March has been one busy [but fabulous] month for me in terms of not only my teaching and consulting, but also for my research presentations. Most of the time, my conference schedule over the summer has been usually packed and busy with lots of flying and traveling to various locations. However, in 2015, this is all happening to me in March.
I have been doing a presentation each week in March. Last week, I had the opportunity to travel down to familiar settings in Knoxville to do a speaker engagement at the local PRSA chapter about technology and its impact on stakeholder relationships. I have to give a shout out to my friend and PR colleague Laura Spica for inviting me to do this great speaking engagement.
My last presentation is going to be at the COMMGR Conference in Athens, Greece. This will be the second time I have been to Greece and I am really excited to present my first strict methods research paper looking at the situational q-sort and crisis communications.
Another exciting point for this conference is the fact that UofL is going to have a strong presence at this conference as well. My colleague Mary is going to be chairing and presenting her own research at the conference as well as one of my graduate students, Samantha. Both have never been to Greece before, so it will be exciting to hear what their thoughts are not only about the conference, but country as well.
What is important to consider for graduate students in my opinion is to give them an opportunity to take what they have done in the classroom in terms of research and translate this into a research or professional presentation. Samantha did a great research case study on what FIFA had to deal with in regards to the concussion issue that occurred during the last World Cup. Samantha’s very interested in sports and social media, so she took this as an opportunity to explore how FIFA responded and acted in this situation, which resulted in a very interesting and applicable case study for crisis communications.
Another factor I have shared with Samantha (and Ben, who is another graduate student at UofL and presented his case study at the ICRC Conference) is the fact both of them are doing something I didn’t even do as a Master’s student. My first international conference presentation happened after my first year as a Ph.D. student, so what they are doing as master’s students I think is pretty amazing. Having a proud prof moment over here! 🙂
So, how do professors encourage graduate students to take what they have done for their classes and translate this into a conference presentation? Here are a few things I have learned from this experience:
- Tailor the project to a conference: There are a lot of conferences out there, so you have to evaluate which ones would be the best fit not only for the project, but for the overall experience for the student. ICRC and COMMGR were two that immediately came to mind when I first talked to Ben and Samantha about their work, and they were both on board to submit their work to these conferences.
- Think about the takeaways and benefits for the students: As a professor, you have to look at what the student will gain from participating and presenting at this conference. Will it be connections in the field? Exposure for their insights and perspectives in the field? Or will it be an event that opens doors for them personally and professionally? There are many benefits to presenting at conferences, and I have shared my experiences over the years with my students.
- It’s not all about you: it’s about your students: A lot of times, you see students getting “tagged” or added to a paper you are on and they are the ones that present this at the conference. While I think is is good, that’s not what I encouraged for my graduate students. I wanted both Samantha and Ben to be solo authors and presenters for their work. They wrote the paper, did the research, and created the presentation. It’s their work, so they should get full credit. This is similar to what coaches do in sports.Professors are like coaches in so many ways. Is it the coach that is on the award stand with the athlete? No. But they are on the sidelines cheering for them and do play an important role, which as a professor, this is what I will be doing for my students during their presentations.
- Prep, prep, and prep some more: I am not just talking about the actual paper or presentation, but I am also talking about the overall experience and what to expect at these conferences. These are events that could potentially be intimidating, so you have to make sure to let the students know what to expect for some of these conferences.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
