Conference Season

by Kim Brown and Tracy Rogers

Kim

  Photo: Tom Moore inflatable art taken by K.B

I must confess to some uncertainty about the benefits of going to a conference. Not the going overseas for a few days, staying in a hotel and experiencing a new city aspect, I had no doubts about that part. My uncertainty revolved around the amount of effort that goes into preparing a 15-minute presentation, and what I might subsequently gain from that amount of work. 

And it is fair to say that a considerable amount of work goes into a conference presentation, however, being able to communicate key ideas to a group of strangers in a short time is a useful exercise for whatever field we might find ourselves in after completing a PhD. And so it was that the night before my slot, and early the following morning, and during the keynote speech, and skiving off during the session before mine, I was still messing about with my presentation! I had too many slides, too much text, I was missing an image reference, and generally being very paranoid. Presenting is quite a skill; as an audience member it is easy to recognise the presentation don’ts, but people who present well have an ease and assuredness that must only come with practice. We may not all have the luxury (or nightmare, depends on your position) of presenting at international conferences, but my take-home learning is be clear in my own thinking about my key message, and concentrate on communicating that message clearly. The lonely scholar discourse has been around a while now! 

Slide from my presentation 2016

What of the conference? I attended the Quality in Postgraduate Research Conference, in Adelaide. I met some great, like-minded people who I enjoyed spending time with, and who were interested in my research. I learnt a lot about current doctoral discourses, and heard some very thought-provoking presentations. Adelaide is a great city, easy to navigate, and has free bike hire, as well as larger than life art. Amazing fresh food too! 

 

 How did the presentation go? Well enough; I was asked lots of questions that will be useful to think about when writing up my findings, and offered the chance to collaborate with someone I met. Since I was the only person who knew what I'd missed out, I must have said enough!

Tracy

Photo: Tracy Rogers

Before I embarked on my trip to the UK for the International Girls' Studies Association inaugural conference, I thought that it was an awfully long way to go for 15 minutes of 'fame' (my allotted presentation time). But even after enduring two long haul flights and three trains to reach the little city of Norwich, I realised that the trip was absolutely worth it.

Firstly, it was such a rewarding experience to be at a conference solely devoted to the study of girls, in all its many forms and disciplines. There were studies investigating girls' leadership; girls and anorexia; girls' migration; girl culture on YouTube; wartime girlhood; Victorian girls; queering girlhood; girls' activism; and the list goes on. Over the three days of the conference, I never missed a session as I soaked up the information. I attended sessions that related to my own study on girls' schooling and identity in the Global South, as well as other presentations that were totally unrelated, but still really enjoyable and informative.

The second rewarding aspect of the conference was being able to present my study to an audience interested in girls' education. There was a total of three presenters in my session called 'The politics of global girlhood'. The other two women had independently done work with school girls in Zanzibar and Kenya. Our studies complimented each other and it was reaffirming to know that the work I have done so far is of interest to others. (This is not always the case when we, doctoral students, often work away in our little thesis bubble).

Lastly, by far the best aspect of the conference was the networking. I met so many amazing women from a variety of disciplines who really lent to an atmosphere of 'sisterhood'. And as most of us were staying on campus, we had the opportunity to share our work over breakfast and dinner. We even managed a last night fling in Norwich's famous lanes district - an area of small cobblestone lanes lined with quaint restaurants and bars. As a PhD student, and the only Kiwi at the conference, getting to know other more experienced researchers from around the world was hugely rewarding. I have since been in contact with many of the women I met at the conference. And there is talk of hosting another conference next year in Canada!

So if there is one bit of advice I can offer other Postgrads planning to attend a conference, that is to choose your conference very carefully. Think about who else is presenting, what the make-up of your audience will be, and whether the conference really targets your area of interest. Because if the focus of the conference is too broad, it will be more difficult to find academics and other individuals who are interested in your topic.

And you don't want to miss any networking opportunities following your 15 minutes of fame! 


