This topic has been revolving in my mind for almost 2 months already. And it kept bugging me (yeah, I'm that neurotic). I guess I just have to finally blog about it so it will get off my chest and I can concentrate on studying for my in-service exams.
I'm not an expert on this stuff and I'm writing this merely on my experiences.
So how can one resident from a developing country get to present a research paper in the international community?
Well first of all, you got to have a research paper, and have it approved by the ethics committee. I know having it approved is a pain and a challenge you have to hurdle, but it makes your life once your paper gets accepted for presentation more easier.
2nd is that you have to believe in your paper. Yup this emotion is important (at least in my opinion), you and your paper are in this together, and your paper needs your moral support too you know. Have your paper checked also by others before submitting, especially your adviser/co-author. He/she may give you more insights to make it better and your wrong spellings will be corrected. Be prepared also emotionally to be shouted upon at anytime of the day (yup, even at 1am) because of your errors and lousy writing. Just keep in mind that both your adviser and you were aiming at the same thing, to have it accepted.
3rd, of course is that you have to look for the international convention. Look for the international conventions and look at their requirements and deadlines. Each convention has a different set of rules and regulations, and you have to follow them. We don't want your paper getting rejected for mere technicality right?
4th, SUBMIT your paper with your adviser's approval before or on the deadline date. During this time you will get negative thoughts actually, I'm just a mere resident, this might not even get accepted. I had this when I was 1st yr, 2nd yr urology. But eventually I told myself, "I'm just submitting anyways, if it gets accepted I'll be happy, if not, then there's nothing to lose." Yeah nothing to lose, only you will know actually, you'll receive an email if yo get rejected, and you can even not tell it to anyone else right? So what's there to be afraid of?
PS: Also another tip, when asking for your adviser's approval for submission. Be sure to have it in writing, whether email, or text message and save it! My senior actually advised me regarding this, at first I thought it's impolite to inform your adviser of such important event just by texting or email, so I did inform them personally actually and they agreed, but eventually they forgot that they approved of it so you ended up with a punishment instead. So I learned my lesson, I document my conversations with these things because you'll never know when they suddenly forget, and you'll have no way to defend yourself.
5th, once you submitted, pray and wait for it. The different conventions each have their own style of informing you. Most of the time they'll write the date when the accepted abstracts will be released. Either you'll receive the news through email, or you have to log-in to their respective websites.
