There are two postgrad conferences coming up in my field only days apart. I'd like to be involved in both, but is it a problem submitting the same abstract to both? They are about 150 miles apart.

Thanks

Change the title

I've done this. Are the same group of people likely to be at both?

I've got about 8 conferences I want to present at but don't want to have to write new abstracts each time, so I have the same dilemma. If you are rejected for one conference then there's no problem in submitting the same abstract for another one but if you are still waiting to hear or there are two deadlines at the same time it's difficult to know what to do.
I would assume that graduate conferences mostly have an audience from that university with some people coming from other areas so if the two conferences are far apart you might be OK. But as papers are about your research then they are not all going to be totally different. I think changing the title, re-writing the abstract to include references to the theme of the conference and planning will be enough. You have more time to write the actual paper and if you do get accepted for both conferences you can then vary the papers a bit.

I maent to say 'planning to change the actual paper in parts' but seemed to stop in mid-sentence. I've only just started writing today and have a big section of my lit review to e-mail to my supervisor. If I can't finish sentences properly now I dread to think what I'll be doing at midnight when I'm desperately trying to finish stuff!

I can't even spell either!!!

Good advice, thanks.
:)

Update: I went ahead and submitted the same abstract to both, and have been accepted at both. Unfortunately, I didn't change the title after all (schoolboy error) so they are identical.

My thoughts now are to ask to change the title of one, and try to alter the focus of the content a bit, one to methods, one to results.

Like someone said PG confs are usually attended by that uni's students and some presenters from others, so the chances of the same people being there are quite small.

Good idea? Or should I just do one and try the other again next year?

Well done for being accepted to both. I don't think it's that important to change title etc unless you feel it's really important. Especially if the overlap group is going to be so small. I've done this before and I bet lots of people have.

Definitely do both!

To be honest, the changing title thing is also to do with my CV. Looks better I think?

You don't really have to change your title. I use my PhD title for talks and then change what is in the talk. Admittedly the talks can sometimes be 80% old material but changing things about and adding little things makes a) your life easier and b) keeps the talks fresh.

yeah, different title is good for your CV. even if the content is the same.

but once you've got a number of items on your "talks and presentations" list, it won't really matter anymore, you'll probably end up not even mentioning that postgrad conference anymore.