Emily. If that is a recent pic of you in your avatar, I would just get a trim to even things up a bit and slick it back for the conferance. In two months all you are gonna add is approxamately 1 inch give or take and it's not too long for a male hairstyle now. Or at least here in the States its not. I definately wouldn't give up 6 months of work for a 40 minute speech.