Mary Kate Alexander (mca at princeton.edu) writes
> All this talk lately of preparing students/postdocs for aggressive
> questioners at seminars is making me a bit nervous. I'll be giving a
> talk for the first time in about three weeks, at a very large meeting
> (Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, at University of Maryland). So
> far, my public speaking has been limited to presentations within my own
> department. In addition, this will be my first time attending a
> scientific meeting. Do any of you have some words of wisdom for
> beginning speakers?
Mary Kate: The YGM is a GREAT place to give your first talk! (It
was my first meeting presentation many moons ago.....) It
is a big meeting, yes, but lots of junior people talk, and everyone is
very positive and supportive and forgiving of any errors. (Would that
more meetings were like that!) I know it's difficult,but you should try
to relax before your talk and yes, enjoy it. (Speaking is a bit like
doing a high school play--scary but fun at the same time. If you
can connect with that theatrical aspect of it, it can help.)
Everyone is there because they are interested in what you are
saying and they want to learn from you and it is a friendly audience.
The BEST THING is to practice, practice, practice your talk
so that you know you have it down--at least a couple run throughs WITHOUT
notes but with slides. Remember that you can almost never find where
you are in your notes if you lose your place in a talk, so learn
to use your slides as cues for content if not exact wording.
(The southern blot slide means I tell them
about the disruption....)
And practice it before other people so that they can
tell you where you should slow down or any
other tips. Before your session, go up to the podium and make sure you
understand the pointer and the slide system, etc, so you won't have
to fumble with it. Also introduce yourself to your session chair if you
don't know him/her already. And try to pay attention to the talk before
yours so you don't worry about yours so much...if you've prepared
(and you will), then you don't need to cram.
You will do fine.
--
-susan
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