Cannot attend CS conference but coauthor isn't registering

Question

The deadline to register for a peer-reviewed computer science conference with proceedings is in three days and I cannot attend despite being the main author of a paper there since I am leaving the current institution for non-academic employment. I cannot afford to lose this job and losing it will have catastrophic consequences. I have discussed this issue with the coauthor for many months, and they kept saying "I'm pretty sure that I can go, but if not we'll find a solution". At least one author of the paper must be registered and at least that person must present it at the conference or else the paper will not be published.

There has been still no tangible proof of the coauthor either definitely going to the conference or registering, and I do not know this person well enough to trust them. The publication is critical as it is the only proof of me producing anything in quite a long time, so I cannot afford to lose this publication. I cannot take the stress any more. How do I ensure that someone registers for my paper so that it appears in the proceedings?

Answer 1

It has been discussed at length that you should reconsider if the paper or not leaving to present it are more important and I urge you to do that.

However, assuming you know your situation better than us, even though it sounds off, here's the only solution I can think of:

Ask. Nicely!

Call your co-author, say please (because you want something from him) and hope he says he'll register. Then explain how important it is and ask for a confirmation so that you can sleep better. Make sure it doesn't come across as mistrust and that you're just asking because it's so important to you.

If that doesn't work, swallow your pride and beg. Offer to pay the flight (if you were going you'd pay it too (?)). Offer something else. Most people will agree to do it when they understand the severity of the situation. But maybe try to explain it more in depth than you did here, because I haven't understood it yet.

Answer 2

Another possibility is that your "non-academic employment" obviously values your skills - have you considered asking them if they will give you leave (paid or unpaid) to let you present - and it has been known that some people say in their intro "I am here thanks to the grace of X...".

Answer 3

The publication is critical as it is the only proof of me producing anything in quite a long time, so I cannot afford to lose this publication

Then you should be turning up yourself. You can't blame this on anyone else: you messed up your schedule.

How do I ensure that someone registers for my paper so that it appears in the proceedings?

Do it yourself. Sorry, it's that simple. You need to start taking responsibility for this now.

I understand that, having left it so late, it's going to be a little awkward getting time off from your new employer. However, presenting an academic project at a conference is a pretty good reason to have that time off — an employer not understanding of that is probably not somebody I'd want to work with. It's just that late notice that you're going to have to contend with. Given its importance to you, you should have had this event as a fixed date on your diary for months now, and noted it to your new employer early on.

Answer 4

This may depend on the publisher of the paper. Some conferences explicitly require that one of the authors of the paper presents it at the conference. I can read this requirement from your text, but you have to be careful.

If you just register an author, that is not enough. They have to present! If someone else presents the paper that might still not be sufficient.

You should also consider contacting the person above your co-author. Discuss this issue with him/her and point out that presenting at the conference is important. Then you do not need to trust your co-author that much and you might have a more reliable answer.

Regarding your leaving for another employment: Have you talked to this employer? They might be willing to support your case (e.g., giving you a few days off).

Even if this hurts financially: Have you considered just going to the conference and presenting on your own? I have seen people doing this from similar situations. However, this can be quite expensive and might not be a feasible option.

Answer 5

You are worrying too much

If you are leaving for non-academic employment, then the loss of the paper is unlikely to have any significant impact on your future career. Outside of academia, employers are likely to place little or no value on your publication record and - by the time you're looking for your next job - whatever your going to be doing that means you can't attend the conference will be considered far more important than whether or not you got this paper out. You don't need to worry so much about it.

You should trust your co-author

You say "[t]here has been still no tangible proof of the coauthor either definitely going to the conference or registering" but there's no tangible proof of the opposite either. Stop borrowing trouble from an imagined future.

Answer 6

You might try talking to the conference chair to see if there are any options if you absolutely can't make it. AAAI also has the policy of "At least one author must register and present", but this year, there was a paper for which none of the authors were able to obtain visas, and thus couldn't attend. One of them recorded a video of them giving the talk, and the session chair played it at their scheduled time. Perhaps you could work out something similar.

I have no idea how common that sort of arrangement is, though. Their situation was certainly one that was beyond their control, so if the reason you can't attend is less compelling, the chair may be less accommodating.

Answer 7

There's no reason that the paper can't be presented by a random colleague. You still have to satisfy the registration requirement, but if you know someone else who is going to be there, you can ask them to present for you. You'd want to provide them with slides, etc. If you don't know anyone attending the conference well enough to ask them, you could ask the session chair (assuming she's already identified) for advice.