Advice for PAMLA 2025 Conference Attendees/Presenters Including for Graduate Students and Those New to PAMLA
1. Enjoy EVERYTHING this year’s conference has to offer! We hope you can join us for as many events as possible, including, if you are a graduate student, the following:
- Graduate Student Caucus on Thursday, Nov 20 from 6:10-7:00 PM in InterContinental Ballroom C (5th floor): We will brainstorm ideas for PAMLA’s future for graduate students. What events would you like to see next year and in the future? What will be most helpful for you in your academic journey? Do you have any guest speakers in mind – someone who can speak to publishing, dissertating professionally, or navigating the job market? After we brainstorm and set up a game plan, we can head right into the…
- “Navigating Graduate School: You’re ABD, Now What?” a roundtable organized by Jan Maramot Rodil (UC Irvine); Friday, Nov 21 from 9:55-11:25 AM in the InterContinental Ballroom B (5th floor)
- “Resisting Repetition: Engaging Palimpsests in Graduate Student Education,” a roundtable organized by Clare Russell (University of Pittsburgh) and Virginia Schwarz (San Francisco State University); Saturday, Nov 22 from 6:00-7:30 PM in InterContinental Ballroom B (5th floor)
- Grad Student Mixer at the Pacific Terrace (4th floor), from 8:30 to 10PM! Enjoy drinks (cash bar), bites, and great conversations with your fellow grad students.
2. But you don’t need to be a graduate student to have a lot of exciting special events to attend. Everyone can attend these sessions and events (and please do attend as many of these and other special sessions and events as you can!). For the Disney Museum and Wok Wiz Chinatown tours, you have to make a reservation (and pay an additional fee) right away at pamla.ballastacademic.com under Registration:
3. Panel etiquette: Go to other folks’ sessions, and ask a real, thoughtful question or two. Doing so will be good for you, and good for the presenter and the entire session. Good listeners and thoughtful and polite questioners make a conference a success.
- Try to stay for the full panel if you can. If you can’t, please leave between talks as quietly as possible. If you know you have to leave, you may want to sit close to the exit.
- If someone leaves your panel before or after your talk, don’t assume it’s personal. They may have a meeting, may need to find their own panel room, or they might be in need of a espresso.
- Audience pro-tips: Take notes as people give their talks, and write down any questions that come to mind. Jot down anything that stands out about their work, including areas of study with which you may not be familiar. During the Q&A, try to ask a thoughtful, useful, polite, and supportive question. Make sure you are asking questions, not “questions that are more of a comment.” Focus on the speaker and what you’d like to learn from them.
- Don’t be a stranger! This is an opportunity to connect and think with specialists from around the world. Once again, make the most of your attendance of any conference. Make conversation, get contact information, set up a plan for a coffee or Zoom chat – making connections makes conferences much more enjoyable and valuable for everyone involved. You can make connections, by the way, via our PAMLA Whova conference app.
4. Present well!
- Read your presentation aloud a few times before you present, both to make sure you will not go over your allotted time and to be sure your paper reads well and is clear. What may work in writing may not be so clear in an oral presentation. Avoid extended plot summaries or extra-deep theoretical dives (the former will likely bore and the latter might work better in written than oral form). Think about your audience and try to capture something real, vital, alive, important, exciting, generative, [adjective of your choice] in your paper!
- Project. Be sure those all the way at the back of the room can hear you.
- Eyes OFF your paper! Make eye contact with your listeners as you present, not just with the paper in front of you. It might be useful to put stage directions into your script (look up here, and explain X in your own words).
- Honor the talk length provided by your chair. Make sure your paper fits into that time limit, and if time runs short, have a quick conclusion to provide so that the next speaker can get started. Everyone deserves to have the same amount of time to present on their panel.
- Improvise, Adapt, Overcome! If your talk depends on visuals, text, or video, make sure to arrive at your room early to do a tech check prior to the start of your panel. Ensure you have a back-up in case of technical issues: hand-outs, interpretive dance, balloon animals? And we won’t have wifi, so if you want to show something, make sure you download that something to your laptop before your session itself.
