Dressing, communication styles, etc.

[matkisso at opal.tufts.edu]

In article <3219FD4D.82D at salk.edu>, S L Forsburg <forsburg at salk.edu> writes:
> 
> My advice:  if you are developing a style, choose showy--you'll be
> much better off.  
> 
> feeling cynical,
> susan

Finding the balance of style and substance is difficult.  I really hate overly
flashy talks that tell just _too_ good a story.  I don't trust them.  On the
other hand you have to do a certain amount of horn-blowing (and sometimes
'entertaining').

There's a post-doc in my advisor's lab who has done some pretty amazing work
showing specificity in G-protein beta-gamma subunit effects.  In the test tube,
many of the dimer combinations do the same thing, but in a single cell assay 
she can see clear specificity.  She neglected to mention this in her practice 
talk.  She gave the data on the specific actions, but didn't say that no one 
had ever been able to show this before.  

This post-doc seems to prefer to give calm, logical talks, but mentioning this 
kind of thing doesn't put you in the realm of "showy".  If you weren't in the
field (and most of your audience usually won't be), you wouldn't know how cool
the data really are.

Peg.  (Back from a summer course at Woods Hole!)