No amount of networking at in person conferencing will get you a job. Just so we're clear. Let's just be absolutely clear that this is another thing we're asking grad students and ECRs to spend a lot of money on to help support institutions that will not miss them.

Also could you even pretend, for a couple of minutes, to listen to and value the experiences of disabled colleagues. To consider the networking you're not able to do WITH THEM because you're making choices that exclude them.

One more thing: what this conversation has revealed is the way that conferences are a bandaid for a lot of other problems in academia. Many of you want the bandaid to come back. It probably will. You'll make it come back. But look at the wound while you're changing the dressing.

Many people on here basically said "Conferences are the only way I'm allowed to take a vacation."

Can we all agree that's messed up? And maybe that's a thing we should address properly?

Also some grad students need to get over their libertarian mindset about networking. You're not going to wow a famous Kevin out of the blue in an elevator and get a job out of it years later. Most successful connections are partly because of networks you're already embedded in.

Most likely you're going to have an impromptu interaction with a senior scholar, be a bit overeager, feel embarrassed, and hope your nametag was turned around the whole time.

Or maybe I really didn't get a job bc of that awkward af interaction with Patricia Cline Cohen one time.