摘要
The first face-to-face conference I ever attended was in the final year of my PhD.It was also the first time I had ever been abroad from the UK,and the first time I had ever flown in an airplane.It was a dizzying mix of fear and excitement.I learned that when you fly the pressure changes make you deaf for an hour.I only later learned how to cure that.I learned how to order three beers in Dutch—which is handy when you a group of three in Amsterdam,but has less utility otherwise.But most importantly,I learned that conferences are an essential part of the business of science.To that point,my interactions with other scientists consisted of my supervisor,a couple of other PhDs in his group,and the occasional visiting speaker.At the meeting,which was a small workshop held on the little island of Schiermonikoog in the Netherlands,I met about 50 other scientists working in the same area as me.
