have attended and presented at during my time as a graduate student. As I just returned from presenting at the 2017 conference this past weekend, I decided to devote this new blog post to offering tips on the best things to do when attending and/or presenting at an academic conference. I know I was very nervous leading up to my first conference experience, so I hope anyone new to this aspect of academia (or someone who just doesn’t seem to be having good experiences with it) benefits from reading this post. So, with this introductory information out of the way, let’s get down to my tips. I’ve listed them from least to most important, so make sure to at least skim through until you reach #1 on this list of tips for attending an academic conference.

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