Should CVs include every talk you've given?

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Should CVs include every talk you've given? I'm embarrassed by some older talks, and I would rather not have them on my CV if I can help it. If I did a "Selected Talks" section and listed what I think are my best talks, would that raise red flags for committees?

Good questions. I suspect that over a 20-30+ year career, a CV that included every talk would become very bloated. Then again, depending on your university, until you're promoted to full Professor, it could be wise to list everything you've done. Not sure, but the OP sounds like they are on the job market, and if so, it seems to me they might be better advised to list every talk (unless, I suppose, there is something about the title or venue of the talk to be "embarrassed about", which I wouldn't know how to judge).

What do readers think?

Comments

[Postdoc]

I have nothing like a 20-30 years career yet but I still think my CV would get bloated if I were to list all the talks I've given. I haven't listed internal departmental talks or talks at events arranged by someone at the department I've been employed at since I was a PhD student a few years ago, and I've recently also started to leave out some insignifcant early career external talks (e.g. grad student conference talks or short talks at big events with hundreds of speakers, where almost everyone who applies gets in).

What I think justifies leaving these out is that the piece of advice I've always been given is that attendance at a couple of conferences won't make or break a CV. So when you have a critical mass of more prestigious talks, often invited, adding a bunch of non-prestigious ones in addition to these mostly just clogs up the CV.

[Popper's grandson]

Put whatever you want on your c.v. I have given many talks and I only ever list what the title of the sections say: Selected Refereed Presentations ... and Selected Invited Presentations.
You might want to ask yourself why you gave the talks in the past that now embarrass you in the first place. Perhaps that should set you on a more cautious course in the future ;) It is nice if one likes and respects one's past self. But we are human, so you are allowed to make mistakes. And if you are a Popperian you should try to learn from them.

[Bill V.]

A Selected Talks section is fine. Probably you want to have a fair number of talks before you truncate the section. (I don't know how many exactly--eight to ten?) A summary note at the end of the section is useful, "X additional talks since year," or something like that. Be sure you include any talks that could be taken as evidence for an AOC the department might be interested in. Do the same for Invited Papers, and other sections of your cv when they also start to get overly long.

FWIW hiring departments are not going to read your talks section super closely (for the reason mentioned elsewhere in the thread: talks don't count for much, if anything). The committee likely won't notice whatever it is you are embarrassed about even if you do list all your talks.

IMO you should also keep a complete cv on your computer, too, so you have a complete record if needed when going up for promotion.

[Talk giver]

I finished my PhD about a decade ago. I've been giving talks since about halfway through my PhD, with increased frequency in the last several years. Listing only some of the talks, e.g. the most recent and the most prestigious invited ones, is mostly a matter of focusing the attention of committees that might be looking at the CV. Contrary to Popper's grandson's suggestion that removing talks is due to embarrassment, none of my past talks embarrass me. I just don't want that portion of my CV to be that long.