What’s the point of invited talks? Imagine a post-pandemic world where we can travel. You’re invited to give a talk at a university. You would present your research in front of room of faculty and grad students, have numerous one-on-one meetings, and go to lunch or dinner with some folks. Why should you go?

As the presenter, what are the goals of invited talks? How should I understand my objectives during these visits?

I’ve heard the saying that “Every talk is a job talk.” So I would treat these visits with a degree of seriousness and focus as if these folks were considering hiring me. But aside from that high bar for seriousness, what other reasons/attitudes do people approach invited talks with?

I see some possible reasons: Stay current on what people in my field are working on. Increase the visibility and impact of my research. Cultivate relationships with potential tenure letter writers. Brainstorm around potential research collaborations. What else? Why should one travel around to give talks at universities?

I’m a junior faculty member in the social sciences, and I recognize that some specifics vary by field and career stage, but I’m sure some lessons are broadly applicable.
As someone who has given a fair number of talks and has now had the "pleasure" of giving an online talk, I can say that the advantages of in-person talks include the following.


You can have informal chats with people from the audience. One of the main problems of online chatrooms is that there usually can be only one discussion at the same time. This precludes informal chats like this because no one wants to monopolize the only communication channel. Also there is a whole paraphernalia around talks, you go to lunch with interested people or whatever and can have more talks. If you're really treating them as job talks, then you want to talk about stuff other than research with people. Departments don't want to hire people who cannot integrate well; being someone that is pleasant to be around is a big plus, and you can't prove that if you just come, give your talk, and leave.
(In the same vein, giving a talk in person is the opportunity to visit the university/department and see if you'd enjoy working there.)
If it's a conference (i.e. >1 people come to talk) then you can meet the other presenters. It may be a nice way to meet people who have the same research interests as you. Also sometimes a good way to arrange meetings with existing collaborators who work far away.
You can meet people who don't come to your talk. Sometimes people are busy and aren't free at the precise time of your talk, but you can run across them in some corridor or something and talk with them. And somehow the busiest people are the ones you often want to meet, for obvious reasons. Maybe the department's big shot has ten meetings that day, but you can still catch her for ten minutes and leave a good impression.
Usually around the talk I would have long conversations with some people (usually the one who invites me) about our respective current research. Sometimes this can even lead to collaborations. It's hard to do online because this sort of discussion is "open ended" in some sense: you just talk about whatever goes through your head at that moment. I don't think anyone would consciously schedule an online conversation to do this, but it's extremely valuable.
People are apparently afraid to ask questions during talks. During a normal talk I usually have lots of questions during and after; at my online talk and the ones I've witnessed, much fewer questions are asked.
Giving an online talk is just awkward. Not many people enable their webcam, and nobody other than the presenter has their mic on. It's very difficult to know if your audience is reacting positively or negatively to what you're saying. It's very destabilizing.
There are also technical things. Having pre-prepared slides is good, but there is always some moment where you want to write something more on the board that you hadn't thought of, or some picture, or some motion you want to show off using your hands. It's difficult with an online talk.
Lastly, and some people may not want to openly admit this because it's a bit selfish, but if you enjoy traveling and visiting new cities, being invited to do it is always nice.


Of course a lot of this is a bit on you. I was once an insecure PhD student, and I tended to just stay hidden in my hotel room the night before, in the guest office if they had one the day of the talk, give my talk, not dare talk to anyone, and leave. Don't do that. Take advantage of the fact that you're there in person.

I would say that the only advantage of online talks is the ease of planning. As someone who also organizes a weekly research seminar, inviting someone is now as simple as shooting them an email. The other person just has to think about whether they want to give a talk that day or not. No travel to think about, no hotel no expense reimbursements, no administrative hurdles, no nothing.