[Unless otherwise stated photostock images in this post are from unsplash.com ]

Producing Snazzy Posters (in PowerPoint)

by Lara Sanderson

The best bit of conferencing advice I have ever received is “do as many presentations as you can at a conference, especially if you are paying to go overseas” (Dr. Greg Burnett, sometime in 2013). A good way, if you don’t want to prepare 3 or 4 different talks, is to create a poster, but don’t be fooled if you think it will be quicker – it can take just as long to create one! Nevertheless, the beauty of creating a poster is that it forces you to condense your ideas into the space of a poster. Ultimately it may help you get that single thesis statement.

Posters have often been consigned to the realm of quantitative and scientific research,  therefore, as a qualitative researcher, posters can be difficult and often text heavy. BUT taking some of the creative processes explored in my previous post about creating PowerPoints, in this post I am going to expand upon this to making posters in PowerPoint. 

Many of us use PowerPoint to create presentations, but it can also be used to make posters by using a single slide and playing with the dimensions. The good thing about this is that it doesn’t require training, just a little bit of play. Again, as before, this is just how I do it. This is what I have found works for me without any design skills or fancy stuff – take what you need and leave the rest. There are other options available, including using Inkscape and such. 

The overall aims of a poster is to have people

1. Come up and want to read it;
2. Spend time;
3. Engage with the material.

So with these aims in mind, you need to have impact and keep interest. Before starting it may be handy to rough out how you want your poster to look and what type of information you want to present. Then start with a blank slide – no title, nothing, nada.

Poster sizing (handy reference guide)

The two most commonly asked for conference sizes are A3 and AO, but for your reference here is a full list (in mm and cm). 

A3       297x420mm /29.7x 42 cm

A2       420x594mm / 42x59.4 cm

A1       594x841mm /59.4x 84.1 cm

AO      841x1189mm /84.1x 118cm

I'd suggest that the biggest you can afford to create within conference guidelines the better.

Resizing your PowerPoint

Once you have decided upon your poster size then you can resize your slide. Taking the dimensions in the above sizing guide, in layout set the custom size (ask in the comments if you need a hand with this).

Colour schemes (the time eater):

Often finding a colour scheme that works is hard, but the awesomeness that is DesignSeeds takes out a lot of this hard work. Search by theme and watch the magic happen! Pick a scheme that fits the mood you want to convey. This website may help you find that mood: http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours .

Translating the mood and the colour so that you can use it takes a few more steps.

When you find the palette that you love, run your mouse over and you should get some numbers and/or letters – this is the hex code and begins with a # .You can then type this number into Adobe Color.

Note: There are competing opinions on what shades you should use for a poster - some say dark and some say light - take into consideration where your poster may be placed. It could be in full bright light or in a dimly lit corner of the conference venue. Choose a theme for your poster and that should guide you in your choices - whatever conveys your message best!

Type in the hex value where it asks (bottom left under the grey) and this then gives you three RGB values (Red, Green and Blue). With these values you can now go back to PowerPoint and customise your colours. In the colour fill, go to more colours and type in the RGB numbers and voila! your custom colour. Repeat as many times as you want to develop your custom palette. I do however suggest using the power of 'no more than 3' for colours and fonts. (If you want my favourite font sites leave a comment and I will post them.)

Remember posters are a visual medium for your research so finding images that convey your message is important. I know finding appropriate images can be the hardest thing for a qualitative researcher. Quantitative researchers get pretty graphs - though do make sure they are readable not teeny tiny! You can find numerous posts and resources mentioned on this site (e.g. Morguefile) and elsewhere, so I am not going to repeat those tips, but take a look if you haven’t already!

Layout

Profile vs Landscape - this is down to preference and conference guidelines.

Title: At the top you should have your full title, name, academic position e.g. PhD/MA/Hons Candidate and your University etc. affiliation. Underneath, in smaller text, supply the reference for your poster (check your referencing guidelines for these and yes, APA does have them!). Your university crest, or other logos, might have specific placement guides. For example, at the University of Otago you have to have a certain amount of whitespace around the crest. If you have to have logos at the top try not to let it drown your title. Go for balance!

