Yes. In some fields it is known that there are research groups that are dedicated to mining the conferences for ideas that can be quickly finished and published. The grad student who gets "scooped" is at a disadvantage because they have a variety of duties, including teaching, plus they are still getting up to speed on their technique.

Students are advised to withhold their best ideas from conferences.

My spouse is in a field like this, and "so-and-so got scooped today" is a not unfamiliar dinner table conversation.

For my PhD, I was lucky that my project required a huge pile of expensive and rather unique equipment, plus I really did have a skill advantage for the work I was doing. Two other labs replicated my work using the plans that I supplied to them, but I made sure that I got there first.