(Mine was "selected" from submitted abstracts, although because I doubted this approach would garner me a speaking slot, I leaned on GradAdvisor to write an email to the conference organizer encouraging him to select me, which she did and he did.)
Emotions:
1) Happy happy happy!
2) Vomitorious anxiety.
I know there are people out there who delight in public speaking, who waltz to the podium with confidence and joy in their hearts, but those people are mysteries to me. I dread it. I have clammy palms right now thinking about it. Several days before the talk, my stomach will start churning when I think about it. Hours before the talk, there will be so much adrenaline in my bloodstream that the talk, delivered in a squeaky wiggly register, will pass in a haze for me, as will the rest of the day. (This was my experience at my thesis defense, although people who attended assured me that I didn't come across as particularly nervous. Still, that was a home audience, not like this Important Conference of Nature Paperers. Also, at my defense I calmed down a bit after 10-15 min in, while this talk will be all of 10' itself, not leaving me much window....)
You might ask, Dr. Jekyll, if giving talks scares you so much, why are you such a bonehead as to apply--nay, to petition--to speak at this conference? Well, success in science is (beyond the whole labwork thing) partly dependent on publicizing your work at seminars. So I need to start getting myself out there, and what's more I need to overcome talk anxiety.
Also, I have a cool story and I want the whole field to hear about it. I'd skywrite it, if I didn't think the graph legends would lose a little clarity.
So. I have a few months to prep the talk (10 min) and near-memorize the spiel. What advice do you have for alleviating talk
16 comments:
(1) w00t!!!!!
(2) Everyone is nervous giving a talk. Some hide it better than others.
(3) A ten-minute talk is the hardest of any to give effectively. Vastly harder than a 20-minute, 30-minute, or 45-minute talk.
(4) Don't memorize your talk! Practice it a lot, but make sure you are speaking somewhat extemporaneously. Otherwise, you will come across as an automaton.
(5) Do not expect to be able to make more than one single substantive point. Decide on one fact, finding, or principle you want your audience to come away with, and then focus solely in that one thing.
Congrats! Getting a talk accepted is very exciting. Whenever you're nervous, try taking two or three deep even breaths where you consciously keep equal the duration of the inhale and exhale. Regular breathing helps calm the nervous system.
Another approach is to maybe consciously think about why you are nervous; often, the opposite of a worry is just as (or more) likely to be true. If being wrong in public worries you, it seems more likely (in my experience) that you're totally right. Perhaps consider starting a separate non-anonymous scientific blog to get some practice speaking and interacting with an open audience? (At least most public speaking engagements aren't archived in the interweb!)
Congrats Dr. J!
As usual, PP has covered most of the good points.
I'll add that I had terrible 'stage fright' but always managed to give really good talks---my trick was to take myself out of the equation, for the most part. I focused on the fact that the cool science needed to be presented as best as possible, that people are always rooting to see good data and hear a good talk---so they're on your side. I was always fairly confident of my subject, and was never afraid of admitting ignorance---so it wasn't that hard to fool my brain into ignoring the other personal aspects of speaking.
Wow, AWESOME!
PP about covered it- 10 minutes is just not very long- so you are going to have to have very succinct slides and practice, practice, practice. Practice with a timer, practice with an audience, practice to an empty room out loud- but Don't write a script- and don't memorize.
For calming the nervousness- I always know exactly, precisely what I am going to say for the first 2-3 slides- because if I can just play the tape- it gives me a chance to overcome my nervousness- at which point I a relaxed enough to just give the rest of the talk.
I had a couple of posts about job talks- you will have to ignore the comments about timing and stuff specific to job search- because 10 minute talks are very very tough- but there were some general comments in these posts that you might find useful:
http://bluelabcoats.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/unsolicited-advice-job-search-pt-8/#more-71
http://bluelabcoats.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/unsolicited-advice-job-search-pt-9/
Ooops. Sorry, I haven't yet figured out how to put links in comments.. those posts can be found under the job search category (I think they are Pt. 8 and Pt. 9)
Very exciting! Congrats, and I'm totally impressed that you're willing to go to great lengths to do something you're not comfortable with.
Also, I have a cool story and I want the whole field to hear about it. I'd skywrite it, if I didn't think the graph legends would lose a little clarity.
That's the greatest thing I've heard. I'm so going to steal it.
Way to go, Dr. J!! That is awesome, not just because you will get to talk about your cool data, but also because you put in extra effort to grab the opportunity.
