Conference Reflection: SIGCSE 2019 - Introduction and "What did not go well" (Part 1 of 3)

SIGCSE is a fantastic conference with something for everyone. It has presentations on Computer Science (CS) learning papers and experiential reports. It is a great place to network both formally and informally. Participants discuss a vast range of topics. SIGCSE also hosts many workshops and seminars on specific tools and techniques.

At my latest trip to SIGCSE, things went both well and not well. This blog post sequence is to help me unpack what happened and think through how to make things better for future conferences.

To my readers, depending on what you want to get out of this, I suggest the following:
  • If you want the long, fully-nuanced story, read everything.
  • If you want ideas on how to get the most out of conferences by looking at mine, read, "What I will do next time."
  • If you want a structured way to reflect on your own latest conference, read the section headers and their intro paragraphs. The subsection headers may be useful examples to get you thinking.
I split my reflection into three pieces, below is "What did not go well" and the next two posts are "What did go well" and "What I will do next time." "What did not go well" is first because it helps illuminate why some things did go well.

As you read, please feel free to leave a comment! What do you think? Any ideas on how things could be better? Or experiences you'd like to share on this crazy journey we call life?

What did not go well

I lacked clear goals on why I was going

All the way up to the conference, I thrashed around on what goals I wanted to achieve while there. However, SIGCSE's conference chameleon-ism makes it very easy to be overwhelmed by options. My overwhelm prevented me from creating a clear list of priorities. Without priorities, I couldn't determine the tradeoffs between options. Without understanding tradeoffs, every option looked equally important. When everything looks equally important, I experience the paradox of choice. For me, this paradox manifests as (1) I am never satisfied with the choice I make, (2) I suffer a fear of missing out (FOMO) on the things I didn't choose, and (3) I put unnecessary pressure on myself to make the perfect choice. All of these factors add stress to the already stressful experience of traveling and being outside of my comfort zone.

I had no "travel routine"

I thrive within structured processes and routines. Everything work-related is in my calendar or my Trello boards. Some personal things are also on my calendar and tracked on Trello. I do these routines because I find comfort in knowing I will not forget what I need to do, and when I need to do it. My routines open up mental space because I don't have to remember this stuff in my head, as well as reduce anxiety and the number of choices I need to make in a given day.

I even have a morning routine that starts when I get up and pretty much continues uninterrupted until I arrive at my office. Then my calendar and Trello boards have what I need to do all laid out and ready for me. Of course, it isn't a strict regime with a toddler in the house. The morning routine has built-in buffer time and flexibility in the order I do tasks, as well as specific points with multiple options, like what to make for breakfast.

My entire morning routine is the product of many years of kaizen. And I continue to apply kaizen to my morning routine, though the amount of change is not as significant as it used to be.

Considering my morning routine, I realize I need a travel routine for at least conferences and maybe when I travel in general. I suspect I never made one because a routine hasn't felt required until now. Before I became a professor, I didn't travel that often. I traveled maybe 0-3 times a year; 1-2 trips were for academia and maybe 1 trip for myself. Moreover, there was a lot of time between these trips, and I often didn't know when my next trip would be after the last one. So there didn't seem to be a point in figuring out a sustainable routine.

Another reason why I didn't create such a routine is, to be honest because I was younger. When I was younger, I could function on less sleep and more stress. Also, my body didn't manifest stress as easily nor quickly as it does now. I was also more flexible, willing to try new things, and living in the moment. But now I need to be more organized so I can keep up with my greater responsibilities, which means I need to plan things out more and put mechanisms in place to ensure I can function well enough to complete all of my tasks.

Conclusion

Hopefully, the conclusion is obvious, I need to work on articulating goals, preferably SMART ones, and come up with a travel routine. The goals I reflect a little on within the context of SIGCSE in the next post "What did go well" and I discuss strategies I plan to employ to articulate the goals in the last post of this sequence "What I will do next time." I also articulate my first attempt at a travel routine in that last post.

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