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In 2023, Turner Silverthorne and I founded the Bird’s Eye Conference, an annual platform for graduate students in my department to share “bird’s-eye views” of their mathematical interests with each other. Going beyond many conferences, an explicit focus on the accessibility of mathematical content was built into its design. Over the next three years, more than 200 registered attendees in total have sampled the breadth of mathematical research at the University of Toronto, through over 90 survey talks. Here's my account of how the first-ever conference went!  Photographs taken by Daniel Hudson and Andy Ramirez-Côté The first-ever Bird's Eye Conference happened on March 4-5 in the Bahen Centre, and it was a great success! Over 70 registered attendees enjoyed more than 30 talks that introduced a broad range of the research fields found in our department. The attendees included current graduate students, prospective graduate students and even some undergraduates! The talks ranged over Geometry & Topology, Analysis & Applied Math, Probability & Optimal Transport, Set Theory & Combinatorics, and Algebra & Number Theory. Each session was moderated by a Program Chair, a graduate student who helped to recruit speakers and worked with each speaker to enhance the accessibility of their talk. I enjoyed giving my talk a lot. I also enjoyed seeing outsiders to Set Theory show interest and engage with forcing […] What an attendee liked most about the conference: We had our fill of pizza and beverages during the lunch and coffee breaks, which were orchestrated by our Food Supervisors and sponsored by the Mathematics Graduate Student Association (MGSA). It was quite a sight to see so many fellow graduate students having conversations and making new connections over food and coffee. What did attendees talk about? After my talk, several people I hadn't met told me about similar methods/ideas to the ones in my talk from areas of math different than my own. Had a very nice conversation with two young undergrads/recent grad students. They had lots of questions about possible advisors across north America (not just toronto) […] I talked about my research with some other people who were interested in my talk, I found that very fun! In particular, one masters student asked me about my research area, my advisor, how likely is it to publish during the PhD... It was a very productive exchange. We also had a Panel Discussion on the Graduate Research Experience, which covered practical tips on what opportunities to take advantage of during our studies. The panelists also shared the joys and struggles of their own research journeys, and gave advice on how to navigate the emotional parts of the research journey, such as imposter syndrome.  Asked what attendees liked most about the conference, they said: The people, the conversations, and the sense of connection. The fast pace (the amount of content y’all squeezed into the 2 days!!) and the fact that most of it was very accessible worked really well for me. I am so impressed with all the speakers for delivering such genuinely accessible and interesting talks, as well as the organizers for being so organized and running everything so smoothly. The people - it was fantastic to have a chance to get to know the department and students a little more. Thank you to all who made this happen! The organizing team is very grateful for the sponsorship of the MGSA and the Department of Mathematics, as well as for all of the volunteers who have made this event possible. We also thank the administrative staff of the Department for their support. And we thank everyone who attended! Seeing the happy faces and conversations over pizza and coffee really made us feel that all of this work was worth it. Thank you to everyone for making this event a great success! Organizing Team
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