We had a research day today when all the PhD students had to present on their research in front of staff and other students. Some people were at the very begining while others are about to submit. I was quite nervous as I hadn't been before so I wasn't sure what was expected and also I was one of the first on.

It went pretty well (I knew a lot of the staff as I did my MSc there 5 years ago) and I had an e-mail from my supervisor who said that it was "perhaps the most credible and thought-out-in-advance research project presented between 0900-1100" (when he was there) so I'm feeling pretty good. I also got some good suggestiosn of literature to look at (there is very little in my specific area) and on some developments (from my MSc supervisor who will be retiring so can't be a PhD supervisor even though I would have liked her to).

The Head of Dept was also there (and he has interviewed me for a job twice and told me each time that I came a very close second to someone who had a PhD) so I am optimistic about getting a job there at sometime (it's much nearer to where I live than the university I work in)

Hi jepsonclough

I am really pleased your presentation went well I hope my presentation next week goes as smoothly!

Excellent news! And it'll get easier and easier from now :-)

I think these types of affairs (PhD students presenting to each other) are becoming more and more common to get students used to presenting academically - I had to present my first year and second year work to two departments (thanks to my interdiscplinary topic). Actually that was really good fun - I was used to presenting to mathematicians so presenting to biologists was quite a challenge!

I had to do similar presentations twice in my part-time PhD, assessed both times, in front of a mix of PhD students and members of staff. Both times went ok, and it was definitely easier the second time. And the worst question on the day in terms of most difficult to answer was asked by my supervisor - the rotter! I think this is really good experience though for coping with a viva, since you can be asked totally off-the-wall unexpected questions, and learn to think on your feet.

Thanks for all the comments - what was also nice was I asked a question / made a comment to another student and my former MSc supervisor who is known as the toughest cookie (but with the best PhD completion record - 11 or 12) said "I was going to ask the same question as jepsonclough" - that made me feel that I did belong (and to be fair it was a fairly obvious question so wan't too unfair (how bad is that phrasing with all those "fairs" in it)).

Most of the questiosn / comments came fomr staff becuse all the other students were too busy stressing about their presetnations to ask a questison - one of the advantages of goign early is that you can listen to what everyone else says rather than worrying about your presentation.

Only bad thing was my colour scheme (pink & grey) which looked lovely on a pc screen didn't translate at all to the big screen but I managed to laugh it off. :-)

I did this too today! Actually, I did just carefully read through your posts to check we weren't actually in the same conference. Mine went alright. I think it had the most interesting material in it (if I do say so myself), although it wasn't necessarily the best presented. I'm just looking over a list of issues to work on that my sups sent me. I think the major one is that you can't cover everything in a presentation, so just make a clear well-argued viewpoint your focus.