Like drdrA said, having the 1st few sentences of your talk down is helpful because then you don't have to think about what to say in that first terrorizing moment when you have the floor. Shoot for fewer slides rather than more (maybe 5-6), since you don't want to feel rushed.
If you still feel nervous, think about how cool your data are!
No advice really, just wanted to say thank you for posting this. I'm a first-year grad student and I really want to stay in science, but I have the same public-speaking-itis symptoms, and I was worried that that might mean that it would be difficult for me to be a scientist. So it's nice to know that other people feel the same way.
I practice talking to the wall a lot, and I like to make my slides beautiful - that calms me down. But no real advice. Did you have any advice though about dealing with public speaking/trying to improve as a grad student when you felt that way?
Congrats!!!
I just gave a 10 min talk at an international conference a few weeks ago and it was probably the hardest talk I've had to prepare for because it's so damn short!
PP's and drdra's advice is always awesome...that's where I got advice before giving mine (and I won an award--so they rock!)
I always get exceptionally nervous before giving a talk...but once I was up there I just got excited about presenting the cool data (I did have the first few slides memorized--I hate presenting intros) & it sounds as though you could probably rely on the cool data excitement too--yay!
Congrats! I think you'll do perfectly fine.
Especially after reading the good advice and knowing that you will be prepared. That is the most important part - good prepared slides so you know the "way of the talk".
And I think I would like to stress one of PPs points once again: it is so short that you are most likely only going to be able to make ONE point. And it never hurts to repeat it a lot of times. Even if you feel like a parrot stuck in "repeat" remember that they haven't heard the data before, they don't know your stuff as well as you do so repetition and "driving the message through" is key.
and congrats again! Fun times, yet a little terrifying of course but otherwise you wouldn't get the adrenaline afterwards....
Thanks all. DrdrA's posts are here:
Part 8 and here Part 9.
(DrdrA: to include these in a comment, type < followed by a href="bloglinkhere"> then text to be linked, then /a enclosed in pointy brackets.
Re memorizing: I find that if I practice even a long talk enough times (say, 5 or 6), I have more or less memorized what I want to say. So memorization is almost inevitable for a short talk like this--because I always want to hit specific points in certain ways, to maximize the chance they'll get across. The best I can do is keep my tone conversational, but I am still basically delivering a script.
But everyone's advice on taking myself out of the equation and focusing on the data is useful....
Dr. J.-
Thanks and I'll try that for the links... so much of this blogging thing is on the job training!
One more thing about talks- well 2 things really..
First- you are right about the fact that when you practice enough you will have the 'script' memorized, but you will also know where there is leeway, and have practiced different expressions for the same point... so the words can and will come out differently every time.
Second, another thing that I realize that I do that helps me quite a bit (and I was actually out giving a talk last week when I realized that I do this)- is to pick out a person in the audience- its usually the one that's sitting there nodding their head at everything I say - and focus on that person from time to time. Something about that assurance that someone is getting it and being able to connect with a particular face can really help calm nerves...
One final thing- I want to give credit to the person who has patiently listened to every talk that I have given, and has given me mountains of advice about public speaking. That person is my husband- he is, without a doubt one of the best public speakers on science that I have ever heard. Most things that I know about this and am trying to pass on to you all- I learned in some part from his fine example.
Ok, that was me that left that previous comment, the silly comment-thingy wouldn't let me enter my name/url... ??
Sorry!
Practice, practice, practice
Get feedback from trusted colleagues well in advance
Remember that of all the people in the room, YOU are THE world expert on your work.
Smile! And then drink lots when you're done.
...pick out a person in the audience- its usually the one that's sitting there nodding their head at everything I say - and focus on that person from time to time.
Better yet, shift from person to person around the room (especially the back!) and make eye contact with one person per point. Fixating on a single face (usually the big shot you're most anxious about) freaks out that person and alienates everyone else.
As for memorization, I find it helpful to have an underlying memorized script so that if I blank or wander, I can jump back to it. As long as you have genuine enthusiasm about your work (which you obviously do) it won't come across as robotic.
as an old advisor, here are my comments.
Do not overpractice/learn it all by heart. It will drive you nuts. Learning the first few sentences might help if you're easily nervous.
Do practice in front of someone whose talking style you have high regard for. Practice at an early stage, and get honest feedback. Repeat until necessary.
Shorter talks are way harder the long ones, but having a good result to talk about makes it easier... so remind yourself all the time how good your work is, and be proud of yourself!
Plan on something nonessential you can skip towards the end if you find yourself going slower than you think. You don't want to miss the punchline!
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