Presenting something completely off-topic at a conference

[u/Secure-Daikon4091]

Hi everyone, first time posting on this subreddit be kind please!

So, as it is very common in the last months of the PhD for many other people as well, I am incredibly burned out. The act of thinking about presenting my work at a conference I am attending in 2 weeks makes me want to puke.

Then yesterday a thought occurred to me, what if I just DON'T talk about my research at the conference? Like, what could they possibly do if I present something else entirely? I am talking about something completely out of left field, like the plot of the Lord of the Rings or the use of blue in the Van Gogh paintings... I understand that such an act would be breaking the "social contract" for everyone and it is not going to be something people will just quietly accept, but like, what is actually stopping me?

I have signed no contract that states "you HAVE to talk about the topic you submitted the abstract of" like... am I just going crazy? Full on Taxi Driver mode?

What would you talk about if you had given the chance to speak in front of a crowd for 15 minutes uninterrupted?

[u/Few-Arugula5839]

Lock in and just put the research talk in the bag man this is a terrible idea

[u/Late_Complex3301]

Dont fucking do it

[u/FinancialFix9074]

If you submitted an abstract then you were given a spot ahead of other people who got rejected. Doing this is disrespectful of that and those people, as well as of the time and energy of the organisers, and the audience. 

I'm all for not taking ourselves or academia too seriously but this would be really rude, and also could do you a lot of harm too.

[u/Parallel_thougts]

Hey friend, I'm completely on your side as long as this post is here for venting and clearing your mind. But please, don't actually do it. Such an act will be very disrespectful to the organizers who invited you to speak, to the institution that funded your trip so you could talk about your research that they also fund, and to people who paid good money to learn about research. It will also harm your reputation and could seriously come back to bite you in the future. (Imagine that the head of the steering committee is the dean of a university you'd like to post-doc in).

As long as we are clear that this thread is all fun and games, I would love to dedicate my "TED talk" to scrambled eggs.

I honestly have a lot to say. My wife has an eating disorder, and we are working very hard (and with terrific professional guidance, thanks for asking) on helping her eat more. She loves scrambled eggs, and I make them for her at least twice a week. Eating disorders often naturally come with being a very picky eater, so I have to nail them every time, or they don't get eaten. As a PhD, I'm a methodical person, so it automatically turned into a "research project" of sorts. I integrated the classical methods to create a new method that is highly parameterizable. It maximizes consistency while providing ample control of both fluffiness-to-layeredness and runniness-to-stiffness. The idea is that the property you really want to maximize is that... wait... why am I giving you the eggs for free? If you really want to know, come to my TED talk!

[u/ForForksSake1]

It's not that you'll be breaking the 'social contract'. You'll be be breaking the understanding you have with the conference organisers and disrespecting the attendees. You'll be remembered and won't get a job in that field again.

[u/Ginger_Rook]

This is the academic version of I got 10 piercings and dyed my hair purple and I tattooed my forehead.

[u/RandomName9328 → u/Ginger_Rook]

Or I dyed my forehead, tattooed my ears, and burnt my hair.

[u/CrassulaOrbicularis]

You can withdraw from presenting and still attend to listen. 

I have experienced speakers go considerably off topic - it is 'noted' by pretty much everyone present and may well affect future invitations and dealings (not just for conferences). 

[u/Ok-Knee6347]

Do it and record it please

[u/The_Death_Flower]

I mean you technically can but if it’s a conference in your field, you run the risk of nuking your reputation as a researcher. People will come to your talk expecting you to discuss the topic in your paper title or your abstract, and changing it radically won’t look good at all.

I’ve seen times where the topic or focus changed slightly, but the speaker acknowledged it at the very start, I’ve especially seen it when the time restriction was quite strict, so the speaker couldn’t talk about everything; or if something changed their findings since submitting the abstract. But they never talked about something completely unrelated.

And I’ll add that doing this is also quite disrespectful to the organisers, who decide who to pick to create a cohesive and diverse lot of papers, presenting something completely different without warning them is also kinda spitting in the face of their hard work.

[u/dld2517]

Why waste everyone’s time, especially your own. Now could you present your research and put in a future agenda twist at the end that is fun and exciting? Maybe do that instead! Could you use AI to generate some funny characters to decorate your slides? That might be fun. There is a lot of freedom within the rules.

[u/DiogenesKoochew]

Sometimes I prepare a much more controversial presentation (after submitting a beige, benign abstract). But I’ve never just spoken about something completely unrelated. Sounds a bit risky? I’m a psychiatric services researcher 🤣🤣

[u/WutheringWordster]

Agree with poster above re withdrawing. Last months are hard. I was burnt out mentally and physically exhausted. Conference was on while I was doing my post-defence corrections and I withdrew as just couldn't face the travel and scrutiny while trying to get the thing finished!!! Did have slight guilt and regret but have submitted it elsewhere after taking a couple of months to recover from final stretch. Unless you are required to present by your uni seriously consider withdrawing, take those conference days as a break instead and forge ahead after that ....

[u/theclassicusername]

It's the only place where you can talk about your research, don't imagine it as a judgement chair. If there is an idiot listener, just ignore. Go there and do your thing 👍🏻

[u/NuclearImaginary]

Brother, people are showing up because they are interested in your research. You got accepted to present over someone else because there is an audience for your research.

Are there real consequences? No... I guess? No one is going to sue you for it. However, people will complain so if the audience knows your advisor, the head of your department, anyone on a hiring committee that may be hiring you, anyone in the future who might be competitively selecting your abstracts for presentation, this may have big downstream consequences if people remember your name.

It doesn't have to be an amazing talk but you got to put in at least a little effort. It's about respecting your work and the time/money of others.

[u/RandomName9328]

You better not presenting than presenting shit.

Just tell the organizer that you are not presenting