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DP

Thanks for the advice Siwee. They were established academics - there is something coming up I could possibly ask if they'd like to get involved with, but it's all up in the air at the moment and I'm not sure how long it'll be until I could invite anyone. I think for the moment I will just thank them for their comments - as you say, try and make sure they remember me for the future! I just wanted to check that this was the norm and they won't think I'm being a big creep...I'm very inexperienced at 'networking' (ugh) and have only started to realise how important it is.

If you meet somebody at a conference and they've given you some useful advice, or you've found out you have similiar research interests, is it normal to send a quick e-mail afterwards saying, I don't know, thanks and it was nice to meet you? Or will it look like I'm just trying to suck up to them? I am, of course, but would like it to be in a less transparent manner.

Cheers

Big thanks to everyone who helped me out,

My paper was today. It began terribly- I was late! But I recovered, and I'm pleased to say it went really well. The lady whose work I used in my paper said after I'd given it that it was really interesting and fruitful and we had lunch together afterwards. My head of dept also came up and said it was excellent and as another PhDer in my dept pointed out, he doesn't give praise often! I chaired a panel after that which went fine and I even coped when my sup asked me to stand up at the end of the day during the closing comments and make some off the cuff remarks 8-)

Sorry for blatant showing off but I'm most pleased with myself, and best of all I will get some sleep tonight! : D

Merci mes amis...

Thanks a lot guys- and good point, Slizor ;-)

I've presented at conferences before, and I teach, and I know, objectively speaking, that I'll be fine. It just never seems to get any less scary for me! Ach, two days of 'the terrors' and it'll be over and I'll start scouting round for my next one, like the gluttons for punishment we all are : )

Course you can join in Mathkitty! I've read of people on this forum who have finished their PhD in much less time than 20 months, so I'm sure you can do it. This little thread has helped me a lot over the past couple of months, I hope it works for you too.

My supervisor has organized a conference which is taking place tomorrow and Saturday. Glancing down the list of speakers I've just realised that about 50- 60% are established, published academics - I don't have a good grasp for names and I recognized most of them straight away. In the nick of time I realised that I have mentioned one of the people on my panel, and one of the other speakers, in my paper (Luckily I was being complimentary in both cases!). So it appears that my sup has done me, 1 year and 4 months into a PhD, a big favour here by letting me present.

I'm one part chuffed to two parts terrfied at the moment. I'm not a confident person at the best of times and although I'm slowly getting better I'm not a very good public speaker. Not really looking for advice here, just perhaps any of you who have had a similiar experiences and how you found it? In fact I'm sure you've all spoken at big conferences millions of times but please humour me!

Mine goes rubbish even quicker than that Bug. Usually I'll wash it at night so I don't have to blow dry in the morning. So say I washed it on Monday night, on Tuesday it would be fine but by Wednesday it would be greasy :$ Instead of washing it every day, which I used to, I use dry shampoo on alternate days which works well :-)

Poor Superman, all you wanted was a clipboard!

My mum still seems to think I'm 15 (I think parents get an impression of you at a certain age and stick with it for the rest of your life. When my step-dad came to see my new flat he was astounded that it's clean and tidy- 'but you were so messy as a teenager!') so most of the presents I get are pink and fluffy- pink socks, pink pyjamas, a pink mobile phone holder in the shape of a stiletto... My brother always gets me books, which I'm thankful for, so I got a hard back book about the history of the English language. But my most geek-tastic present was a portable external hard drive from my dad. On my birthday I got a laptop and last christmas I got some kind of high-tech memory stick...

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======= Date Modified 12 04 2010 12:04:12 =======
Hello,

Sorry, a very vague and meandering rant coming up. When I went to stay with my dad over christmas my stepmother's parents came to visit. My dad picked me up from the station and told me on the way to his house that he had told his father in law that I am doing a PhD. His response was 'Another one not producing then'. A few days ago I read in the paper that scientists expect to find some form of life on other planets within the next five days. Surely this would be an incredible find and would create explosive and valuable debates about science, religion, philosophy, ethics? But no, the first comment at the end of the article was 'Why are they wasting all this money searching for life elsewhere whilst we can't cope with two inches of snow here?'
I study English literature and I often find that people are completely bemused by what I do. It seems that any career which doesn't involve selling things or produce immediately tangible benefits is seen as entirely pointless by the majority of people in this country. Studying history or art or philosophy or sociology or science just because you want to THINK about things and have a deeper understanding of how the world works is apparantly just a waste of time.
I realise I'm coming across as a blustering old fool here but I needed to get this out!

Thanks for the advice Poppy, I will do that.

I know, bless my supervisor, he's very kind generally but I think he doles extra bits out now and then to keep me interested. Like a dog with treats!

First a bit of showing off- I'm presenting a conference this weekend and sent my paper to my sup to have a look and he's said it's 'fascinating', and 'very appropriate and well structured'. Those 6, fairly innocuous, words equal the best feedback I've had in nearly a half and a half since I started my PhD so I am over the moon!
Apologies for that, but I know nobody in the real world would understand the significance of such meager titbits :$ Anyway, he has suggested some changes to wording and has inserted his comments into the original paper. Considering he's going to be at the conference listening to it, do you think it's ok to just use what he has changed, or do I need to put it into my own words?

Cheers

Bug, we all know how hard you work! Hope your data analysis went well Satchi. I have to admit, the Jungle Book is a lot more fun than Kim but I probably shouldn't say that 8-)
Last week's:
1) Have draft of conference paper to show to sup on Thursday. I realise I've been banging on about this for ages but the 16th is D-Day so I really must have this done!! DONE
2) Meet with others to discuss conference grant on Wednesday. Have list of hotels prepared beforehand, and some ideas for timeline. Is this week!
3) Have read 'Kim'. DONE
4) Have transferred all dates into the lovely diary my flatmate bought me for xmas DONE

5) Have finished 'Troilus and Criseyde' DONE

This week:
1) Read sup's comments on paper, adjust as necessary, paractice reading out loud and present at conference on Saturday.
2) Meet to talk about conference grant- is actually happening this week!
3) Go to MPP guidance session and teacher training day
4) Briefly research Kim for class and re-read Heart of Darkness
5) Read Troilus and Cressida (play)