Body: I'd suggest no more than 300 words. You can lay this out a number of ways – text boxing and using select thesis chapter titles is the most common (refer to our resource page).

Before you finish, take a look at this useful webinar for posters from the University of Plymouth.

Now that you have got your masterpiece all done – where to print? 

In New Zealand, the Warehouse Stationery chain can print posters in full colour relatively cheaply for around about NZ$30 for an AO. Although prices vary, it is still the cheapest place I've found for printing your posters (in Dunedin). At Otago University Print stores you can also print to silk. This makes your poster easy to transport, but seriously expensive. I've transported my (paper, not silk) poster to Australia via a hard cased art tube from our local art supply store. The tube plus the cost of printing was cheaper than printing the poster on to silk!

Bits and bobs: The finishing touches

So you now you have your poster looking pretty snazzy how to draw a crowd?

1. Offer incentives. Sweets are great - this may sound 'naff', but in a whole day of conferencing, sweets will bring the browsers during the off peak times.
2. Have mini versions of your poster to hand out both before, during, and after your poster session – A4 copies are great, or you can go smaller provided you can read the text clearly
3. Dress in the colour palette you have chosen. That way people unconsciously link you with your poster or, as one website suggests, you could wear your poster on a tshirt! That might be inappropriate for your conference, but if not, then go for it!

Most of all have fun! Enjoy the creative process! If you have other hints or tips please feel free to comment below. If you would like to see posts on specific parts of this, or previous posts, please feel free to comment as well and I will follow this post up.

(Please note the posters shown here are NOT academic ones - merely illustrative of the points)

Powerpointers: Quick tips for making your PowerPoints less boring and more 'blinging'.

By Lara Sanderson

We all have to present at least once during our academic apprenticeship so this blog post begins with the two most commonly asked questions about PowerPoint: “How do I make my PowerPoint look good?” and “What goes into an academic PowerPoint?” 

For the purposes of this blog post I am going to refer to Microsoft PowerPoint because this is the most commonly used in our department (and the most commonly asked about) but I recognise that there are other options like Slide Rocket and Prezi.

Where to start: I begin with my overall aim then I look at the setting – what type of conference/seminar/lecture is it. Always consider your visuals/PowerPoint as your audience would – they came to listen to you, not read your PowerPoint. Another way to think of your visual aids is like word association – a good set of visuals will be forever associated with that talk you gave at 'x' conference and your message will be remembered because of that (no pressure or anything though). Remember the images, remember me, and remember my message! 

The BASICS.

• Font size & type: 30pts – Nothing should be under 30pts small – ok, so I have transgressed in this one sometimes in order for a sentence to stay within the same line, but it was only down to 28 – 28 tends to be the smallest you can get away with, but it is not recommended. Text heavy slides are a big no. Limit to max 3 bullet points and between 7-10 words is a general guide to follow.  A good test to see if you have too much information on your slide is if you can read it clearly when it is printed out in small note form then its o.k. if it looks to cluttered or too hard to read  then go back and cull! Have the same font all the way through – I like interesting typology as much as the next person but for readability and accessibility please use a sans serif like Arial – not Times New Roman, or Garamond which are Serif and designed for documents.  


• Structure: The structure of your PowerPoint changes with context. For your basic structured PowerPoint think of it like an article or your thesis outline – start with a title page with your contact e-mail and your institutional details. Then the intro – introduce the background to your research and yourself – as a novice researcher people don’t know you so give them some personal info – not just your c.v. Then the theoretical framework, method, findings and conclusion. Don’t forget that important THANK YOU slide with your contact info, and I put selected references. Contact and institutional info should also be put on your front slide 'cos if you like me I tend to forget to put the last slide up! If you don’t have a findings etc., the organisational structure of beginning, middle, and end is an oldie but a goody.


