Hello,
I’m a graduate student in English. I am going to a conference this week and I am wanting to change the paper I present. I don’t know if it is frowned upon to do so but the paper I sent as my abstract is making me hate life. I emailed the head of this conference (it’s a big conference btw). I am hopeful they will let me any advice?
Comments
How close to the abstract would the new paper be? If it’s a completely different topic, then yes, that would be frowned upon.
I don’t think so… because they would have to review the new abstract?
Most people haven’t even written the paper when they send in the abstract, so some changes (even big ones) will be fine, as long as it’s on approximately the same topic / will fit with the same title you initially submitted. No need to even ask permission in that case, it is normal and fine. I just got back from a conference, and half my friends were finishing their papers the night before their presentation (which to be clear is not ideal, but is very normal).
If you’re thinking of bigger changes, rather than reaching out to the conference organizers, I suggest checking in with the chair of your panel. They will be closer to your specific research topic, and will be able to give you more specific advice on how to proceed in a way that won’t inconvenience your co-panelists or the audience.
Lastly — remember that a conference paper isn’t the same as a publication. It is normal, at least in my field, to use conferences to dig into new topics, share preliminary analyses and even plans for research still in the very early phases. It’s ok to be a little half-baked — just be honest in your presentation. Don’t try to BS, just explain where you’re at in the project, and don’t be afraid to talk about the areas that you’re still unsure of — the whole point is that the attendees might have some useful ideas for you.
Write a paper that can reasonably be called by the title you used for the abstract and it will be fine.
How big is the conference, and is there a pre-circulated publication of abstracts?
If it‘s like a grad student conference with 10 presenters, then it would be reasonable to send the organizers an updated abstract and just say the paper changed as you’ve been working on it. Same if the conference is posting abstracts ahead of time. Don’t ask permission or apologize too much, just say your work has evolved since your original submission, here’s the update.
If it’s a big conference with parallel sessions and/or multiple days, and isn’t publishing abstracts, don’t say anything. The organizers in that case probably didn’t see your abstract (there’s a program committee looking at them), may not see your session/hear your paper, and there’s no reason to bring attention to your changes.
Obviously don’t stray from the conference theme or your original topic, but at the end of the day, the paper is a line of your CV. Go make friends at the dinner and coffee breaks. No one will remember or judge the content of your paper that much (even if you get the one person who asks tedious questions), but they will remember if you were a confident presenter and good colleague for the rest of the event.
Edit: sorry, you said it’s a big conference. In that case, I would not reach out to anyone at all. Having organized some of these in the past, I’ll say that all they care about this close to the event is that people show up and fill their time slots.