Hi

I was just going to come in and post on the One Goal Thread and get on with it. But then I thought I could use some advice and expertise from you lovely people.

Tomorrow lunchtime I'm presenting at our departmental Research Group - I have about 15-20 minutes. I've only been to one other group meeting as yet, and the presentations were from people much further on in the PhD process than me so it didn't help.

Now, I don't mind presenting, I'm not nervous in that respect particularly. Well only the kind of nerves that are useful, anyway! It's the fact that I really feel I've nothing to say at the moment.

So far, I've got as far as a 3,000 word research proposal, which is a little pie in the sky, anyway (especially where methodology is concerned), that we decided was useful as a starting point. I've done a fair bit of reading around my key issues but it's only background. I'm also working on a project for which I got a research award (due in Sept) that is only tangentially relevant. But I'd stand a better chance presenting that.

Oh why did the Graduate Leader think it was fair to ask me to do it after only 4 and a half months part time...?

So you can see I don't really know where to go with it. I guess some expectation setting will be a good move but from then on? Any ideas?

Hi Clarabelle

I've been to a quite a few early PhD presentations - all students in my department are obliged to present at pretty much just the same point as you. From my perspective of sitting in the audience, the ones that work best are the organised ones, ie they have a pretty clear structure. I dread ones where people just spend 15-20 mins on literature review material. Let's face it, somebody else's lit review is not the most riveting thing in the world. I would mention the areas you are reading and depending on audience knowledge, who you are reading, but I definitly wouldn't go through them one by one.

I would truncate your 3000 word proposal into about 1500-2000 words. That's about as much as you will be able to fit in to a 15-20 min presentation. I wouldn't be too apologetic for its 'pie-in-the-skyness'. It's fine to admit that it's a work in progress but by overdoing how 'raw' it is, I think the audience start to lose faith in you. If you feel you can discuss potential problems with your methodology, why not pitch that to the audience and ask for feedback and advice? Finally, try to strike a balance between being seen to pre-empt findings and yet demonstrating that you have a direction to your work.

If your supv wants you to present your PhD, she/he probably means what you're doing now rather than your other project. However it would be good to slip it in somewhere, especially as you got an award for it. There are bound to be people attending that don't know you so no harm to boosting your standing among them!

Finally, again from my experience, early presenting students tend to be asked questions focussing on their theoretical framework, or lack thereof in some cases! They may pick holes in your approach and some see it as their job to do so, so don't get alarmed. Where you are referring to your theoretical approach, just be sure that what you say is correct. I was at one presentation where the student said she was using "a bit of Marx". It didn't sound great and she got pulled up over it, big time!

Good luck with it, hope it goes well for you.

A

I had to do a 10 min presentation 2 months after starting.
I introduced the topic very briefly, when on to my main research questions and aims, a brief sumary of the methods I was going to use and why...and I can't remember how I finished it! probably a summary of all of the above and asked for questions.

With 15/20 mins you can go into more details about all of the above, or perhaps present some of the possible methods you might use, and ask for people's thoughs of feedback on them.

Good luck with it.

Thank you Ady and Catalinbond

It's good to know that it's fairly standard practice to start on these things early on - just that the only other meetings I'd been too people were much further on.

I've gone with a bit of what you both suggest, so we've got:

Intro - who am I, my motivation for the research and professional and educational background
The funded research project - I'm presenting it as a kind of environmental analysis for my PhD pilot study so it should lead in well
PhD to date:
Key themes - focusing on three key areas and introducing some of the key figures and theories
Research questions - taken straight from my proposal - will expand on in presentation
Research design and methodology - being forced in a presentation is really good, actually, as it pressures you into commitment too and focuses the mind! I've decided I'm a constructivist and hoping that my recent reading on qual methods will help me justify this and my mixed methods case study (which I'll also talk about from a practical point of view)

And beyond that, I've just made it look pretty...!

Sounds good. Hope it all goes well.
My friend and I celebrated our first PhD presentations with an afternoon in the pub! (well it was a couple of weeks before christmas) so hope you've got something nice planned for afterwards.

That's quite funny, Catalinbond, as I went for lunch with a friend today and he suggested the same thing. I might see who's up for something afterwards - good idea!

And now, I seem to have far too much to say! Going to run it through with my long-suffering husband tonight and see what I should be a bit more vague on!

Thanks to both of you for your help today. :-)

Hey...good luck for your presentation. In our lab we have lab meetings every 2 or 3 weeks, where we just present a short presentation of what we achieved the previous period and what we plan for the coming time. I find it good to have all my supervisors at the same place. At the beginning I was like you, not knowing what to say or do. Just give the background of what you have read. I found that instead of going through the details of the papers I have read, it was better to give an overview of what the new concepts to me were. Presenting is scary, but it is better to do it within your research group at first cos it prepares you for bigger, better things :)

Hi guys!

Well thank all three of you for your kind support and encouragement. My presentation went really well! I slightly lost my way in the middle but think it just looked like a pause to the audience!

I got a couple of bits of feedback but nothing awful at all! Just suggestions and ideas (all ones I've thought about and have either decided against or will do if possible, so could easily chat) and one a tiny tweak to one of my RQs, which was really useful.

And then, my second supervisor, who was there, asked me if I'd like to do some paid RA work in the autumn! Funding dependent but on a really interesting topic (MFL uptake in Yr 9 UK schools or lack thereof), saying she was asking me because she knows she could trust me! How nice is that?!

So, it's fair to say I'm in a good mood now!

Cheers!

That's great Clarabelle, congrats. It's a great feeling when a presentation goes well.

Congrats about the work possibility as well. (up)