Attending a Conference: The AAG's Annual Meeting in Boston

Last week I attended the Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting in Boston. For someone who has never attended such a large academic conference - it can be quite an experience.

Along with other members of the AAG, I received registration materials and a preliminary schedule of sessions and presentations in the mail a few months before the meeting. The schedule listed thousands of interesting papers and sessions to choose from over the four and a half day conference. For most days of the conference, there are five time periods of sessions so dozens are taking place at the same time. One of the most difficult parts to attending the meeting is to select the sessions you'd like to attend.

I registered for the conference and made hotel and airline reservations based on suggestions (and discounts) indicated in the registration materials. By the time I registered, rooms in the convention center hotels were booked up so I ended up staying about a block away (which made for a nice walk since the weather was wonderful).

A few weeks before the conference a CD-ROM with a complete set of abstracts arrived. In conjunction with my preliminary schedule, I was able to identify the best sessions for me. While I did not present a paper or poster at the meeting, many other graduate students did.

Arriving at a large convention center can be quite daunting. After a few minutes of wandering I discovered where to obtain my name badge and the final program of sessions. A neat feature from the news office at the meeting was a daily newsletter with news about scheduled events and changes to the conference schedule.

The conference was the AAG's largest with over 4,200 people registered and over 2,400 papers and posters presented. It was really exciting to see so many geographers in one place but a bit overwhelming at the same time.

Another component of the conference was the exhibition of a few dozen book and geographical-product vendors. The exhibition provided attendees a chance to see the latest books, textbooks, and software related to geography. The exhibitors hope to get faculty to choose their new book as a text for a class so they really make an effort to talk to faculty.

Each session at the conference is chaired by a geographer with a background in the subject area and may or may not present a paper in that session. There are up to five or so papers presented in a session and they are all grouped by topic (such as "In the Field: GIS and its Role in Protecting America's National Parks," "Consequences of China's Reform and Development: Culture and Environment," and "Fluvial Geomorphology and Hydrology.") The timing of each presentation is very important and is monitored by the chair to keep to the schedule so the sessions do not last over the allotted time as there are only fifteen minutes between some of the one-hour-and-forty-minute long sessions and it's quite a way to walk between some of the sessions.

Some attendees arrive at the beginning of a session and stay through the final paper while others arrive to see a particular presenter and leave after he or she has finished. I noticed that some attendees "window shop" for sessions by walking the halls of the convention center and look and the posted room schedules to select a session. My advice to first-time attendees is to select the conference sessions which appeal to you and create a calendar of your days at the conference.

On Friday night, I was on the team representing the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington) in the World Geography Bowl, a geography trivia-type competition which includes individual and team questions about world geography. This was the sixth year of the bowl but the first year for the Pacific Coast to be represented. While other regions have been participating in prior years (and many hold competitions to make the team), we were able to tie for third place. All eight teams placed first, second, or third. There was a first (the East Lakes division) and second place team (the Southeastern Division) and the remaining six teams placed third (by winning three rounds and losing four). It was a lot of fun and very exciting. See a few photos from my trip.

I had a wonderful time at the annual meeting and in Boston - it was a wonderful opportunity not only to hear about the latest research and ideas in geography but it was also a great place to see the strength of our discipline and meet students, faculty, and other geographers from not only around the U.S. but from around the world. I encourage geography students, especially those who are considering or are attending graduate school, to join the AAG (there's a student discount) and to attend a regional or national conference if possible. Next year's annual meeting is in Hawaii, I hope to see you there!

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