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[knitting_4_sanity]

I accepted a grad-student-representitive position last year for my subfield's working group at my field's national conference.  Responsibility during the year has been pretty light, but my presence is expected at a meeting at this year's conference.

I have developed a scheduling conflict with the conference; what is he etiquette for wriggling out without looking like a flake?

[castafiore]

At least in my field, it is acceptable to miss the meeting (though not ideal!). Just contact the meeting convenor (president of sub-section?) ASAP and explain that you cannot attend because (insert compelling reason) and you are sorry and wanted to let Hu know ASAP. Short and sweet.

[anon4now]

And the sooner the better, too.  If there are other responsibilities you have at the conference, it can help out if you find someone else to fill in. Once not too long ago a person in one of our workshops had to do this, and she really helped us out by giving all her files/examples to another one of the participants, who was actually happy to have that material to share with the rest of us. Worked out fine because there was plenty of time to rebalance the work.