• How many?: There are many theories – some say 6, some 10 slides per half hour – I feel comfortable at about 12 for a half hour presentation bearing in mind that 2 of these are a title page and a thank you page.

Introducing the BLING 

Design is important to making your PowerPoint slides look good– It's a balance between making it look pretty, yet functional – how can you achieve this?

• Image size – lots of different images all different sizes can be distracting – if you have lots of images make them a consistent size or even consider using the same image throughout your slide presentation.

• Colour can be away to bring consistency – think of it like decorating your room – what’s the most easy on the eye – monochrome or busy detail– not to say busy detail doesn’t work you’d just have to have consistency in another way – an anchor to the busy, colour blocking is a good way to achieve this if you must have busy. 


• Story telling – this sounds weird, but think of your PowerPoint as the picture book of your presentation – let the images tell part of the story (but not the whole story). If you have a distinct beginning and end PowerPoint it helps organise the stuff in between 


• Theme: be it through colour or imagery, a theme helps develop and continue consistency within your PowerPoint. If you are thinking about having a solid colour (which is a good way to introduce consistency) then use a dark colour – I have used black with white writing, which was effective, and I have used an institutional blue one, which was an electric blue 'graphic' slide and not so easy to read. Pale colours often don’t translate well through projects that may need new bulbs or a good dusting. Dark colours provide a pleasing contrast.


• Needing more bling? The use of multimedia like YouTube clips is good too (in moderation) - IF it helps convey your message or you have been talking for ages (an hour) and need a break! A big academic no-no is the use of music. I feel this is a bit sad – I like music filtering in as people walk in, but I haven’t used that since my Masters so maybe give that one a miss. Also give slide animations a miss they are distracting.

How do I find a suitable, usable, free image? Is the third most asked question and a difficult part of the visual, choosing an image or images that convey your message.. In past posts both Keely and I have suggested places to go find suitable, useable, and free, images including Morguefile and Google Advance Image Search (filtered by free to use). The quality of your image matters - stock images from places like Morguefile add an air of professionalism.

Sometimes it is hard to visualise an overall concept, don’t fear - a block colour with a repeated motif can be just as graphically effective as a collection of images. If you use a template take time to personalise it, change the colour etc. I know you don’t want to spend ages on it and you will get faster as you go on – hey you may even develop a personal style that means you only have to switch it up for context – do make it look though that you have given your visuals a little consideration, they make your talk memorable.

I hope you found this post useful – these are my tips based upon my experiences and reading. You may receive differing advice from supervisors and such. There are lots of cool websites that help you with design so take a look in our resource page. Please comment and share if you have other tips or anecdotes about your presentations, useful resource pages etc.

Research symposia- when a talkfest is good!

By Kim Brown

I recently took part in a two-day research symposium with fellow postgrads, researchers and academics and spent the whole time talking. Yes, two whole days talking! To be fair there were periods when I listened or ate something, but the majority of the time was spent engaged in discussion, problem solving and debate. It was great. I am six months into my PhD, not long enough to know differently, yet already I would describe a distinct managerial tone to the doctoral process. By managerial I mean an emphasis on productivity measured in units of time and incremental research outputs: “set milestones working backwards from anticipated hand-in date”, “write daily for X number of minutes’, “publish publish publish” (so firmly established as a research mantra that the verb now exists in triplicate), “attend conferences”, and so on. Of course, this is all sound advice intended to support prompt completion of the PhD and an academic trajectory, but it feels like the nasty tasting medicine that is supposed to do you good. In such a managerial environment of study, the prospect of two days simply talking and listening may fill some with horror. Fear not, I will endeavour to explain why attending a peer talkfest is time well spent.

