Guide to AAPT conferences

Sessions to Attend:

• Student Discussion and Social (Formerly known as Graduate Student Topical Discussion): Come to this meeting to meet other graduate students and learn more about the graduate student resources and support in the community. Afterward, join us for a graduate student dinner!
• Professional Skills for Graduate Students: This year (Summer 2019) we have a workshop and panel discussion on establishing effective mentoring relationships. Whether you are someone who is being mentored by a faculty member, postdoc, or another student, or someone who may be mentoring other students, this will be a very informative session!
• RiPE Meeting: This is the meeting of AAPT’s area committee for Research in Physics Education (RiPE). It is well attended by the larger PER community, so it is a good place to get to know the different personalities. Topics include planning PER sessions and workshops at future meetings.
• PERTG Town Hall: This is a community meeting led by the elected, representative governing body of the PER Topical Group (PERTG) of the AAPT, also very well attended by the PER community. Topics include PER community events, announcements, and mini-grants and awards administered by PERTG.
• Committee Meetings: Area Committee meetings focus on planning that committee’s sessions and workshops at future meetings, as well as discussions of interest to that community. These are generally informal discussions open to anyone who wants to attend. If you have ideas for conference sessions or workshops, other projects within the physics education community, or you want learn about upcoming plans, attending meetings of committees most suited to your ideas is a good place to begin your involvement. Check out AAPT Committees here!

Sessions: PER vs Non-PER

“PER sessions” at AAPT are either sessions of invited talks organized through the RiPE committee, or are sessions of contributed talks that have been classified as PER. These are well attended by the PER community. When in doubt, attending these sessions will give you a good feel for the current physics education re-search in the States. Non-PER sessions (no prefix “PER” in front of the title) tend to be more practical. These sessions also address larger issues in the AAPT/PER community. K-12 teachers as well as researchers both attend and give these presentations. Invited sessions can be sponsored by one (or two) committees, but the ones sponsored by RiPE are not labeled “PER.”

Session Hopping:

While it is often tempting to jump be-tween sessions to catch specific speakers, depending on the locations, it can take a significant amount of time to get between talks. While not a rule, some people think one’s time is often best spent staying through an entire session. If you are resolute on leaving, though, it is recommended to sit by the door to disturb the fewest people on your way out.

Presentation Etiquette Tips:

• Locate the room you’ll be presenting in and familiarize yourself with the technology available (do they have what you need?). If using video/audio, try to test volume of audio (always subtitle your media, though).
• Have access to your presentation in two different ways (e.g. a flash drive, online cloud storage, a copy on your laptop). You do not want to get to a room to find your flash drive died and you have no other backup of your presentation on hand.
• Arrive 10-15 mins before the start of the session.
• Introduce yourself to the session moderator and the other presenters.
• Pay close attention to how the moderator signals how much time there is left on the presentation (usually moderators tell the whole group what her/his signals will be).
• Stay until the very end of the session. It’s courteous to other presenters and moderators sometimes end the session with general questions to all presenters.
• After the session ends, consider exchanging contact information with whomever you thought was doing interesting/compatible work.

For more on giving short talks, see Trevor Smith’s article in Newsletter 13.

Socials:

After-hours is a great time to network and make friends within the PER community. PER usually hosts at least one night of Karaoke and a board game night, and there are often other large group socials as well. Book and lab equipment makers will often hold sponsored events where they will pay for catering and drinks. But do remember that although you are not at an official event you are still in a professional setting! For details about social events, check the PERCoGS Facebook Page or Slack Group at the beginning of the meeting and be sure to attend the Graduate Student Topical Discussion! The PERCoGS Slack group can also be used as a way to connect with other graduate students for meals or social activities while you’re at the conference.

Putting yourself out there:

Make it a goal to meet as many people as possible. Go to lunch with new folks and find out what they makes them tick! Most often, folks are more than happy to have you join them for a meal—“Can I join you for dinner?” is all it takes! If you have been reading papers from a certain author and admire that work, find them and tell them what specifically you found interesting, or better yet, bring with you some follow-up questions about the articles. For more on networking, see our summary of the Winter 2019 professional skills session in Newsletter 15.

Dressing for the conference:

At AAPT, you will see a wide variety of people (teachers, students, professors, undergraduates, etc.) in just as wide a variety of outfits (from suits to flip-flops and shorts!). As a graduate student, our advice is: dress to impress. Chances are you have not landed your dream job...yet!

• Dress in a clean, conservative, professional manner that demonstrates you are serious about your work and you are a capable (potential) colleague! (Wear what some people call “teaching clothes.”)
• Wear something that feels like YOU. There’s not a strict dress code to conform to.
• Wear layers (air conditioning is often working over-time and the outdoors is often hot).
• Wear comfortable shoes (lots of walking!)

Social Media:

Got something to share with others? Use the twitter hashtags#AAPTSM19 and #PERCoGS.

For more on using social media in your professional life, see Natasha Holmes’ article in Newsletter 15.