- To that end, ensure your slides are accessible and inclusive. The University of Minnesota offers some great guidelines for developing slides that everyone can see and understand. You may find them here: https://accessibility.umn.edu/gaad/2023/for-speakers
5. Stay connected!
- Stay in contact with your chair and/or presiding officer. They are there to help. They will reach out with important reminders about the conference as well as the amount of time you will have to present. Typically, they’ll request a short bio to introduce you to the audience, which may be the one you provided when you sent in your abstract.
- Read all PAMLA-related emails! There will be important reminders about the conference, events and activities, and more. And the reading is guaranteed to be more fun than reading some Hegel (unless you like Hegel, in which case it’s just as fun)!
- GET THE WHOVA APP! You’ll have instant access to the full schedule and will be able to reach out to fellow presenters. This is a great way to plan things like shared transportation, excursions, and more.
- Enjoy the local culture: https://www.pamla.org/pamla-2025-things-to-do/
- Should any problems arise where you may not be able to make it, reach out to your presiding officer or chair, as well as Craig Svonkin, PAMLA Executive Director (director@pamla.org and 626-354-7526).
6. Stay organized and timely!
- Don’t get lost. The most important place to find is the PAMLA Registration Desk, in the San Francisco InterContinental Grand Ballroom 3rd floor foyer.
- Double-check the schedule to confirm the time and day of your panel(s). These times could shift slightly as we approach the date.
- Before you attend any of the events, head to the registration table to sign in, get your name badge, program, and more. Depending on the time of day, it may take 15–30 minutes to get fully registered. Take this into consideration as you make your way to your events and panels in a timely manner.
- Show up at least ~10 minutes before your panel is slated to start. This goes both for chairs and panelists. It’s best to arrive early, especially to make sure your slides and any audiovisual materials are functional and ready to go.
- Most importantly, enjoy the conference to the fullest!
7. Stay Safe!
- PAMLA does have a Code of Conduct: https://www.pamla.org/pamla-statement-on-code-of-conduct/
- Should you experience or see any unsafe or harassing behavior, please let Craig Svonkin (626-354-7526) and the InterContinental staff know right away, as well as local police if it rise to the level of a crime or threat of physical assault.
- Health and Wellness: Your health and the health and wellness of your fellow conference attendees is the most important thing. Therefore, do not come to the conference if you have Covid or some other communicable virus or disease. Please let PAMLA Executive Director Craig Svonkin (director@pamla.org and 626-354-7526) and your presiding officer know if you must cancel due to illness. And if you are seriously ill, please go to an emergency room or hospital right away.
Also, please enjoy all of our PAMLA 2025 Special Events!
Wednesday, November 19 — Sunday, November 23
PAMLA Welcome Event: From Munich to the Strip – Uli Geissendoerfer’s Jazz Journey
Join us for our opening night celebration featuring jazz pianist and composer Uli Geissendoerfer (University of Nevada–Las Vegas), speaking about his international musical journey.
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Thursday, November 20
Book Exhibit
Visit our PAMLA Book Exhibit featuring a variety of publishers and presses on the third and fourth floors of the hotel.
Relaxation Room
Come to the Moscone Room to sit, decompress, and take a break between sessions and events.
Keynote Address
Maxine Hong Kingston: Memory and/or Oblivion
Join Maxine Hong Kingston (University of California–Berkeley) in conversation with Marilyn Chin (San Diego State University).
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Thursday Spotlight: A Reading and Creative Conversation with Clarence Major
Featuring Clarence Major (Author) in discussion with Aldon Lynn Nielsen (Pennsylvania State University) and Martin Japtok (Palomar College).
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Thursday Spotlight: From Bohemians to Hippies – An Exploration with Historian Dennis McNally
Join historian Dennis McNally (Author) and Tim Hunt (Illinois State University) for a lively discussion of San Francisco’s countercultural past.
Location: InterContinental Ballroom C (5th floor)
Thursday Spotlight: Kurt Cobain, the Jack of Hearts, Poetry, Game Theory, and Me
A talk by Stephanie Burt (Harvard University) exploring pop culture, poetry, and creative thought.
