Conference Coffee and the Performance of Belonging

Conference Coffee and the Performance of Belonging

I spent three days in Boston pretending to network. Everyone swapped cards and said we should collaborate, as though collaboration were a greeting rather than a commitment.

I nodded at slides about a protein I do not work on and said interesting approach three times. The coffee was bad. The badge photo was worse. I flew home with twelve business cards and zero follow-ups. This is what the profession calls community.

Conferences are useful. I am not cynical about science. But the social layer is a performance of belonging that rewards confidence more than curiosity. The people who thrive are not always the people with the best questions. They are the people most willing to act as though the questions are already settled and the connection already real.

I am still learning that language. Some days I think I should get better at it. Other days I think the coffee is bad for a reason.