It'd be nice to hear of cool places that people got to go to for conferences during their PhD (sort of lighten the mood and distract those with PhD anxieties).

This is one of my favourite pics I posted on FB whilst at a conference (actually I was delivering a Workshop).

I captioned it "Gosh, they are working me hard over here..."

Love it! I don't have a pic on this PC, but my fave conf was in Lyons. It was a great holiday!!!

Thanks Tudor :-) Lyon is a nice place!

And I never know whether it is spelled Lyon or Lyons... but I think both?

Btw, where was your exotic conference pic taken? And was that actually part of the workshop?!

Not part of the workshop! Can you guess where? :-p

Haha, what are bench fees for other than to blow them on a trip to the good old US of A!

The folk that I was standing next to did look to be dressed as Mexicans but it's a bit of a red herring as it was actually in Marrakech, Morocco - the 2nd of my three trips there during my PhD!

I was also going to say Mexico!!!

Tricky!

:-)

Which part of the States, rewt?

Sounds good! Why are you done with posters?

Don't get me wrong posters can be god but I been rejected by so many times I just want an oral. I think posters are great if people visit them but I have been to a few conferences recently were I shouldn't have even bothered. At the last conference, I was in the back corner of the poster room behind a pillar. Again they can be just as good of an oral if some people read your poster.

Yeh, it's an interesting topic really. I like posters and oral presentations. But because I haven't given many talks, I would jump at the opportunity for a talk much more so than for giving a poster presentation. That said, one advantage of posters is that it isn't nerve wracking in general. Talks can be when not used to it!

Anyway, good luck getting an oral presentation. Would that be as part of a symposium by any chance? Those ones seem to stand more chance of being accepted I think.