Conference paper woes

[ossamenta]

A few days ago I was linked to a post on academic conference etiquette, which in turn linked to a post on conference rules. I thought they could be very useful, since this will be my first talk at a "proper" conference. Some things were obvious, such as practice your talk beforehand and don't overrun your time slot. Although I got a bit worried when they said that a 20 minute talk (check) would equal 10-12 full A4 pages. I have three... Admittedly, both pages seem to run under the assumption that you will write your talk and then read what you've written - something I'm not so keen on, as it doesn't captivate the audience, especially if it's a topic they're not very interested in. The better talks I've heard have been people using notes and keywords rather than a full text, which is the method I'm planning to use. I haven't "read" it out loud yet, hopefully tomorrow when I've got most of the images for the powerpoint set up. I've got the slot just before lunch, so I figure that if I'm a couple of minutes short people will probably not mind too much. But I better not end up with a five minute talk and twenty minutes for questions!

I still can't find some images I want to use. Department of "I know I have seen such an image somewhere (during the 17 years I've studied archaeology)" is not very helpful.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I've done several conference presentations now, some smaller ones like the APWG and others larger like the AEA. I never use a script. It doesn't suit my style as it encourages me to read too fast and then it gets faster and faster and horrible to listen to. Plus, as others have mentioned, script readers often look down and mumble. They don't engage with the audience.

I prefer to use notes, either bullet points of small chunks of text broken up that I then talk around. This makes sure that I mention key things, but keeps my reading speed to a proper level and also that I look up and make eye contact with the audience.

I would say definitely practice and time it. Do this several times as nerves on the day itself will probably make you go a little faster anyway. So allow for that. And don't over-run because some conferences will cut you off if you try to so you risk losing the opportunity to make certain points.

Stephanie Vann

[ossamenta]

Thanks for the advice. I can sympathise with the too fast reading speed. I speak fast normally, and when I get nervous it easily gets faster (body: "This is rather uncomfortable. I know: if we speed up the talking, it will be over sooner! What an awesome idea!")