{"id":1115,"date":"2017-03-13T15:53:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T15:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/?p=1115"},"modified":"2017-03-13T15:54:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T15:54:15","slug":"ca2017-part-i-tips-for-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/?p=1115","title":{"rendered":"#CA2017 Part I: Tips for speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>Classical Studies at the Open University is looking forward to co-hosting this year\u2019s annual Classical Association<\/a> (CA) conference, which will be held at the University of Kent\u2019s Canterbury campus from 26th<\/sup>-29th<\/sup> April 2017. While we\u2019re busily working behind the scenes to make sure that the event is a success, we\u2019ve also been talking about how delegates can get the most out of their conference experience. For many speakers the CA will be their first experience of presenting their research at a large conference; this week\u2019s blogpost shares some of our top tips on how to ensure it goes smoothly.<\/p>\n

Organising your ideas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes when you\u2019ve been immersed in a research topic it\u2019s easy to forget that others will be far less familiar with the material you\u2019ll be discussing; when giving a conference presentation it\u2019s a good idea to make it as easy as possible for your audience to follow your argument. Laura Swift advises, \u201cFlag your structure as clearly as possible. People really appreciate it if they understand where you are going, and what the point is, and in an oral delivery it\u2019s even more important as they can\u2019t flick back to your introduction to remind themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elton Barker offers some further suggestions as to how to ensure that you keep your listeners\u2019 attention. He says:<\/p>\n

– It’s always a good idea to have a \u2018hook\u2019. So, rather than simply starting with the bald statement of your research objective, lead in to your discussion with a catchy example.<\/p>\n

– As well as a hook, an introduction – particularly for an oral presentation – needs to take your audience through the steps of\u00a0what you’re going to talk about. So, sketch out what you’re going to do, and why that’s important.<\/p>\n

– Keep references \u2013 or at least citations of references \u2013 to a minimum. I\u2019d advise against reading out long chunks of text or citing page numbers of secondary scholarship in your oral presentation; these can be given on a handout as \u2018further reading\u2019 for your audience to refer to after the event (more on using handouts below).<\/p>\n

– Remember, you\u2019ll have the Q&A session after your paper to go into more detail or introduce other material. It might even be worthwhile saying \u2018I don’t have time to go into this now, but perhaps we can talk about it further in the discussion\u2019. It’s always a good idea to plant the kinds of questions in your audience\u2019s minds that you<\/em> want to follow up.<\/p>\n

– Your paper will need a summing up to remind your audience what you’ve shown or the issues you’ve raised and\/or the problems that need addressing. Have in mind to leave your audience with (no more than) three \u2018take home\u2019 messages.<\/p>\n

Think about how your paper will sound<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, bear in mind the differences between a written paper and one which is delivered orally to a live audience. Laura Swift warns, \u201dDon\u2019t write a dense piece of academic prose and simply read it out as people won\u2019t be able to follow and will switch off.\u201d Jessica Hughes has some good advice here, saying, \u201cGiving a conference\u00a0paper can be nerve-wracking, and many of us like to have a written copy of our paper in front of us on the desk as a ‘safety net’. However,\u00a0the most successful conference\u00a0presentations are often those where\u00a0the speaker appears to talk spontaneously\u00a0rather than reading the paper from a pre-prepared written text. If you do choose to read your paper out, make sure that it is written in a colloquial style (with short sentences), rather than in complex prose. And try to remember to\u00a0look up\u00a0occasionally\u00a0to\u00a0make eye contact with the audience! You could also\u00a0try to memorise\u00a0the important points and the order they appear in. This will give you the confidence to\u00a0occasionally depart from the\u00a0script, resulting in a more engaging ‘performance’.\u201d Jessica also advises that it’s definitely\u00a0a good idea\u00a0to do several practice runs before the conference, which leads us to our next point\u2026<\/p>\n

