Exosomes and Microvesicles 2012

I am sitting in Orlando International Airport, waiting for my flight home from my very first scientific conference, Exosomes and Microvesicles 2012. It already seems like ages ago that I was flying here, completely nervous about giving a talk, networking with professors way ahead of me in their careers, and properly representing my lab as the sole attendee from my lab at a conference.

Attending this conference was an amazing experience! It was a bit of a rollercoaster in terms of emotions - I was extremely nervous all of Saturday, but after arriving at the reception on Saturday night, I relaxed a bit. I eased myself in to networking by arriving early and talking to the some of the sponsors of the conference, some sales representatives and scientists from Life Technologies. Then I began talking with professors and postdocs, and met up with another student my age who was also coming from Northwestern. At the end of the reception, I just happened upon a table of people, most of them young graduate students and postdocs who were also nervous about their talks, and we all went out to Downtown Disney for drinks and dinner, where I finally felt able to fully relax for the night!

The next day it was back to being nervous, counting down the talks until it was my turn. When I got up to the podium, my heart was racing, but I realized I actually had my talk completely memorized and it went by in the blink of an eye. Of course, my eyes always landed on the person yawning in the front row, and I felt a little discouraged because I didn't get too many questions at first. However, I found that questions and advice trickled in over the rest of the conference, and I shouldn't have worried so much at first. I was also gratified to find that no one noticed how nervous I was, and many appreciated the clarity of my talk, and the fact that I spoke to the microphone, made eye contact with the audience, and didn't stare at my slides.

Over the rest of the conference, I became more and more comfortable and continued meeting many enthusiastic, helpful, and welcoming people. I am so glad that the exosome field is so young, and that no one is quite an expert yet, because this made for an open atmosphere where everyone was happy to talk with me. I represented my lab to the best of my abilities, and I hope that will be enough! I also learned from talking to people about how they study exosomes, and I'm excited to get back and try some new techniques.

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to attend this conference, and for the new friends I made. At the same time, I'm so relieved to be coming home, even if the Chicago winter is coming. There is so much work to be done!