system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Are conferences something you GET to do, or something you HAVE to do?

My colleagues generally seem to get really excited to go to conferences, but I don't really see what's appealing about them from a personal perspective. It just seems like its travelling a long ways and spending a lot of your employer's money so that you can spend 10 minutes talking about your work to people who are mainly just waiting for their turn to talk about their own work, fielding some narcissistic questions, and maybe getting a decent dinner as part of the deal.

I'd just as soon not bother with the whole exercise. But it's still early in my career, and I can't quite tell whether that would reflect badly on me. This is particularly the case since most of my colleagues talk about conferences as a fun thing, rather than something they do as a job obligation.

So what's the deal? Can I get away with not going to conferences? Or should I see it as another job duty?
gpt
Conferences have several benefits for attendees:

* If you present, this is an opportunity for you to gain name recognition, both within your field but also at larger conferences outside of your immediate field.

* Attending other presentations informs you about the most recent work done in the field, which may not yet have been published.

* Collecting many experts in your field in one location provides an excellent opportunity to network with potential future employers or collaborators, depending on just how early in your career you are. Getting face time with these people goes a lot further than a simple email will. This includes both meeting people on the conference site, as well as socializing over meals or drinks (it is a long-running joke in academia that many proposals are written on the backs of bar napkins!).

* Many people treat conferences as a sort of vacation, skipping talks or sessions they find less interesting to spend the time sightseeing. Some academics will even bring their spouse along to enjoy time away from their children. For many, the business of an academic schedule affords little time for a "proper" vacation, so they will take whatever opportunity they get.

You *can* get away with not going to conferences, but it will more likely than not just make it more difficult to advance in your career. If you really dislike conferences, you can always attend for only a day or two, just enough to present your work, attend the most relevant talks by others, and perhaps meet with one or two key colleagues to discuss potential collaborations or job opportunities.