Researchology

I’ve been toying with the idea of doing something a bit different with my academic presentations recently. In my teaching I’ve been experimenting with innovation games, using prezi instead of powerpoint and just having a lot more interaction in general. But I find that making the transition in academic presentations is a bit more difficult. And it’s mainly fear that’s holding me back.

I had a good chat about this with our resident writing guru Anthony Haynes last week in preparation for our Winter Doctoral Conference, held yesterday. The conference is a way for us PhD students to present our work in a friendly environment before we’re let loose in the wider world of academic conferences. So I thought it might be a good time to try something new. Anthony and I talked about presenting without slides or using just one slide as a backdrop. I was also thinking of giving prezi a try and started putting one together for the occasion.

But in the end, I chickened out. Well, that’s not exactly the right description for it. I suppose I decided to step back a little and ask myself exactly why I wanted to do something different. And the answer is mainly that I want to tell a good story that people can engage with. That’s it. I don’t think this should be beyond us as academics. In fact, I think we have a duty to communicate clearly in writing as well as on stage.

So I decided to focus on the story instead of focusing too much on doing something different. Prezi actually helped me to hone in on the most important elements. To be honest, I find it has been more helpful to me overall as a mind-mapping tool than as a presentation tool. And in the end I used powerpoint to present. There were three parts to my story: the phenomenon (voluntary carbon reporting by firms), my questions and then my results. And in each of these three parts, there were three main points I wanted to make. I didn’t follow the structure of the paper I was presenting. This wouldn’t have helped my audience to engage with the topic at all. I decided to be ruthless in what I left out and to avoid bullet point lists entirely. I had 15 minutes and 9 slides with very little text and as many pictures as possible.

And the results? From the feedback I received, it went down really well. I was told that the presentation was remarkably clear and easy to understand. People who had no prior understanding of the topic were engaged and asked interesting questions. On top of all of that, I felt much more in control of the presentation. It was easier to remember and much more fluid. It took more time to plan but less time to put together and practice.

Things I’ll be doing in future presentations:

• Focusing on the story
• Adapting and playing with the paper structure to fit the presentation format
• Using fewer slides and lists

I’ve realised from the whole experience that it’s not necessary to do something random or completely different for people to remember and engage with your presentation. Putting more of a focus on the message and teasing this message out for your audience is much more important. Tell your story. It’s more interesting for you and it’s definitely more interesting for them.

Peer review is the backbone of academic research. It can also be one of the most difficult areas to navigate, especially if you’re of a sensitive or any way anxious persuasion.

Academic conferences take place throughout the year but the summer has a higher concentration of them. I chose to go to two energy conferences this year. Both were in very different places: Stockholm and Dallas, Texas. And both had very different aims. And so they each had different effects on me and my energy levels, as well as my energy research. Survival skills to follow.

The International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE) conference in Stockholm was a big showcase of energy economics research across a broad spectrum. The IAEE holds an international conference in a different city every summer. It’s a celebration for energy economists. Hundreds of researchers attend from all over the world. And the receptions and dinners are as much a part of the conference as the sessions themselves. We dined in the Vasa museum (the Swedish equivalent of the Titanic), took a boat trip around the archipelago, and had our final reception in the gold room of Stockholm City Hall (where the dancing takes place after the Nobel Price banquet each year).

In Dallas, I attended the Empirical Methods in Energy Economics workshop.   This is a much smaller and more intimate gathering, with just over 40 people in all. Everyone attends the same sessions and there is a mixture of long (45 minutes) and short (15 minutes) presentation slots. In Stockholm by contrast, presenters got a maximum of 20 minutes. Our main workshop dinner was hosted at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas, where we all got a little bag with shredded dollars as a parting gift. And to finish the workshop off in style, a group of us headed to the Mesquite rodeo with front-row seats and all you can eat Texas BBQ.

Back to business. I presented at both conferences and chaired a session in Stockholm. The size of the Stockholm conference overwhelmed me at first and I only really got into the swing of things on the last day. I also felt quite dejected after my conference session because very few people attended (lots of competing sessions at the same time) and my topic didn’t seem to fit well with the others. In Dallas, I got lots of feedback on my work and a lot more exposure because everyone attended my session. It made networking so much easier because everyone already knew who I was and what my research was about.

So what did I learn for future conferences? How can you get the most out of the conferences you attend?

1. Set the right expectations

Be clear from the outset what you want to get out of the conference and make sure this is realistic given the type of event you’re going to. Big conferences are great for networking but often not so great for detailed feedback. Make sure to do your homework in advance.

2. Diversify

Choose a variety of conference types to go to throughout the year. They often serve different purposes and complement each other.

3. Broaden your networking horizons

Chair sessions if you can, sit with people you don’t know at dinner and above all be yourself.

Networking for me will never just involve work-talk. Personal connections are so important. They make it so much easier to identify people you can see yourself working with in the future.  And the beauty of conferences is you get to meet a mixture of senior and junior people in your field. It’s great to learn from experienced people. But it’s also great to meet people at the same stage as you who may well be future co-authors.

4. Get that elevator pitch right

You often have a brief window at conferences during which you can either hook people or completely lose them. Think about how best to pitch your research in advance. Make it punchy and practice it before you go, just like you practice your official presentation. Of course it doesn’t have to be the same every time. But it does deserve some serious thought.

I’ve never really had anyone teach me how to research. But I gave a workshop the other day to Masters students on choosing a research topic and following through. And it felt really good. It confirmed to me how important it is to talk about the process of research and above everything else how important it is to get people excited about the potential they hold in their hands.

We started the workshop by putting together an affinity map on this question:

“What makes a good research topic?”

The main categories the group came up with were:

• Focus
• Relevance (to industry, research area etc.)
• Impact
• Feasibility (access to data, time constraints)

But more interesting than the main categories were the outliers. Only one person in the group suggested that the topic should be fun and motivating. One other person said that the topic and the process should allow you to constantly reflect.

For me, these outliers are at the centre of my research world. I like to find ways that make my research process more fun and motivating for myself. Doing this makes me more content but also improves the quality of my research.

I also like to think of my research process as iterative. There is nothing linear about the way I work, not any more. I don’t saturate myself with reading and then go on to “write up” a paper. There’s so much back and forth and so much time for reflection. By the end I’ve tested my ideas to the point where I’m much happier with the finished product and less frustrated with the process of getting there. In fact, the process is in some ways the best part.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. What I really wanted to say is that the fun and reflective parts of research should be just as important as the relevance and impact. And finding ways of making research fun and reflective help to develop research as a craft. They also make it a hell of a lot more exciting and less scary for new research recruits!