Those who are presenting at ARVO are most likely to have been busy preparing a poster for the past days. In some communities, presenting a poster is looked down upon, but it actually gives you the best opportunity to have some in-depth discussions about the topic of your research. By now, you’ve probably finished the poster or are busy taking care of the last spelling errors and finalizing the lay-out. So, what to do after you’ve sent the PDF to the printer? I think the best thing one can do is to focus on how to make ARVO a pleasant experience.
Of course, you’d like to go to the meeting well-prepared. Unfortunately, in this digital age, this has become much more difficult. Not having to carry around a hefty program book is an advantage, but that same program book was very convenient when planning ahead by browsing through it at spare moments. These days, you can download electronic versions of the program book or prepare your itinerary before leaving for the meeting. While this works fine for determining which presentations match the specific keywords you provide, one of the things I like about ARVO is its broad coverage of everything related to ophthalmic research. When browsing through the program, I used to stumble over interesting presentations that I would never have found with my regular set of keywords. I remember a poster from last year on Mozart and visual field tests…
To be sure that you’ll have sufficient time for posters, presentations and meetings that turn out to be more interested than you expected, do not over-plan. Running back and forth between poster and paper sessions will make you feel rushed and you’ll be more occupied with keeping track of your schedule than with the presented research and your colleagues. Instead, try to limit the number of presentations you definitely want to attend and be prepared to skip parts of the other interesting sessions should you bump into some interesting poster or person at that time.
Let me also take the opportunity to comment on the dress code, even though as a true engineer, I’m totally oblivious to anything related to fashion. At ARVO, almost anything goes. But even more important than dressing casually is, I feel, wearing something that you feel comfortably in. If you want to take the opportunity to wear those shorts – by all means go ahead! But if you feel more comfortable presenting your work in more formal clothes, do not let other people’s flowery shirts stand in your way. On the other hand, I do find it amusing to see sandals on a MD, PhD, FARVO, etc. hotshot who’s normally dressed formally.
Finally, I am not the right person to give you any advice on activities outside of the convention center – I normally find myself occupied with posters and presentations during most of the meeting. On the few occasions that I feel I am not missing out on anything while being away from the convention center, I try to do some shopping to keep my women at home happy. After all, I have to make sure that they’ll allow me to attend next year’s ARVO as well!