I'm attending AERA 2022 in San Diego, CA. The weather here is lovely, there is a gentle ocean breeze, and a slight chill in the air when sitting in the shade.
As a first year AERA attendant, and graduate student, I'm every type of lost, and that's okay. I know when I am presenting, Thursday 9AM, and the location, San Diego Convention Center. Beyond that, I'm clueless.
(Q. 1) How do I search the AERA presentations to find my interests?
(A. 1) The phone app is hard for this, I can't naviage it as well as I can the website. Since I can't seem to navigate the app, I'm going to sit at a park bench in the shade and looking at the ocean and add sessions I'm interested in.
here's the searchable website: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/aera/aera22/index.php?click_key=2&obf_var=2308510&PHPSESSID=j3u79mlsktfuld1qei9lflrlmc#selected_tag
From there, I used a 2 device method. Upon finding a session to attend with my computer, I would search for it on my phone to add.
This took roughly 2 hours.
(Q. 2) Is there a way to have an understanding of where all I'm going and when?
(A. 2) After I added my interests to my phone agenda, I could then go back and make a mental map of where I'm going and when.
I think this will take about 30 minutes. I haven't done it yet.
(Q. 3) Where are the reasonable priced restraunts near m
(A. 3) There is a locals guide.
(Q. 4) Which topics will require more mental energy?
(A.4) I think sessions that I'm not as familiar with will take more mental capcity. I should go back to my agenda and reevaluate if I'm concerting energy in my research direction.
(5) How do I preserve myself mentally?
(A. 5) I've talked with my colleagues about this. I'm planning on attending sessions most of the day
After asking myself these footing questions,
I found some answers, probably from others who were once wandering graduate students:
What are your plans?