Emily Spencer - Overcoming Academic Conference Presentation Anxiety

Dementia Researcher Blogs · Aug 5, 2026 · 6m

Emily Spencer narrates her blog written for Dementia Researcher.

With her her viva date set and every working hour going into her thesis, Emily has also just returned to conference season for the first time since her maternity leave in 2023. At the International Psychogeriatric Association Congress in the Netherlands she gave an oral presentation on her conversation analytic study of advance care planning conversations between GPs, people with dementia, and their carers. In this blog she works through the layers of worry that came before it: pitching a niche method to a general audience…