The summer meeting season is almost here! That means it's the time of year when the thoughts of young researchers turn to "summer camp for scientists."

Meetings through Cold Spring Harbor, Gordon Research Conferences, Keystone, and others are a great way to get to know your scientific peers as well as to have an opportunity to network with the thought leaders and rising stars in your area of interest. Whether you're thinking about collaborations, looking for your next job, or trying to identify the best reviewers for your manuscript, you should be sure to get the most out of your time at a conference.

At Cell Press, we find conference attendance to be an important part of our jobs as scientific editors. Each year, we attend several meetings so we can stay up on the latest research and meet people who are doing the science that we're excited about. Editors at the primary research journals, the Trends journals, and even the newest members of the Cell Press team find conference attendance to be a rewarding part of the job.

Here we offer you some of our expertise to make your conference work for you. I asked a number of scientific editors from a variety of journals to share their tips on how early-career researchers can make the most out of the conferences they attend. Hopefully one of these tips will help you make the next step in your career path a reality.

The people make the meeting—get to know them (from Lara Szewczak at Cell)

One of the most exciting things about attending a conference is the chance to step out of your daily routine. You're not stumbling into the lab, pouring the first (or perhaps second) cup of coffee for the morning, and chatting casually with your lab mates. Instead, there's breakfast to be found—somewhere—and strangers to make awkward conversation with over that first cup of joe. The funny thing about meetings is that those strangers become compatriots, friends, and potential collaborators. One trick for a successful meeting experience is to make that transition happen as quickly as possible. The faster you meet people, even if it's just introducing yourself, the faster the transition.

In the run up to a meeting, it's easy to focus on your poster, your talk, how you're getting to the airport, and what to pack. It's easy to overlook prepping for the people. You'll be asked the first three questions by everyone: What's your name? Where are you from? What do you work on? The first two are softballs. The third one should be, too. Think about a succinct, casual way to encapsulate what you do and why you're interested in being at the meeting. "I'm Lara, I'm from Cell Press, and I'm here to see what researchers in this area are most excited about." Smile. Follow up with a question. Two of my favorites: Which talk has been your favorite so far? (Substitute with "looking forward to" on the first day.) Have you been to this site/city/country before? These questions are simple, and even a little silly, but you have to start somewhere.

Tempting though it may be to gravitate back to the people you met during the first coffee break or to huddle close to your lab mates for the duration, repeat this scenario with different people at every opportunity. You want to meet peers, PIs, editors, industry scientists, policymakers. Staying open to new people will help awareness of your work spread, and it will connect you to the community. The benefits extend beyond just a fun meeting experience. The newly minted PI you chat with over coffee today may be the science entrepreneur who recruits you for a job down the road.

If you're not the gregarious type, even meeting five people at a conference can be a challenge, but it makes the meeting a far richer experience. If it's hard to break out of your shell without some motivation, set a goal for yourself of meeting a defined number of new people each day at the meeting. You didn't come to the meeting just to sit in the talks (that's what YouTube and TED are for). You're there to discuss the work, laugh at geeky jokes (AWESOME power of yeast genetics, anyone?), and expand your scientific horizons. Make the most of it.

How to find your next boss (from Ted Dobie at EBioMedicine)

To find your next boss at a meeting, you have to prepare. Start by going through the program to see who will be there. If you find someone you know you'd like to talk to, don't leave it to a chance encounter at a coffee break or poster session. Instead, contact them by email to schedule a time when you can have a one-on-one chat. Science Careers has some tips (intended for undergraduates, but applicable here as well) for writing an introductory email to potential supervisors. Make sure the message is personal, including your own connection to their work (e.g., if you have cited their papers, if you saw them speak at another meeting) and why you are excited to meet them.

Smaller meetings are intended to help forge research collaborations. When you meet, try to frame your conversation with your potential future boss in this light, describing how your current skills and experience could make you an asset to their lab. Display your broader scientific curiosity by discussing some of the other talks or posters at the meeting that you thought were interesting and could be pertinent to the PI's research.

If other members of the PI's lab are at the meeting, make sure you check out their talks or posters. Introduce yourself to them as you would to the PI, making the connection to your own current work and how it relates to theirs. Positive impressions with students or postdocs from your dream lab will hopefully trickle back to the PI. This is also a great opportunity to discuss what it's like to be a trainee in the lab because a good fit with the lab culture is an important consideration for your next job.

Once you're home from the meeting, a follow-up email is critical to strengthen the impression you made. If you are actively looking for a new lab, include your CV and consider formally stating your interest in joining their lab. Even if you didn't get to meet someone at the conference, you can still email to introduce yourself and let them know how much you liked seeing the work from their lab.

Finding your next boss can be stressful, but if you plan ahead, make a personal impression, and follow up, hopefully you will forge the connections that land you your next job. Luckily, the smaller summer meetings encourage a much more relaxed atmosphere that may help take the edge off a potentially nerve-wracking conversation. Plus, there's often a happy hour. (But please drink responsibly.)

How to pitch your work to potential reviewers (from Shawnna Buttery at Cell Reports)

If you're preparing to submit your manuscript, your focus at the meeting should be getting feedback on your work and talking to potential reviewers. The reason that summer meetings are often in remote locations is to limit some of the distractions of daily life. If you get a chance to explain your story and its impact when people are in this unique environment, you can have an advantage if or when they review your paper later. Whether you're presenting a poster or giving a talk, be sure to highlight the strength of your paper and keep your ears and mind open to possible holes in your story.

To help you identify the best people to approach, consider these tips on getting the most from your reviewer suggestions. If a potential reviewer for your work is at the meeting, be sure to talk during a coffee break or happy hour. Of course, it can be hard to get up the courage to talk to researchers whose work you admire. This Science Careers post has some great tips to get you started.

A good first step is knowing that researchers are probably as excited as you are to be out of the lab and at a conference. Then, think carefully about what you want to say. I recommend opening with compliments about their awesome work and following up with a question (the more specific, the better) about what they are working on. Hopefully, you can segue to your project. For example, "Speaking of that technique, we also used that approach in my project. We are planning to submit the manuscript, so your expertise would be invaluable."

Of course, if you run into a scientific editor at a meeting, feel free to talk to us about your work. We always like to hear a good story and are happy to help you figure out the best place for your paper. If you aren't sure what to ask, check out this post.