Conspiracy theory gains momentum

Regular readers (hi Mum) might recall a bit of a rant I posted just prior to my trip to Beijing late last year for a conference. My complaint, in essence, was that my presentations at robotics conferences are always scheduled in the last session of the last day. This has occurred three times previously.

Well, good people of the blogosphere, I present you now with what is surely damming evidence that there is indeed a plot to ensure that I will never present my work to an audience that cares. In the biggest conference of them all, where no less than 700 papers are presented, over three days, in 14 parallel sessions, this early career researcher has yet again earned himself the esteemed time slot on the technical programme, of dead f$%king last!

Yes, that's right. At approximately 6:45pm, Friday April 13 (yes, Friday the 13th!), I will be delivering the most pointless talk of the conference. I am thinking of just renaming my paper "conspiracy theories from a jaded PhD student"

It might sound a bit petty to complain about, but as anyone who attends conferences regularly knows, the best way to meet people at these things is to give a talk. This works really well when your talk is early in the piece (so I've heard), but is next to useless when your talk is last. I can't say I'd be rushing to see a talk in the last session, on the last day of a three day conference.

The only saving grace this time is that at least they have put me in a session with other similar talks. That is a first for me, so I guess I should be happy with that! and, of course, I am not so spoilt a brat as to ignore the fact that the conference is in Rome, and for the first time, I will have Aff to keep me company during the conference. In that light, having the last talk of the conference is a small price to pay .... I just wonder why I am always the one to pay it!