Tips to save money for conference trips

Lately, I've read Paul Matsuda's blog entry about how graduate students (doctoral students) go to conferences without spending too much money. The following is some of the tips he shared:

Paul mentioned that students should combine their personal trip with conference trip, having a conference in a place where they also want to visit and making the distinction between work and holiday fuzzy.

Second, Paul remarked that students should save money for dinner rather than spending too much on breakfast or lunch. He said that students could simply grab some water or bread in convenience store and use the money for conference dinner or dining out with some famous scholars. He further added that such strategy could make the trip more fruitful, mingling with some famous scholars and discussing about some significant issues in the field.

Third, Paul also stressed that graduate students could get grants or funds to sponsor their trips as there are openings of scholarship or sponsorship for conferencing in different institutions. Or they may join some competitions such the best teaching award or the most successful young scholar scheme to finance their budgets to conference trip... (this strategy may be easy to Paul...)

Fourth, he suggested that graduate students should find a partner to share out expenses such as hotels or shuttles for the conference trip. Sharing expenses on the trip is the best strategy to save money!

I think all this advice is based upon Paul's personal experience over the years and what he heard from others when he participated in various conferences both in the States or other countries.