UPDATE –  a reply below.

Wow! All that work writing for The Conversation and reviewing books (and writing my thesis, natch) has paid off! I have been sent an email”to deliver an invited talk” at a conference to be held at the end of the year in Hong Kong.

Not smelling a rat at all,  I have written back

Dear Ms Wang,

Your conference sounds intriguing.  In the interests of full disclosure, I should add that I am not actually a Doctor yet (I am a second year PhD student).

However, I would be delighted to attend your conference.  Please be advised though that you will need to waive the registration fee, provide me with airplane tickets, accommodation and a per diem.

Under those circumstances, we can discuss what you’d like me to talk about.

Marc Hudson

I think I’ll hold out for business class, and a 4-star hotel.  I’ll keep you all posted…

And damn, I don’t get to “turn left”…

Dear Dr. Hudson ,

Thank you very much for your interest to the conference. Due to the diversity and financial limitations of the meeting, the conference organizers will not be in the position to render financial support to attendees. All attendees including conference chairs would self-fund their registration, travel and hotel fees.

We do wish you can find a way to support your attendance from your side.

Best regards，

xxx Wang