| Attending a conference | |
|
Selecting appropriate conferences to attend and/or present at |
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| Running a symposium | |
| Planning for attending a conference | After the conference |
Functions served by conferences:
Selecting appropriate conferences to attend and/or present at
Writing a proposal for a conference presentation
Differences between conferences
Each conference has its own content focus, presentation style (papers are read verbatim, papers are "talked through"),presentation format (individual papers, symposium, round table, poster session, a mix of formats), modal presentation medium (slides, overhead transparencies, computer projection, paper handouts, distribution of papers ahead of time or at the conference), presentation time length, question and answer protocol (during the talk, after the talk, never), etc. Ask someone who's been there before if you're going to plan to go or to propose a presentation.
Hints specific to the AERA (American Educational Research Association) conference
Conference presentation format status hierarchy: invited talk -> symposium -> round tables -> poster sessions
To raise the probability of getting your paper accepted if you're a junior person relatively unknown in the field (a graduate student or new faculty member or otherwise a novice in the field):
The organizer gets to set the order of papers, so "sandwich" your paper in between the two most famous people, so "session-hoppers" won't hop out of your presentation
- organize a symposium, where your paper is one paper and the other papers are relevant to yours, but by more famous people in the field
- get famous people in the domain to be the discussant and the chair of your proposed symposium
If there is a very exciting speaker, don't schedule yourself right afterwards (don't want to follow a "hard act to follow")
AERA proposals need to feature data; AERA proposals are improved if a theoretical framework exists.
Symposium proposals are improved if there is an "organizing framework" for the group of papers in the symposium (they don't all have to follow the same theoretical framework - some can follow opposing frameworks, where the organizing principle for the symposium is "compare and contrast")
If you're a relative novice, contact people to participate relatively early. The AERA deadline is around the first of August - contact people in June. Contact the person most likely to agree first, then when you contact the second person, mention that the first person has agreed and mention the others to be contacted, etc.
Hints specific to NECC (National Educational Computer Conference)
NECC has a mix of precollege and higher education folks - proposals that span those audiences are more likely to be accepted
NECC proposals are more likely to be accepted if they have some "practical" point for the audience (that is, not purely research or evaluation)
Planning for attending a conference
Selecting sessions
Pacing: make sure you don't try to attend too many conference presentations during the first couple days of the conference without any breaks. If you do, you'll find that you may get "conference burnout", where you find yourself attending really interesting, relevant conferences sessions but have trouble focusing on what's being presented.
Be careful about showing your schedule: you might be embarrassed if someone sees your schedule and asks why their presentation isn't on your schedule :-)
Give yourself a time buffer before any presentations you make
Plan eating opportunities: good food and good talk at the same time
Be aware of organizational or company-sponsored receptions and other eating/meeting opportunities - at many conferences, a graduate student can "graze" at enough of these receptions to be able to skip the cost of dinner each day.
Conference buddies and conference groups (dividing up the labor): many of the big conferences have scores of parallel sessions, and you'll often find yourself torn between several relevant sessions all scheduled at the same time. One way to deal with this is to divide up the labor with friends or colleagues, with you going to one session and others going to the others, then everyone sharing their notes later.
Pacing - avoid burnout, space out presentation attendance with talking to others informally, with exhibit hall visits, with just plain conference "down-time" as you take in the attractions of the conference site
Importance of informal time - hallway time between sessions, meals, downtime
Learning from others: When talking to people during the conference, ask if they've attended any interesting sessions - this broadens your "antenna" for detecting what presentations to follow-up after the conference is over.
Receptions: Be aware of organizational or company-sponsored receptions and other eating/meeting opportunities - at many conferences, a graduate student can "graze" at enough of these receptions to be able to skip the cost of dinner each day.
The exhibit hall: a typical large conference has an exhibit hall, with booths representing the major publishers, software companies, and other entities in the field represented by the conference. A visit or two to the exhibit hall makes a nice break from the conference sessions.
Practice talks: it is critical to give practice talks before giving one at a conference - it helps to get the pacing right (you don't want to be only half way through your talk when the chair person signals that your time is up!).
Differences between conferences
Hints specific to AERA
- talks are typically a sequence of overhead transparencies that you talk through
- some talks use PowerPoint or other computer projection instead - having "backup" transparencies is often wise.
