Some Seminar 4 Presenting Advice!

Posted by on May 3, 2014 in Colby, Kerishma, Laura, Lindsey, Projects, Resources | 3 Comments

Memes

Advice

Hey gang! We collected some great presenting tips and tricks from our fellow colleagues at NCUR last month. Some of them even harken back to their Seminar 4 presentations. If you have any other helpful advice, feel free to chime in in the comments!

Emily Paolillo, Brooklyn College: “For Seminar 4, my class was required to make video public service announcements. My group did ours on safer sex. Making a video was so interactive and fun that everyone in my class was completely immersed in their projects. Some did theirs on smoking and the obesity epidemic. I think it’s a pretty good sign that I can still remember their projects two years later. We also had to incorporate useful PSA tactics like using comedy or scary facts (mostly everyone used comedy), which made it very entertaining. When we presented at the Macaulay building, our videos had everyone hooked. Seminar 4 should be a FUN learning experience that incorporates using research skills to produce something that we will remember in the years to come.

Also, NCUR was a great experience! It was awesome to meet so many different undergraduate students from around the country and see how diverse everyone’s fields of study are.”

Jenna Peet, Brooklyn College: “One thing that really helped my presentation for NCUR was rehearsing my presentation with Macaulay students who normally would not see my work. When I prepared my thesis at BC, I was practicing with mostly education and physics majors, and so I wasn’t getting a sense of what would be clear or confusing to the average listener. Practice with Macaulay students made me reevaluate what my presentation needed to focus on, and the feedback they gave also made me think more seriously about what my research represented as a whole. The questions they asked in practice (and actual) presentations were more thoughtful and insightful than what I was used to, and made my presentation that much better.”
Jamie Mallette, City College: “My suggestion for seminar 4 students is to not take the conference too seriously. Yes it is at the Macaulay building and it is academic but if they just relax and feel confident in what they are presenting they will do great! I think the conference experience would be greatly enhanced if people stayed for one another’s presentations and listening rather than ducking out after their own or their friends. Seminar 4 students, and all other Macaulay classes, should take the time to get to know students from other campuses and begin to explore outside their comfort zone. My personal presenting style is to make note cards with a few bullet points. I don’t write out my whole speech because it actually makes me more nervous and I am not as engaging or as varied when I plan too much. I usually just get up there and talk informally (but still appropriately!).
My general experience at NCUR was positive. I had a lot of fun, and met interesting people. I would recommend students go to conferences, even just local ones, even if they are not presenting just to get a feel for the style, and networking.”
Vartan Pahalyants, Hunter College: “NCUR was a great opportunity to see research from different perspectives. When you attend conferences in your field, you do not get to see the amazing variety of research that goes on in other spheres. I was particularly impressed with the presentations of my classmates in the fields of Civil Engineering, English and Physics was. Overall, it was an enriching experience and I am really glad I was given the opportunity to attend this year’s conference.”
And last but definitely not least, a video from Patryk Perkowski, Queens College:

3 Comments

  1. Laura Ayala
    May 3, 2014

    I remember my Seminar 4 conference wasn’t all that and a bag of chips. Hunter kids had to present in groups, which can be amazing or utterly devastating depending on who you’re partnered up with. Working together came with it’s share of difficulties, but we tried to participate equally so that no one person would develop a dictator complex. The day of, half of my group showed up and none of us were clued into the segments our partners were meant to have prepared. But we got through it! Obviously, it wasn’t horrible enough to turn me off from public speaking forever. This spring, I’m speaking at 3 separate conferences! Take it as a learning experience.

    My tip is: get along with your group! Trust is important. Also, know what you’re presenting. Yes, this is a conference, but it is not something to worry about. Be confident, project, make eye contact, and smile! You did your work and now it’s time to present it!

    Reply
  2. L. M. Freer
    May 4, 2014

    Thanks so much to all three of you for taking the time to collect this material and make these memes! I’ve added all the memes I saw, including Colby’s from the post following, to a single gallery in this post. That way it can be easily distributed!

    Reply
  3. Some Presenting Advice | Shaping the Future of New York
    May 6, 2014

    […] Colloquium posted some advice (complete with memes) to prepare you for the Seminar 4 conference: http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/honorsthesis14/2014/05/03/some-seminar-4-presenting-advice/ Check it […]

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