The Academic Job Search Handbook

6. Conference Presentations and Networking

Chapter 6 Conference Presentations and Networking Conferences and conventions are a major means of scholarly communication . They also provide an opportunity to meet people who can hire you or refer you to others who can. By the time you are an advanced graduate student, if not before, you should begin to participate in these meetings, which are an important means of communication in your discipline. As you near the end of your graduate work and enter the job market, conferences begin to play a more formal role in your job search. They may offer a job placement service or give you an opportunity to gain favorable exposure through presenting a paper, and they always give you a way to network informally with others. You should almost certainly plan to attend the national meeting of the major association in your field in the year you are on the job market. If you can arrange to give a paper or participate in a poster session, try to do so. Presentations Each field has its own style for the delivery of presentations. If you are delivering a conference paper for the first time, ask your department what to expect and how to be prepared for it. In addition, check with your professional association to see whether it provides guidelines that help you answer the following questions. Mode of Delivery • Do you sit or stand? • Do you speak from notes or read a paper? • Do you answer questions at a ‘‘poster session’’? • How formally are papers presented? Is any form of humor ever appropriate ? Conference Presentations and Networking 37 • How long will you have to speak? • Will there be questions from the audience? Will there be a moderator? Presentation Aids • Should you prepare handouts? • Should you use slides or PowerPoint? • How large should a poster be? • Will you be able to project images from a computer? If so, will it have Internet access? Practice your presentation before you offer it. If you can give a departmental seminar, so much the better, but, in any case, deliver the talk to an audience that will give you feedback. If you will use materials in your presentation, include them in your practice session so that you are thoroughly comfortable handling them. Ask your colleagues to question the vulnerable points in your thesis so that you can practice challenges to them. As you practice, make sure to speak loudly enough to be heard, look at your audience, and speak rapidly enough to hold your audience’s attention but slowly enough that they can understand you. Your materials should look as professional as you can make them. Design them with plenty of white space and keep content away from the outer edges so that they are easy to read. Don’t cram too much information onto one slide. For text, use a font that is easy to see and make sure it is large enough for emeritus faculty in the back of the room to read. Check to make sure that materials when projected are clear from a distance. Your campus almost certainly has individuals who are expert in graphic presentation . Seek them out and use their help. On the other hand, don’t let graphics overtake your message. Visual and oral presentations should reinforce each other. The point of both is to communicate clearly and well, while maintaining the interest of the audience . Your presentation style, oral or on the screen, should never get in the way of the information. If you choose to use handouts, know their content very well. For example, if you use citations in a handout your audience might ask you in-depth questions about them. Also, know that some people might spend the entire presentation time reading over the handouts and not focusing on what you have to say. Consider carefully whether or not handouts will enhance your presentation. Networking Conferences vary in size according to your field, but they always offer you an opportunity to meet more people in your discipline in one place than you can ever encounter elsewhere. Even if they are not hiring, they are a 38 Planning and Timing Your Search source of potential information about their institutions, their departments, and their research. They may share information or remember you when you later apply to their departments; they may be people you can later contact for information. But how do you meet them? Here are some...