- time limitations are taken very seriously -- don't run over your alloted time or you will alienate the following speakers, the chair and discussant, and the audience
- questions are typically taken at the end of a session, to avoid having the later presenters run out of time - this may change as as more and more presenters bring their own laptops to use for presentation creating a gap between presentations as the next presenter connects their laptop to a shared projector (or, some cases, sets up both their own laptop and their own projector). This gap is increasingly filled by allowing questions to be asked of the previous presenter until the next presenter is ready to go
- handouts can be passed out before a session, right before a presentation (if you have someone to hand them out for you), or given out at the end of a session
Hints specific to NECC
- talks are typically a sequence of PowerPoint or other computer projection slides that you talk through
- questions are typically taken at the end of a session. This may change, as more and more presenters bring their own laptops, and so there is a gap between presentations as the next presenter connects their laptop to a shared projector (or, some cases, sets up both their own laptop and their own projector). This gap is increasingly filled by allowing questions to be asked of the previous presenter until the next presenter is ready to go.
- handouts can be passed out before a session, right before a presentation (if you have someone to hand them out for you), or given out at the end of a session
Handouts: include the title, the main points, and contact info.
Arrive early - set up any equipment, try out your presentation media
Right before your presentation starts: verifying that your presentation shows properly - use a title slide, and look at the projection to see that it is focused and centered. Then face the audience for the rest of your talk.
Face the audience rather than the screen when using either overhead transparencies or computer projections (see projections hints below):
Projection hints:
If using an overhead projector
you can talk while facing the audience if you stand near the projector and see what you're projecting by looking at the transparency instead of looking at the screen
you can point to an area of the projection by pointing (with a finger or with a pencil or pen) to the spot on the transparency (and the shadow serves as the pointer) and still face the audience rather turning your back on the audience
If using a computer and computer projector
you can talk while facing the audience if you stand near the computer and see what you're projecting by looking at the computer screen instead of the projection screen
you can point while facing the audience if you use the mouse pointer instead of turning your back on the audience and pointing toward the projection screen
Don't put too much on a slide or transparency.
Carefully choose color combinations to provide high contrast for text and graphics.
Carefully choose animation and other motion effects to add to your point rather than to distract (if there is no relationship between the motion and the point of the slide, then the animation is distracting and should be deleted).
Handling questions
There are many reasons why people ask questions during a presentation (and that's why you shouldn't take hostile questions necessarily as a personal attack):
- some ask questions because they want to know the answer
- some ask questions because they want to make a point
- some ask questions to grab the spotlight and impress others in the audience
- some ask questions to see if you know the answer
- some ask questions to see how you handle questions (and pressure)
- some ask questions to make you look bad (in a job talk, for instance, they'll ask you hard questions to raise the chances of another candidate they favor over you)
- some ask questions to attack your theoretical framework or methodology
- some ask questions that are in fact a personal attack (but only rarely, depending, of course, on who you are :-)
Tactics for dealing with questions that you don't know the answer to
- delay and defer
- stall: "that's a good question..."
- re-question: "can you clarify what you mean?"
- re-state: "Is this what you are asking?" [then restate the question]
- If you don't have a good answer after these delaying tactics, defer: "let's talk about that after my talk"
Keeping control of your talk Q&A: if one person keeps asking the same or different questions, eventually cut them off ("Let's talk about that in more detail after the talk."), and call on others.
Don't apologize in advance: don't comment on spelling/grammatical/other mechanical errors in presentation -- most of the audience won't notice UNLESS you apologize. :-)
At the end of your presentation while answering questions, leave up a contact info slide containing your name, email, address, and web site URL related to the talk (if you have one).
After your presentation session:
If you are fortunate enough to get your symposium proposal accepted, be sure to notify the other participants, so that they can make plans to attend. You can remind them at that point about conference and hotel and travel deadlines. Let them know how much time they will have for their presentation or discussant time.
Remind them to get their papers to the discussant (if there is one) at the appropriate time and give them the discussant's address and preferred mode of delivery.
It is sometimes nice to arrange for a gathering of the symposium (for lunch or dinner) at the conference shortly before the symposium. That way, everyone has a chance to talk before hand, and agreements can be reached on exactly how to run the symposium.
You should arrange for a "timekeeper" to sit in the audience in the front row right in front of the speakers, with signs that indicate 5 minutes left, 1 minute left, and "STOP". If the speaker ignores the "STOP" sign, you should ask the Chair to intervene to stop the speaker.
Remind the Chair of when it is time to start the symposium, if the time comes and the Chair hasn't already started it.
Follow-up: identify those presentations that you found interesting, and send authors requests for the papers.
If you are an author, you may get requests for your paper - you can either xerox and mail, or you can put your paper on the Web and email or mail the URL.
Revise your paper on the basis of feedback from conference.
Think about where to submit it for publication.
Last updated:
May 8, 2002
Please send feedback to: Jim
Levin <j-levin@uiuc.edu>