Location: Grand Ballroom A (3rd floor)
Thursday Showcase: San Francisco and Beyond – A Thursday Poetry Reading
Featuring readings by Kit Robinson, Laura Moriarty, C. S. Giscombe, Jean Day, Aldon Lynn Nielsen, and Rae Armantrout.
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Friday, November 21
Friday Excursion
Walt Disney Family Museum Friday Tour (reservation required at Registration at pamla.ballastacademic.com)
Join Jeremiah Axelrod (Occidental College) for a special guided tour at the Walt Disney Family Museum.
Location: 104 Montgomery St. (Presidio)
PAMLA Forum
Contemporary Literary Palimpsests
Featuring Iliana Cuellar (UC Riverside), Michael Moreno (Green River College), and Thomas Leitch (University of Delaware).
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Friday Special Event: Distressing Language – Disability and the Poetics of Error
A conversation with Michael Davidson (UC San Diego) with responses by Rae Armantrout, Steven Gould Axelrod, and Bob Perelman.
Location: InterContinental Ballroom C (5th floor)
Friday Special Event: Haiku Party – Featuring Maxine Hong Kingston, Marilyn Chin, and Chun Yu
Join three poets for a celebration of short form and creative exchange.
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Friday Special Event: Three Contemporary Poets on the Legacy of Robinson Jeffers – Challengers of Oblivion
Readings and reflections by André Naffis-Sahely, Jesse Nathan, and Katie Peterson.
Location: InterContinental Ballroom A (5th floor)
Presidential Address
Palimpsests of Melancholia: Paris, New York, Istanbul, and the Resistance to Speed
Delivered by Peter Schulman (Old Dominion University).
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
PAMLA Grand Reception
Featuring music by the Uli Geissendoerfer Trio.
Location: Pacific Terrace (4th floor)
Friday Night After Party
The Pop-Poetry Palimpsest Project: A Performance and Workshop
Location: InterContinental Ballroom C (5th floor)
Saturday, November 22
Saturday Excursion
City Lights History Talk and Tour (reservation required at Registration at pamla.ballastacademic.com)
Led by Peter Maravelis of City Lights Books, with Stanley Orr (University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu).
Location: City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Ave.
Plenary Address
Arts of the Border: Memory, Metamorphosis, and Migration
Delivered by Debarati Sanyal (University of California – Berkeley).
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Saturday Special Event: Rae Armantrout and Bob Perelman Read Their Poetry
Introduced by Stephanie Burt (Harvard University).
Location: Grand Ballroom A (3rd floor)
PAMLA Undergraduate Forum
Showcasing undergraduate scholars from across disciplines.
Location: InterContinental Ballroom C (5th floor)
Saturday Spotlight: Community-Based Citizen-Scholars and the Information Commons
A conversation with Lincoln Cushing (UC Berkeley), hosted by Juan Delgado (Cal State San Bernardino).
Location: InterContinental Ballroom C (5th floor)
Saturday Spotlight: San Francisco and Beyond – A Saturday Poetry Reading
Featuring Michael Davidson, Juliana Spahr, Alan Bernheimer, Maxine Chernoff, Maw Shein Win, and Bob Perelman.
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Saturday Night Live
Grad Student Mixer and PAMLA Poetry Salon with David Lloyd, Ann Keniston, Tim Hunt, Ricardo Jaramillo, James McCorkle, and Melissa Mack.
Locations: Pacific Terrace (4th floor) and InterContinental Ballroom C (5th floor)
Sunday, November 23
PAMLA General Membership Meeting & Brunch
Join fellow members for closing remarks and announcements for future conferences.
Location: Grand Ballroom B/C (3rd floor)
Sunday Excursion I
Wok Wiz Chinatown Walking Tour (reservation required at Registration at pamla.ballastacademic.com)
Led by Peter Schulman (Old Dominion University).
Location: Portsmouth Square Park Upper Level (745 Kearny St.)
Sunday Excursion II
Walt Disney Family Museum Sunday Tour (reservation required at Registration at pamla.ballastacademic.com)
Led by Craig Svonkin (PAMLA & MSU Denver).
Location: Walt Disney Family Museum, 104 Montgomery St. (Presidio)