Yes, conference season is upon us.

That means that it’s time for thousands of you to refresh your skills in delivering papers. Claire Potter of Wesleyan University, aka Tenured Radical, posted a lengthy primer a few days ago.

Among her admonitions: “Reading really fast to make up for the fact that your paper is too long is not an option.”

Also, dress like Johnny Cash. But that goes without saying.

In The Chronicle in 2003, William Germano offered his own set of conference-paper tips. You can find more advice here and here.

Someday, some clever/obnoxious grad student will invent a conference-paper drinking game: “Take three sips of coffee when the speaker begs for more time”? “If the speaker drops the name of his dissertation adviser more than four times, drain your bottled water”? Hmm. Maybe conference halls don’t really lend themselves to that kind of thing. (But see this game cooked up by participants at the annual Symposium on Discrete Algorithms.)

(Image of Second Life’s “Questar Auditorium” by Flickr user david.orban.)