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Are you thinking of submitting a proposal to present at AIHA Connect but wondering whether the benefits outweigh the stress? Last week, SynergistNOW shared tips for successful AIHA Connect presentations and proposals from Rustin Reed, PhD, CIH, CSP. For today's post, SynergistNOW spoke with Aurora Le, PhD, MPH, CIH, CSP, CPH, who has been presenting at conferences since 2017. In 2024, she co-presented the educational session "Respiratory Protection for the Public and Workers Without Respiratory Protection Programs" with Shawn Gibbs, PhD, MBA, CIH, at AIHA Connect. Le has also moderated presentations since 2022.

As an associate professor at Texas A&M University, Le praised conferences as opportunities to share research while connecting with professionals in industry, government, and other sectors. But she also advised first-time presenters to plan ahead before their sessions.

Getting Out of the Ivory Tower

After a presentation in 2018, Le related, she was washing her hands in the public restroom when she heard someone say her name. Someone who had attended Le's presentation as an audience member had recognized her. This chance meeting led to introductions, opportunities to collaborate, and further projects. "They work in an entirely different line of work than I do—they work with the military," Le said. "So through them, we've been able to connect and collaborate on some webinars and trainings for the military, and I'm currently connected with one of their contacts, who was interested in the research that I've done with medical examiners and coroners."

Le said that this sort of casual encounter—being recognized "like you're some kind of local celebrity," in her words—is more likely for presenters at conferences the size of AIHA Connect, compared to larger events. Nonetheless, Le has found that presenting typically leads to her at least expanding her professional contacts. "People who choose to attend your session out of many offered that day and time are already inherently interested in the topic," she said. "So you already know you have a foot in the door to make that connection."

For an academic, these connections are vital. "It's nice to meet folks at other universities who I might otherwise never meet and are also doing industrial hygiene or occupational health research that we might collaborate on in the future," Le said. "Or they can serve as a future reviewer for your tenure and promotion dossier, for example."

For academics on tenure track, presenting at conference helps them demonstrate that their research has impact at the national level. AIHA Connect offers one of the few events where researchers in occupational and environmental health can find audiences interested specifically in their field. "It helps me stimulate new research ideas by attending other people's sessions who are in practice, just to see what's going on and what's evolving in the workplace," Le said. "Obviously, they're very busy with practice, and so they don't have the time, capacity, formal training, or resources to conduct research on things that they might be interested in. So this is a great venue to make connections and get some new ideas."

Le's 2018 experience was one instance where presenting helped her step outside the "ivory tower" of academia to work with occupational and environmental health and safety practitioners in the military. Her 2024 presentation was attended by someone from NIOSH's National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. "We've now connected with some folks who work on respiratory protection at NIOSH's NPPTL," Le said. "I'm doing a very similar presentation-slash-webinar for the International Society for Respiratory Protection, and this may lead to future collaborations with NIOSH NPPTL and that organization going forward."

"There are people who I connected to all the way back when I started presenting in 2017 who are still in my network to this day," she said. "So even though I don't work with them, if they have a colleague or a contact who's interested in a topic that I focus on, they'll send out an email to me, and we'll facilitate the connection that way. And then I see them again the next time at AIHA Connect and catch up on what we've been working on."

Preparing to Present

Le felt she had benefited greatly from presenting at conferences. However, as both a presenter and a moderator, she urged presenters to prepare adequately, especially by understanding the limitations of the technology they plan to use.

First, presenters should bring business cards. "I know this is a little bit old school," Le said. Although it's common for presenters to include their email address on their slides, if an attendee doesn't record this on the day of the presentation, they will have to wait until the slides become available, which may be weeks after the conference. Business cards facilitate quicker follow-up. "The day I'm traveling back home, I'm at the airport, if I have a little bit of time," she said, "I'll immediately send a follow-up email with all the business cards that I've collected just to create saliency and to maintain that connection." Physically exchanging business cards also allows presenters and audience members to talk one-on-one. "It doesn't feel the same when you tell someone, 'Oh yeah, there's my email on the slide.'"

The potential to disrupt face-to-face communication is only one technological challenge presenters may encounter. "As somebody who's moderated many sessions," Le said, "please, people, don't use your personal laptops." Although many conferences, including AIHA Connect, provide presenters with laptops compatible with the venue's audio and visual technology, Le related that it's not uncommon for presenters to try to use their own laptops anyway. This often delays the presentation as conference staff hunt for cables and other equipment. Instead, Le recommended that presenters upload their presentation slides to the conference's online portal or stop by the speaker ready room an hour before their presentation to make sure everything will run smoothly.

She also encouraged presenters to test unfamiliar apps or other technology. "What I've seen is people use their presentation as the first time they're testing out brand new technology that they've never used before," she said. "That's not the time."

But technology, if used wisely, can also enhance a presenter's connection with the audience. For example, Le typically chooses to have her AIHA Connect presentations included in AIHA Connect's OnDemand program, which makes recordings available to attendees six to eight weeks after the conference. "I always opt in for that On Demand option because I think, why not?" she said. "That's more folks who are able to view the content."

She also encouraged attending AIHA's speaker webinar series, which the association hosts every year to help presenters get ready for AIHA Connect. The series starts in November, after AIHA has sent out notifications of proposal acceptances and rejections, and the webinars cover topics such as deadlines, expectations, presentation skills, and moderating. "If it's somebody's first time ever presenting, and they don't feel comfortable with the technology, or they don't know what platforms AIHA uses," Le said, "I really recommend them attending the webinar series once their proposal is accepted."

An Opportunity to Learn

But while preparation is important, Le urged potential first-time presenters not to be afraid to submit proposals for review by AIHA's Conference Program Committee. "Especially for students, where there are specific student opportunities for them to submit posters," she said. "If it's accepted, that's awesome, but if not, I feel that it's still a great learning opportunity to understand what the format of AIHA is."

"By submitting and going through that process, regardless of outcome, you're learning what they're looking for and what topics conference attendees are also interested in," Le said. "I feel like it's just good exercise for people to try and do."

If you're interested in presenting at AIHA Connect 2024, an outline of the Conference Program Committee's proposal review process is available on AIHA's website. More information on presenting can be found on the AIHA Connect 2025 Call for Proposals webpage. Please note that all proposals for educational sessions, professional development courses, case studies, scientific research, and professional posters to be presented at AIHA Connect 2025 must be submitted by Sept. 11, 2024.