Loved this video about Dave Weins, the understated mountain biker from Leadville who continues to vanquish Tour de France champs. It’s refreshing to see not just his quiet confidence, but also his uncertainty – an element of doubt that we all have but are encouraged to sweep under the carpet. Anyway, good bit of daily inspiration.
Sadly, a seminar I went to yesterday was anything but inspiring. This could have been due to the technical difficulties, the slightly slow delivery, or the squeaky chair to my right, but I was most bothered by my complete lack of interest in the subject matter. As a geology student in a geology talk, this shouldn’t happen, but yesterday was symptomatic of something I experience all too often: an assumption that because of a shared roof, the audience is inherently interested in the material.
Maybe I’m an anomaly, but just because I’m a geology student doesn’t mean I anticipate every departmental lecture like the latest Bond film. I need to be convinced that a given talk is interesting and important, just as I would for a lecture on economics, politics, or underwater basket-weaving. And given the enormous task of communicating the importance and intrigue of science to the public, convincing our own ranks must be the first, and surely the easiest, move.
Jeff, you’re not an anomaly. Reads perfectly normal to me.
I know what you mean! I used to feel big waves of guilt as I sat dozing in yet another Virology seminar. I was a Virology student, so all things virology were supposed to make my heart skip a beat, right? Not so much. Sometimes science (or the presenter) is just boring. Nothing you can do about it. What’s important though, is that there is science that excites you, that there are seminars that leave you on the edge of your seat (not literally, I hope). Not every seminar is going to be a Bond film, as you say, but some can be pretty freakin cool.
I’m afraid that actually makes you a failure as a scientist. You are required to be interested in everything that has ever been done using the scientific method. Ever.
Really, though, a good presentation format can make all the difference…. I’ve seen a number lately that I couldn’t have cared less about the material until 10 minutes into the presentation, when the speaker really sold their material. So it’s definitely worth being aware of – those high school debate skills (that you clearly don’t have according to Miller, right?) will come in handy.
Ginsy! welcome to the double-N! Yeah, not only presentation format and speaking skills, but also things like slide design, looking at the audience, etc. Really, there’s a pretty long list of things that one would normally do (I would hope, at least) when talking to a school group or a general audience that get dropped because of some sort of assumed familiarity.