As regular attendees at the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) Conference, the authors enjoyed interacting with the highly relevant study by Diane Chapman and her colleagues (Chapman, Wiessner, Morton, Fire, Jones, & Majekodunmi, 2009). In the study, they use several theoretical tools to understand the learning experiences of doctoral students at a professional conference. In the authors' view, the concept of the "learning organization" serves as a foundation for the creation of new knowledge at conferences. "Communities of practice" and the idea of "legitimate peripheral participation" represent the process that occurs at conferences. "Knowledge creation" is the outcome of these events. The authors concluded that an additional tool, social network analysis, could help to expand these ideas further. In this reaction article, the authors explain how the tools of social network analysis might be used to enhance their understanding of doctoral student participation in scholarly conferences. As formation of developmental relationships is central to the purpose of scholarly conferences such as AHRD, the authors argue that it is worth exploring the ties that doctoral students might develop in these conferences through the lens of Social Network Theory.