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If you’ve never given a presentation at an academic or professional conference before, the prospect may seem intimidating. Particularly if you’re an early-career professional, you may experience imposter syndrome, leading you to wonder if you have anything substantial to contribute on topics you’re interested in. This is how Alex Cardone, MPH, CIH, CSP, felt before attending his first AIHA-hosted conference in 2022.

“I was expecting a lot of very formal presentation instruction, like lectures that I would have during my undergraduate,” he told SynergistNOW staff. But the presentations he attended were less intimidating than he’d expected. The presenters were knowledgeable, but they communicated their expertise in ways that were more casual and conversational than what Cardone had encountered previously in his career. This more flexible approach made presenting seem more accessible. “After my third session that I attended, I even had the thought, ‘Oh, I could do this,’” Cardone added.

Since then, Cardone has also presented at AIHA’s 2024 and 2025 conferences. His confidence has increased with time. After his half-hour pop-up session on soft skills development was well received in 2023, he gave five separate presentations at AIHA Connect 2024. As he felt this ambitious schedule left him little time to enjoy other attendees’ presentations, he scaled back to two sessions in 2025. He is currently putting together session proposals for AIHA Connect 2026, including his first professional development course proposal.

Cardone has found presenting at the conference to be a positive overall experience. It allows him to build his own skills while connecting with other attendees. “The feedback that I'm receiving from these presentations is, a lot of people are taking to heart the messages that they're receiving,” he said. “And I'm happy that I can be able to provide something of value to the career field in some sense.”

Choosing a Topic

A stroke of inspiration also helped Cardone gain the confidence to submit his first proposal. In November 2022, he came across an article by ZipRecruiter about how organizational hiring practices have changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (PDF). This article covered everything from recent college graduates’ expectations about the workplace to the “soft” and technical skills most sought after by employers. It resonated with Cardone’s concerns about feeling relevant to the occupational and environmental health and safety field and being prepared for new developments as a young professional. “After I read that article, it was kind of a snap effect of, ‘Oh my gosh. This is incredible,’” he said.

This stimulated Cardone to learn more about the topic and discuss it with his coworkers. He considered the soft skills that he wanted to develop himself and realized that he wished to be better at public speaking, communicating, and sharing ideas. At about that time, he received an email from AIHA encouraging him to submit a proposal for a pop-up conference session. “I knew I wanted to develop my communication skills,” he said. “And this opportunity brought itself, and I decided to go for it.”

Cardone encouraged professionals to submit conference proposals on topics they feel passionate about—even if they feel that it’s a well-known subject, and even if they don’t consider themself a leading authority on it. “Not every session needs to be a groundbreaking discovery,” he wrote in a follow-up email with SynergistNOW staff. He added that pop-up sessions can be great opportunities for beginners to get the feel for presenting. “When you choose a topic that you care about, 25 minutes goes by incredibly fast!”

“At least make sure that it's something that you care about and that you generally know,” he said during his interview. “As long as you care about the topic, your audience is going to feel it, and it's going to be very successful.”

Preparing to Present

For Cardone, a “unique, authentic perspective” on a topic is more compelling than a formal lecture. “You don't have to be an expert and have it all planned and fleshed out in the presentation submission,” he said. “As long as you figure it out before the conference, it's OK.”

Still, he urged future presenters to begin preparing as soon as the conference organizers notified them of their proposal’s acceptance. “Definitely don't delay,” he said. “Once you get accepted, I would immediately start looking into drafting out your ideas, trying to flesh it out, but being open that it's going to change over time.”

This process of revision is necessary to transform a proposal into a presentation, Cardone stressed. A conference proposal may be general in focus, but the future presenter can home in on the nuances of their subject as they research and develop their presentation. “Sometimes, you'll even attend a presentation where they'll say, ‘This was my title when I submitted it. This is what the title is now,’ and that's fine,” he said.

Finding a friend or coworker willing to present with you may also make it less daunting, Cardone advised in his follow-up email. “Heck, if you are serious about trying it, and if it would help, find me on LinkedIn and I'll gladly present alongside you,” he wrote. “That is how convinced I am that this is one of the greatest opportunities to further grow and develop as an OEHS professional.”

The organization hosting the conference may also provide guidance on creating a better presentation. Cardone noted during his interview that AIHA provides “a tremendous amount of resources for those who want to be able to present.” These resources include the speaker webinar series that AIHA hosts yearly to help presenters prepare for AIHA Connect.

“Those are infinitely valuable,” Cardone said.

At the Conference

Presenting at a conference opens up new opportunities to network and build relationships. At AIHA Connect in 2024, Cardone gave a presentation on rethinking myths about success. Afterwards, another early-career professional approached him. The two had a conversation about the presentation and the conference, as well as the worries, doubts, and disheartened feelings that often accompany the early-career stage.

“This is a very broad field, and very intimidating as well, as most of the time, you're thrown into an organization with very little resources but expected to have top-tier and very high-quality products. It's very easy to get overwhelmed,” Cardone said. “We were able to have a very good conversation about reframing success and how we can make sure that we're providing value to the organization that we're in, as well as providing value to ourselves.” He met up with the attendee who had approached him again at AIHA Connect 2025, along with other people he had met at previous conferences.

For Cardone, the most memorable parts of attending conferences are the relationships he forms. “They're cyclical, and you're going to meet these people again,” he said. “You're creating such a good relationship base with all the people that are around you. I still get lunch with one of the people I met back in 2023.”

These relationships are valuable for their own sake, but they may also help you out in your career. Cardone shared how he had used to work with 42 other industrial hygienists, with whom he could share ideas about how to approach problems. But he has since left that organization and joined one where he’s the only industrial hygienist. Since then, he has found himself brainstorming more often with his contacts made through AIHA Connect.

“We need someone to be able to talk ideas through with,” Cardone said. “A lot of what we deal with is very abstract. It's very hard to comprehend, or there's a lot of variables. And so, gathering other people's perspectives is one of the ways that we grow and holistically look at a problem.”

“I think that's one of the things that I like about the conference the most, whether you're presenting or even just attending, is it gives you that opportunity to build a community,” he said.

If you're interested in presenting at AIHA Connect 2026, an outline of the Conference Program Committee's proposal review process is available on AIHA's website. More information on presenting can be found on the AIHA Connect 2026 Call for Proposals webpage. Please note that all proposals for educational sessions, professional development courses, case studies, scientific research, and professional posters to be presented at AIHA Connect 2026 must be submitted by Sept. 10, 2025.

AIHA Connect 2026 will be held June 1-3 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, as well as online.