STEM Conferences Decoded.

Hello everyone, my name is Tanisha Pandey and I am pursuing B.Tech in Information Technology from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT Vellore) and will be graduating in 2023. I will be working as an SWE intern for the summer of 2022 at Wells Fargo.

Last year I was awarded the Generation Google Scholarship 2021 for the APAC region. I have a great interest in Android development. To learn and share my skills I have been part of conferences like GHCI 2021, GHC 2021, Harvard WeCode Conference, ICASIC Conference, Google IWD summits, and many more.

The journey of my passion for pursuing engineering has been a great experience and all of this has happened because of the kind of opportunities I got to be a part of. Conferences have been an important part as they give a fair understanding of the IT industry, are good for professional development, and also makes you aware of the opportunities in the STEM industry.

I have tried to mention all the important components which are necessary from the application process to things which can help you post a conference.

WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND A CONFERENCE?

There are various perks of attending a conference:

1. NETWORKING: The kind of interaction and the number of people one gets to meet during conferences is huge. It helps in building connections with company employees/recruiters. With this, I feel you also get to know people having the same beliefs.
2. OPPORTUNITIES at CAREER FAIR: There are various companies from top MNCs to a lot of colleges that have their booths available at a career fair where an attendee can get the chance to apply for the applications which are open for those specific conference attendees only and other options also.
3. FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES: One can always get in contact with the recruitment team at the conference for a specific company to understand the upcoming recruitment drive, when can one apply and also learn about what all things to keep in mind while applying.
4. SESSIONS: There are a lot of sessions for attendees with different interests which not only targets professional development but also individual development.
5. SWAGS: Who doesn’t love swags? There are a lot of games/competitions held during the conference with exciting swags like cash prize/t-shirts/technology goodies etc. which one can avail of by participating and performing well.

HOW TO APPLY FOR A CONFERENCE?

Scholarship:

Scholarships for conferences is an amazing achievement for a student as it gives you recognition and also at the same time gives you free access to the whole conference. Whenever you want to attend a conference make sure you look for scholarships or contact past attendees about any scholarship opportunity.

ESSAYS:

Most of the conferences and summits ask for essays for scholarships/entry. They want the candidate to share their views, stories, and thoughts about the topics mentioned in the question.

There are a few things that one can keep in mind while writing an essay.

1. Start with your application by listing down important points you want to mention for a particular answer on the rough sheet and try building your essay.
2. Make sure you check your grammar and spelling mistakes before submitting.
3. Try to start and end the essay with strong statements/quotes/views which you feel will go with the topic of your essay.
4. Get your answers reviewed (very important) by past scholars or seniors of the similar.
5. Try to write within the word count and make use of repo/blog links to show your impact/work/article/video associated with you etc…
6. Do not lie or make stories. Make sure you have mentioned everything honestly. Be authentic.
7. Any achievement/issues/challenges/impact/experience of your life can be described. Use numbers to highlight your achievement wherever possible.
8. There is no compulsion to use advanced level English.
9. Try to use different words in the whole essay to reduce repetition. For eg., the word “society” can be rewritten as public, community, mass, culture, etc.
10. Break your essay into paragraphs. For scholarship/program questions with word limits between 250 to 400 words can be divided into 3 to 4 paras.
11. Check plagiarism for your essay and try not to copy it from some place.

RECOMMENDATION LETTER:

A recommendation letter is a positive endorsement that highlights an applicant’s strengths and positions them as an ideal candidate for future employment or admission to an educational institution/conference. With the recommendation letter, a person has the opportunity to outline the characteristics, capabilities, and qualities that make them the right person for a specific opportunity in the letter.

Generally, a recommendation letter can be taken from a college/school professor who has taught you in your career once. It is easy for them to write it because of the familiarity they have with you in the sense of your work, personality, and also your passion for your goals.

Here’s a sample LOR.

TRANSCRIPTS:

A transcript might be required for submission during an application. Generally, it is the grades sheet issued by your college or university till the previous semester one has attended.

RESUME:

Your latest resume should be used to fill out the application. A lot of templates are available online which you can follow to make your resume. Try to make a neat-looking 1-page resume.

A lot of times there is a feature to submit your resume in the resume database of the conference/summit for companies to access it for job opportunities so keep an eye on it and make sure your resume is well prepared.

WHAT TO TO DO AT A CONFERENCE?

Career fair and interaction sessions are a very important part of conferences and if you get an opportunity to be part of them then make sure you make full use of it!!

Things to keep in mind and be prepared for before and during the conference:

1. A small introduction about you which you can use to start a conversation at the career fair booth. The introduction should not be very long but a basic one which highlights important things like your name, country, college, degree, major, pass out the year, and interests.
2. Have your resume ready beforehand that if you have to apply on the spot then you can do it easily.
3. In the majority of the cases, you will be provided earlier with the Agenda of the conference and a list of companies that will be a part of the career fair. It is advised to plan your schedule prior to the conference to avoid chaos. Also research about the companies whose booths you wish to visit.
4. Many times, the timings would be challenging for you due to different time zones. Multiple events might also be going on at the same time. So do not stress out, just identify your interests and prioritize. You need not attend all the sessions.
5. Links to important profiles will be really helpful to connect with recruiters and other attendees. Make sure to be ready with your LinkedIn profile link, GitHub profile link, Twitter profile link, Portfolio site link, and also a drive link of your resume.
6. Make an excel sheet to keep a track of companies you visited during the conference and contact information of company employees present there so that you can connect with them post the conference.
7. Always ask about opportunities for an ongoing recruitment drive, international student eligibility (if the company is not based in your country), sponsorship for opportunities, and application timelines.

WHAT TO DO AFTER ATTENDING A CONFERENCE?

Being part of conferences can get really hectic. It is important to be in contact with fellow attendees and the employees which whom you interacted during the conference.

This is where the excel sheet comes into the picture. If you have an excel sheet prepared with all the names of people you met, you can simply try to connect with them on LinkedIn by sending an invite stating your presence at the conference. This is really beneficial as the recruiters can identify you like this and will look forward to connecting.

Conferences/Summits one can apply for are :

• Grace Hopper Celebration India — https://ghc.anitab.org/ghci-home
• Grace Hopper Celebration — https://ghc.anitab.org/attend/scholarships/
• Harvard WeCode Conference — https://www.harvardwecode.com/
• WITI: Annual Global Summit — https://summit.witi.com/
• Google IWD Women Techmakers Summit — https://buildyourfuture.withgoogle.com/programs/iwd-event-series/
• American Express International Women’s Day Celebration
• Women in analytics conference — https://www.womeninanalytics.com/
• Linux Foundation — https://events.linuxfoundation.org/
• Women In Technology Global Conference — https://www.womentech.net/en-in/node/35741

I am fortunate enough to get a chance to attend some of the prestigious conferences happening around in the STEM industry. There were a few I got to attend through a hackathon and some were part of a scholarship. The experience of going there and talking to people having the same beliefs is impeccable. I have tried my best to cover most of the important parameters and things to keep in mind when attending a conference in this article.

I hope this article finds you well and is helpful. If it does, do clap on the article (clapping is free 🤭) and share it with your friends, classmates, and people who you think will help and follow Codess.Cafe for more such articles.

And if you’re still having trouble, feel free to message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanisha-pandey/. Take care and best of luck!

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