Should I accept an invitation to give a talk on dated work?

Question

I'm a recent math PhD, working in Subject X. I had the good luck to give a counterexample to a conjecture in Subject Y, using ideas from X. I don't know much about Y -- in fact I learned the conjecture in a "Y for dummies"-type paper and immediately saw the example. The people I met in Y seemed to be pretty happy about this.Now I've been invited to give a talk at a big conference about Y. I would of course be delighted to do so, but by the time the conference happens my paper will be about 18 months post-arxiv. I don't really have plans or competence to do further work in Y, and I'm concerned that my paper will be getting stale by the time the conference rolls around. On the other hand, I could give a basic introduction to X and my example, which I think would be interesting to the audience.Any suggestions as to how to proceed? Should I accept and give a dated talk?

Answer 1

I think you should do it! If you make the context clear, the paper may stand on its own. If you take the opportunity to show up, it may lead you to other possible inspiration for other work, collaborations, who knows! I would think of it as a chance to show up somewhere and reflect publicly on work that you did in the past. Put the fact that it was written in the past at the front and center. Use your intro to let the audience in on the circumstances the paper was born out of. Put us in the past, right there with whatever was going on professionally/intellectually/academically. Use your conclusion for remarks that share with the audience what you think of the paper now. We all learn by witnessing others reflect on the past. There's no shortage of reasons to share your work. Here's to whatever you decide, either way! All the best.