For the symposium I attended, each participant had an allocated 20-minute slot, with a maximum of seven minutes talking to the group, PowerPoint presentations were banned and timings strictly enforced. Participants tended to give a brief overview of their research and then presented a research issue, conundrum or dilemma to the whole group. Most participants asked their peers to respond to the given question/issue in smaller groupings, taking feedback in various ways. Participants regularly moved to a new seat around a large table arrangement, enabling (or forcing) people to meet and work with others. The format of the day included generous breaks and good food – both conducive to productive and amiable conversation. If the absence of PowerPoint presentations has not already sold you on the idea of this type of symposium, let me expand upon the benefits.

I was unsure of what to expect so had not prepared for my slot, I did, nevertheless, have a few gnarly research issues plaguing my research design that I could share. I am studying peer learning practices amongst doctoral students, and despite a successful pilot study, I couldn’t quite nail the crux of my overarching research question. And then it came to me, sitting in a room of collective expertise, confusion and collaboration. What I am really interested in is how doctoral students cultivate collegiality in an academic environment. Not quite a eureka moment, but very confirming in terms of locating my research. When my turn came, I was able to ask people to describe what characterises collegiality in a scholarly community. Enough about me however! We got to hear about other people’s research as it was happening in down-to-earth terms.

 

The symposium offered the means for all members of the department equally to seek ideas, insight and feedback. In our time regulated everyday environments, snatched conversations at sites of productive encounters (that’s the water cooler/heater) can be very helpful. The colloquium environment supported breadth and critical engagement with diverse responses. Creativity is often paired with critical thinking in the doctoral toolbox; Vygotsky proposed that creativity is a process by which individuals learn to face conflicts and contradictions, and to focus on future objects or trajectories. Drawing on collective creativity we can rework and process these issues, illuminating and elevating everyday experience. In other words, it was fun, useful and supportive!  

Research symposia take many forms. I have attended formal symposia that involved conventional presentations with the associated pressure to perform. To describe this symposium as informal is perhaps a disservice, since I would be comparing a developmental and collegial environment to a rarefied, and some would say competitive, academic forum. A developmental research symposium is time-well spent because it is demanding of thought and effort, it’s a talkfest where responses are immediate and there’s nothing wrong with a little instant gratification.

We are in the process of organising a postgrad developmental research symposium in the second department I’m associated with, look out for the follow-up blogpost.

Festivalling - Week One

by Keely Blanch
 
Otago Uni has been buzzing lately with all the events for the Graduate Research festival. There has been so much on offer thanks to the wonderful team at GRS, and I'm not sure it's humanly possible to make it to everything available! Here's a quick rundown of my festival experiences so far.

Supervisor of the Year Awards

 

First up in my festivalling was the OU Supervisor of the Year awards. The awards themselves were a swanky affair - several of the presenters even breaking out suits for the event! (I'll admit that fact impresses me, because as a PhD student some days the only thing stopping me from a life in track-pants is having to go into the office - and even then it can be close.) We all assembled in the Staff Club, and partook of delicious food - especially those truffles! Mmmmm......

Competition for these awards is fierce. Students nominate supervisors, sing their praises, and wax lyrical. This wealth of data is then passed on to a hard-working judging panel, who have the difficult task of working through the glowing accolades and making the ultimate decision. Awards are made for Divisional Supervisors, and New Supervisor of the Year, as well as the supreme award. This year saw Associate Professor Ruth Fitzgerald, of Social Anthropology, crowned the OUSA Supervisor of the Year for 2014. Details of all the winners are on the Otago Bulletin Board. 

Otago Day of the Girl Symposium 

 

                    

The first week of the festival ended, for me, with a hectic, but very enjoyable day of symposiums and workshops. Although not part of the official festival programme, the Otago Day of the Girl symposium on Friday morning was a fabulous celebration of 'girlhood', with presentations from a wide range of 'girls'. There were films, pecha kucha talks, games, music, delicious food, and animated conversations throughout the morning. This event was put on by several hard-working UOCE postgrads - Kim Brown, Tracy Rogers, Lara Sanderson, as well as Assoc. Prof Karen Nairn, and a raft of helpers. All credit to the entire team for such a wonderful event!

Pointing the way to the comfortable venue at Executive Programmes, in the Commerce building.

