Letter to a young CIES presenter
You might be wondering how your paper was accepted, or how many business cards to bring, or what size font to use in your presentation. I'm writing to you happily on the plane home from CIES 2017. Happily, because I will get a full night's sleep tonight for the first time in a week. There are a few things you should know about CIES before your big debut.
"I learned a new term today: convenience sample." -Anonymous Presenter 1
Presenters are at all stages of their research. They could be defending their dissertation tomorrow, or exploring preliminary interviews. Don't feel the need to over-conflate your research, but when you talk about the limitations of your study make sure to balance it out with the steps you will take to overcome those limitations in the future. That being said, avoid the monotony of research question - methodology - findings - limitations - next step - references. Your advisor may disagree, but that's just my two cents as an audience member.
"Dataism: the new religion" -Anonymous Presenter 2
You will attend many academic and practitioner-backed sessions on the importance of good data collection and reporting. You can't avoid it.
"If you torture your data long enough, it will confess to anything" -Darrell Huff by way of Anonymous Presenter 3
Do not trust everything a presenter tells you. Also, be reassured that not everyone's paper is as sound as it seems in the presentation. There will be several presenters at the conference who don't even have a paper written yet, but you'd never know.
"The only true voyage of discovery . . . would be not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is.” -Marcel Proust by way of Anonymous Presenter 4
Even if not all the presentations have well-founded methodology or delivery, everyone came to CIES because they care about education for all. If you are at a loss for discussion points, ask about the other person's work. Act interested, though you probably will be, just as others will be interested in you if you speak with passion. As one more experienced conference goer told me, do not rely on your school name or project title to carry the conversation. Speak about what is important to you.
"I didn't want to find that, but I did." -Presenter 6
The best presenters are honest but not self-deprecating.
"What do skills go to do, got to do with it?" -Panel title
Don't take yourself too seriously (but do have something important to share).
"My co-panelist is presenting a 100-year review of US refugee education policy. What am I supposed to say? That I went to France and talked to some people?" -Me
"I wouldn't put it exactly like that." -My advisor
Your paper is probably not as fake as you think it is. The presentation will go smoothly. People will ask questions that you may or may not be able to answer. Give your business card to the people whose card you would like. They will not write you, but you can write them, and they will respond. Try not to cram too much onto your slides, but use a good sized font. Do not try to shove your entire dissertation into a fifteen-minute presentation, or no one will understand you. Ask at least one question, not to challenge the presenter, but because you would like to know the answer. Do put the coffee breaks on your schedule, and don't forget to explore the city.
