Conferences and Young Scholars

So I was revising my CV for a proposal this morning, and I realized I haven't presented at a conference in a while! I will this fall at NBER, which will be $%$^ing awesome. I need to apply to another conference.

Does anyone know when the Austrian Student Scholars Conference is? The only call for papers I can find is for 2009. I assume 2010 is closed if it's even happening - is there a plan for 2011? I think this may be good for my 1920-21 paper. If anyone has information, please let me know.

Also - this looks interesting: a History of Recent Economics Conference - post-war economic history. I'm thinking of writing up something on the 1945-46 predictions of Paul Samuelson and what that means for the discipline. More of the "that's not the test case you think it is" that I've been doing with 1920-21. It's also an interesting case to investigate to understand what the very early American Keynesians thought was important. Abstract is due shortly, but I'd have about six months for a paper.

If you are a budding economist I personally think it's a good idea to present at conferences. They're a lot easier to get into than publishing. I've presented papers there that never saw the light of day - they can be works in progress. You get good criticism, and you learn how to accept criticism. Plus you see other research and learn how to offer useful criticism to others. You learn how to present findings, and it's also another entry on your resume - which is always a good thing. Don't aim for the highest-tier conferences. The most prestiguous I've been to was an IZA conference. It was a good experience, but I didn't really belong there. Mid-level professional assocaitions are great venues. I've presented at the Southern Economic Association twice, for example. It's a very well regarded group, but it's much more accessible than, say, the AEA. You can get accepted, and you can present without sticking out too much. If you're green like me that's going to be obvious, but at the same time it's not going to feel out of place or inappropriate.