Kicking the celebrations off with music from the Global Sounds Ukelele Group

NZARE Student Caucus Workshops 

 

Immediately after the Day of the Girl celebrations, we rushed (literally!) down to the College of Education for the NZARE Student workshops (also organised by UOCE postgrads led by Megan Anakin - we're a motivated group). It was heartening to see that these workshops drew a range of postgrads from across the campus. Much thanks to the four great presenters who agreed to generously give their time to talk us through various aspects of the postgraduate research journey. 

Dr Clinton Golding of HEDC was up first and presented  'Strategies for a successful research journey'. 

Key point  - it is your thesis, your research journey, your responsibility to do the work and get it finished. Clinton's analogy is that supervisors are like doctors - they can provide advice, but they can't do it for you.

Other points Dr Golding offered:

• Academic work/research is about being part of a community, communicating and sharing ideas with peers etc - Conveniently, there was a Networking seminar offered in the second week ;)
• you need to 'manage' your supervisor. That may fill some people with dread, but essentially it's about figuring out what works for both of you and negotiating. Tips are to consider using an agenda before the meeting to set tone, and follow that with a summary email [this tip also came up in a later seminar by The Thesis Whisperer, coming soon].
• supervisors give advice - you do not have to take it, but they are experts in their field, so ignore it at your peril.
• don't be scared to ask other researchers in your field for advice - just email them.
• Thesis writing is a roller coaster. Figure out what support you need and get it. 
• Plan, plan, plan - for the next ten years. Keep your eye on the end goal. Set micro-goals to get a sense of achievement which will help with motivation.
• write write, write - submit when you're 95% happy because you are never going to be 100% happy

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Our second workshop was 'Experimenting with our Academic Writing' presented by Assoc. Prof Karen Nairn. During this very interactive workshop, we worked in pairs to analyse a paragraph of our writing and try to improve it using the techniques offered by Williams, J. & Bizup, J. (2013). Style: Lessons in clarity and grace (11th edition). Boston: Longman. This book is available though the University Bookshop - and don't forget uni students get a discount. 

Key points are to concentrate on Subjects and Characters; Verbs and Actions; and Nominalisations. Our writing group has been using this book this year. Personally, I've found that focusing on the techniques can inhibit my first draft writing, but they are a useful tool at the re-write/editing stage. 

Dr Nairn is also offering a course for postgraduates in 2015. The aim of this course is to have a journal article ready for submission by the end of the course. More details are available at the GRS blog, or through the UO College of Education. 

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After a brief afternoon tea break with delicious food (there's a theme developing here....) we returned for the afternoon sessions.

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Assoc. Prof Martin Tolich from the Dept. of Sociology, Gender and Social Work introduced the topic of 'Planning ethically responsible research' and the need for the ethical review process. MA student Amber Chambers then talked about her MA findings, issues of gate-keeping and negotiating access, issues of confidentiality, and the need to expect the unexpected during the entire research process. This generated a discussion on the ways terminology such as 'gate-keeper' may construct the process of researching as adversarial. The topic of researching in schools drew particular attention, with some of the audience noting that principals have a duty of care to protect their busy staff from intrusions and distractions, although a counterargument offered is that teachers should be responsible for their own time management. 

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We rounded off the afternoon with an engaging talk from Dr Vivienne Anderson about her journey to 'Becoming an academic'.  Dr Anderson offered examples from her own roundabout route to academia to show that what may seem a left-field diversion can often turn out to lead you where you want to go. Good advice was to be strategic in your academic decisions, acknowledge all the skills you develop during your many twists and turns, and don't forget there is nothing to lose by applying! Although exhausted after our busy day, it was good to finish on a positive and inspiring note.

The UOCE postgrads and all who attended would like to thank all those who so generously and willingly gave their time to help make the day a great success. 

What was your key take home point from the day? Did you feel inspired? Did somebody say something that resonated with you? I'm sure there is so much more that I've missed from these brief notes, so add away in the comments.