CS professor shares practical tips for connecting at ML conferences
thegautamkamath · x · 2026-11-12
Gautam Kamath, CS professor at Waterloo, published a guide for newcomers on socially navigating large ML conferences like NeurIPS, ICML and ICLR.
Key points:
- "Connecting" means befriending fellow researchers and building on commonalities, not LinkedIn-style networking;
- Researchers tend to befriend other researchers, and social skills can be learned — introversion is no excuse to skip it;
- Put yourself in settings where shared topics naturally arise (poster sessions, workshops), then explore and build on those commonalities;
- Principles generalize beyond ML conferences to most social settings.
More from Companies & People
- Blogger: Digital-Employee SaaS Vendors Can't Build Good Products If They Don't Use Them Themselves — gefei55 · 2026-11-12
- Nvidia board reportedly working with outside firm to find Jensen Huang successor — kimmonismus · 2026-11-12
- Nvidia board reportedly working with outside firm to find Jensen Huang successor — kimmonismus · 2026-11-12
- Jensen Huang on Nvidia succession: 'the next CEO has to be hired, and I like it that way' — ns123abc · 2026-11-12
- VC defends Jensen Huang: a founder who built Nvidia for 30 years has earned the right to keep leading — saranormous · 2026-11-12
- Ming Chi Kuo: Huang is irreplaceable to Nvidia; Rubin mass production slips to 2027 on HBM4 — zephyr_z9 · 2026-11-12