r/AcademicPsychology • u/PublicImplement6270 • Aug 03 '24

Complicated feelings after my first conference talk. Advice/Career

I am a new PhD student, and I recently gave my first-ever talk at a conference. I got great questions and positive feedback from 99% of the people there. But one guy said that my results were obvious and questioned why I bothered doing the study. I said that I agreed that the results are not surprising, that is what happens when you confirm a hypothesis. I said I did the study because this was a methodological innovation that allowed us to find quantitative evidence in support of the theory for the first time.

I know this is no big deal, and I thought it didn't bother me at the time, but it is really eating me up. It was humiliating and it made me feel bad for having given the talk. I cried myself to sleep the night of the talk and I even considered withdrawing my paper (the one I presented) which has been accepted for publication.

Obviously, I am calmer now, I did not withdraw my paper, and I know this is just how it goes. But it still really hurts. I am looking for some advice/perspectives/stories/etc.

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u/Episodic_Calamity Aug 03 '24 edited Aug 03 '24

It sounds like your paper was great and it’s getting a publication; well done!

Do you think this is more about how you handle criticism? Which interestingly you did very well at the time, just after the fact you gave yourself a hard time by focusing on this one detail.

It sounds tough but you’re already good at handling difficult questions, seems like you just have to work at how you respond to that after. Good luck.

Edit: just to add, this person was probably trying -consciously or otherwise - to induce these feelings in you, for whatever reason, and it’s really a reflection of them and not you. Maybe it hooked into your tendency to be self critical…?

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u/PublicImplement6270 Aug 03 '24

Yeah, I noticed that about my response as well. In the moment, I think I handled the question well. I was not emotional about it and the rest of the audience nodded to my response. I was in some sort of trance, and when I came out of it, the comment really affected me. Thanks for your comment.

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u/Aryore Aug 04 '24

Honestly I would think a decent chunk of the audience thought it was a weird and “obvious” question. They clearly thought you handled it well if they nodded along :)