Ask for a further extension. In one way, I can understand the actions of your supervisor, as it looks bad on him. But equally, if he has not been much help, then it's very hard to complete. You should explain this to him.

Contact the funding body, and ask for a further 6 mths to complete, and set out the reasons why you were not able to complete the last time.

Get the PhD submitted asap, and if it's no good, then you can get it thrown back for a re-write.

Sorry..that should read "submit a research proposal to gain a PhD place".

God damn editing facility - where is it?

Try giving him/her a general outline of your thesis. You must have some idea what you're doing as you would have needed to submit a research proposal to the PhD place.

While your supervisor should be in the same field as yourself, he/she will not necessarily know your subject directly.

What subject is your PhD in?

mihitif, have you provided your supervisor with some written work? This often gets the ball rolling.

What adlag says it very good advice. Practice in front of a small group, or even just one person. It's surprising how this can help, and ask for their feedback too. They'll pick up on stuff that you didn't realise sounded wrong or unclear.

I really hate presentations, and get terribly nervous. But when I'm actually doing the presenting, I love it! (strange?!).

Hmmm...it is quite a nasty place on here. One would almost think people didn't have anything better to do but post antagonistic comments.

Intellectually mature, but emotionally immature, springs to mind.

Yep...practice, practice and practice your presentation. If you know you can confidently reel off your presentation, it makes life much easier.

It's remarkable how many people walk onto a stage and just read off notes without making hardly any eye contact with the audience.

As for pre-presenting nerves, keep your mind busy on something else. Don't sit and stew over your presentation.

If you're really, really nervous, take some valium.

I think my previous post has been deleted - concerning improvement/alternative forums (obviously this is a commercial site, so fair enough).

On that note, my suggestions:
- PMs
- Having a more traditional forum interface - eg. like proboards, so one can see all the different categories in one glance, and also see new threads.
- Not having the ability to look at a posters history - on this type of site it's good to keep some privacy.
- I suppose in some ways a profile facility would be good - but most wouldn't use it.
- Editing facility
- More smilies!

Olivia...'Proximity pal'...I've never heard that before! What a great way to describe work pals.

I've noticed lots of staff-staff bitching, but never staff bitching about the students.

Isn't Jodrell Bank facing closure?

There is no reason why you cannot pursue a career, but why not try for funding or a graduate assistantship? If you plan to work as well as study you're looking probably at 5/6 years before you get a full-time lecturing job. Personally, I wouldn't attempt a self-funded PhD.

Doesn't everyone ...at some point?

Work experience isn't normally essential for a PhD place.

It depends on your subject. You'd be hard pushed to find a t-shirt and jeans dress code at a law or business conference. If it's in a hot country - then it's likely to be smart-casual clothing eg. polo shirt, chinos etc, linen suits etc no matter what the subject area. Over here, it's virtually always formal suits for business/law conferences.

Try contacting the conference organisers...

I'd say generally you're wasting your time publishing if you have no intention of pursuing an academic career. The only thing that may hold sway in industry is a ground-breaking published thesis - so maybe concentrate on getting a publisher for your thesis rather than doing papers.