I’m Sorry I Missed Your Talk! (and yours, and yours…)
I just returned from the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA) in Pittsburgh. At this point in my career, I have lost track of how many of these I have attended (more than thirty?). As I discussed during lunch with friends at a similar career stage, with the exception of a few truly negative ones (Houston and Orlando come to mind), they tend to blend together. This meeting had the usual assortment of positive and negative aspects. The most positive thing, as always, is to see the enthusiasm and accomplishments of early career paleontologists, many of whom were attending their very first GSA. Their science is amazing! But this was coupled with the fear that many, perhaps most, may never find employment in their chosen field. There have always been struggles to find employment as a paleontologist but the anxiety I detected was very real. Again on the plus side, it was wonderful as always to catch up with my long-time friends and colleagues (and to show them pictures of my baby grandson). However, many colleagues that I had hoped to see were not there, especially the vertebrate paleontologists. The annual GSA and the conference of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting usually are adjacent in time, so that you could attend both. This year, unfortunately, they overlapped by a day, so many vertebrate paleontologists opted out of the meeting. Bad planning by someone.
Despite the no-shows, there was still an abundance of talks and poster presentations on a huge range of subjects. But again there was a downside. In order to fit them all in, there were often as many as five paleontology-oriented sessions going on at the same time. And because of the arrangement of the convention center, the poster sessions were a five-to-ten-minute walk away. The inevitable result was having a respected colleague come up to me and say “you missed my talk! I mentioned you!” Quickly grabbing the schedule, I realized that their session was the same time as three others I was trying to juggle, with a session title that had not caught my eye (and was way down the hall).
I regret missing the talk (who doesn’t like hearing their name mentioned in a good way?), but I don’t feel guilty. Missing talks is unavoidable at a meeting like this. Not only are there competing sessions, but there are key opportunities to engage face-to-face with colleagues and to discuss current and future research. Or just to have a long chat with someone you only see once a year. Or to meet and get to know someone new. Or, as if often unavoidable, to finish lunch. Or look at the exhibits. (Or as was the case with me on the first morning of this meeting, to take a quick trip to the emergency room. Pittsburgh has great EMT’s and ER staff! Was back at the meeting in a couple of hours but missed talks. FYI, I’m okay).
As I discuss in my book, for years I wore an extra badge at the meeting that said “I As Sorry I Missed Your Talk! But I heard it was very good.” I have not worn it in recent years, although I do get asked about it. It is not a great joke, and it does not bear constant retelling. But maybe I should bring it out again. Saves time making excuses.
P.S. Some, but not all of the talks I missed were recorded, one positive impact of the covid years.