Timing is everything!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Papers at the CA are each 20 minutes long, followed by ten minutes for questions from the audience. Keeping to time is not only vital to ensure the smooth running of the panel sessions, which can be derailed if individual speakers overrun, but it\u2019s also a matter of showing courtesy to your audience, panel chair and fellow speakers. A good chair will always do their best to keep things to time, but you can help them out by planning ahead to make sure that your paper isn\u2019t over-length. Laura Swift recommends, \u201cCheck your timing, as it\u2019s incredibly irritating for everyone when a speaker goes on beyond their allotted time \u2013 it can disrupt other speakers\u2019 timings and the schedule of the whole conference, and makes you look self-centred, as though you think your ideas are more important than anything else going on. So give your paper several times at home beforehand, timing yourself with a stopwatch, and make sure you are comfortably in time, while speaking at a normal pace. Never think \u2018oh well, I can just speak faster and get it all in\u2019 \u2013 if you do, you\u2019ll seem nervous and run the risk that people won\u2019t be able to follow your argument. Try to make sure your paper comes in below the allotted time rather than just on it, as that takes any stress away on the day and removes any temptation to rush.\u201d The speed at which individuals speak naturally does vary (which is why practice is so important!) but as a rule of thumb, Elton Barker\u00a0suggests that around 2800 words is about right for a twenty-minute paper, given that you\u2019ll also need to take into account the \u2018live\u2019 element (nerves, pausing to take a drink of water, looking up to make eye contact, articulating key ideas on the spot and so on). It\u2019s a good idea to build in time for short pauses during your paper \u2013 this gives you, and your audience, time to think before you move on to the next point. If you think you\u2019ll forget to do this on the day, mark suitable \u2018pause points\u2019 in the margins of your paper to remind yourself.<\/p>\n

Hi-tech and low-tech props<\/strong><\/p>\n

Handouts and audio-visual presentations can be useful aids in helping your audience to follow your discussion (although do avoid the temptation simply to read out in full everything that\u2019s on your handout\/Powerpoint \u2013 think of these tools as prompts for the audience, rather than as another version of the text of your talk). On using handouts, Naoko Yamagata offers a couple of reminders about directing your audience to the right place on the page, suggesting, \u201cLet the audience know which item on the handout you are about to discuss before<\/em> you read out\/analyse the passage, and underline (or highlight in some other way) the relevant bit of the text on your handout if you are only focusing on part of a longer passage.\u201d Do also provide an English translation of the key parts of any Latin or Greek passages (or those written in other foreign languages); you risk alienating some members of the audience if you make the assumption that everyone has the same level of understanding of the languages. Jessica Hughes also has some good advice on using technology: \u201cIf you are preparing a slide\u00a0presentation (e.g. Powerpoint or Keynote), make sure you have the latest version of your presentation on a memory stick. It’s good to bring some kind of back-up too, even if this is just a black & white\u00a0print-out of your slides, which you (or a helper) can run off and photocopy if the technology fails. If you use an file\u00a0storage service like Dropbox, make sure that you’ve reminded yourself of your log-in and password before arriving at the conference. You never know – it\u00a0may prove useful to be able to log into your account from another computer to access your Powerpoint or other files.\u201d<\/p>\n

And finally\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whilst it can be pretty daunting sharing your work with the wider world, you should take confidence from the knowledge that everyone in the room is starting from a point of common interest \u2013 they\u2019re there because they read your title or abstract and as a result they want to know more about your work. Remember to breathe (!), smile and make eye contact with your audience \u2013 by doing so you\u2019ll communicate your enthusiasm for your research topic. Enjoy the opportunity to share your ideas with others, and good luck!<\/p>\n

For more information about this year\u2019s CA conference, including a full programme, click on the \u2018CA2017\u2019 tab at the top of this page. Watch this space for another CA2017 blog post on getting the most out of attending the conference, especially if it\u2019s your first time there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Classical Studies at the Open University is looking forward to co-hosting this year\u2019s annual Classical Association (CA) conference, which will be held at the University of Kent\u2019s Canterbury campus from 26th-29th April 2017. While we\u2019re busily working behind the scenes to make sure that the event is a success, we\u2019ve also been talking about how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[109,67,70],"class_list":["post-1115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conferences","tag-ca2017","tag-classical-association","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1115"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1115\/revisions\/1121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/classicalstudies\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}