According to a recent Insider Higher Ed post there are two potential ‘oratory personas’ that graduate students and early career researchers tend to adopt at conferences – one is “like a contestant on a game show with no reward but to avoid public humiliation” and the other is “a verbal Pollock painting, some method but mostly mess”.
The post goes on to offer some top tips for early career researchers who are planning to attend a conference, from finding a suitable conference on which to spend your precious time, effort and funding resources, right through to presenting your paper at the actual event. Many of the tips will seem like ‘common sense’ although it’s often the obvious things that people tend to spend less time worrying about and therefore ultimately overlook.
Perhaps the most useful part is the section on preparing the presentation which highlights some of the features of writing for oral presentation rather than for publication. It also has some tips on avoiding the problem of your listeners’ attention being on your slides rather than you.
To read the full post, go to: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2010/11/03/angelini
Research Staff Blog 