How to Be an Effective Symposium Discussant

Journal of Science Communication, 2020

Expert debates have become a popular form to inform the public about scientific issues. To deepen our knowledge about individuals who attend such formats and to investigate what they expect of the dissemination of science, this study analyzes the attendants of scientific expert debates and their expectations. Cluster analysis is applied to survey data (n=358) to explore whether distinct segments may be distinguishable within this supposedly homogeneous audience. Four different segments were identified and, overall, the findings indicate that attendants expect science communication to not only present scientific findings comprehensibly and from different perspectives, but also to create everyday life applicability, whereas interacting with scientists is of less interest.

The primary objective of seminar presentation is to enhance presentation skills when persuading, educating, or informing an audience. Specifically, it provides a focus on the fundamental aspects of a quality academic, professional and business communications including structure, preparation and strategy for delivery, using visual aids, and handling question and answer sessions. The presenter/student practices by preparing and delivering an ideal real-life academic/business presentation. Strict adherence to the instructions outlined allows the presenter to evaluate his/her progress and alter any distracting behaviours before and during presentation. It also enables the participant to learn by doing. The aim of this paper is to introduce students to simple principles on how to plan, writs and present their findings as technical conference papers, then act as the mini-conference programme committee members in reviewing each other's submissions. Finally, in addition to the model itself, description of some variations in instantiation and an assessment of the benefits of this general approach and recommendation for adoption by faculties and educators are proffered. Introduction Rarely are the three pillars of academia-research, teaching and service-addressed together, within one intellectually cohesive context in the graduate curriculum. Such a context is important for exposing students to the interrelationships among these facets. Oftentimes, people are confused what a seminar, workshop or conference means. They are sometimes considered to mean the same thing. However, workshop is a brief intensive educational programme for a relatively small group of people that focuses on techniques and skills in a particular field. Seminar on the other hand is a meeting of a group of advanced students studying under a professor/officer with each doing original research and all exchanging results of their findings through reports and discussions. A conference is a meeting of two or more persons/bodies organized for the benefit of discussing matters of common concern, which usually involves formal interchange of views.

Australasian Journal of Paramedicine

This article will not provide guidance on public speaking techniques or details on the use of presentation software programs commonly used at conferences.

Human Studies, 2000

This paper analyzes a conference panel discussion entitled "Identity in Crisis: The Issue of Agency in Social Constructionism and Postmodernism" in order to identify some limits to intellectual discussion. The panel participants made a deliberate attempt to engage in a self-reflexive language game about the language game of intellectual discussion in the conference format. This attempt revealed the highly sedimented nature of discursive practice in the conference setting, at least, and perhaps more generally. This analysis of the extent to which sedimented practices limit the exercise of agency highlights academic practices which typically are hidden or considered too obvious to merit attention.

Group Leader at the annual A/P Symposium for Task 3 -- Expanding Use of Peer-Reviewed Research Some of the greatest minds in the profession (Invited participants) representing both academicians and security practitioners, will gather to address the most effective utilization of security related peer-reviewed resesarch, among other important questions. This important annual event is coordinated by the Academic Instituions Council and hosted by the ASIS Foundation. I welcome anyone with an interest in this topic to contribute thoughts and ideas or contact me directly via email.

Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2005

One of the key means by which knowledge is disseminated in the academic discourse community is the spoken presentation of papers at an academic conference. In contrast to the written research article, the spoken presentation remains relatively under-researched from a linguistic perspective, limiting the knowledge available for explicating this kind of discourse in academic language programs. In this paper, we draw on a social semiotic theory of language (Systemic Functional Linguistics) and of gesture, to frame a multi-layered exploration of interpersonal meaning in this register that incorporates attention to generic staging, to expressions of attitude, and to the coexpression of attitudinal language and gesture. The data are a set of plenary presentations at an academic conference, and the study aims to explore means by which the speakers construe a relationship of solidarity with their audiences in the introductory or 'set-up' stage of their talk. q

This is not my article, but after I read the article, it cannot help falling in love with Professor Uri Alon`s contributions, so that`s why I would to share Professor Uri Alon article on how to give a good talk? We depend on talks to communicate our work, and we spend much of our time as audience members in talks. However, few scientists are taught the well-established principles of giving good talks. Here, I describe how to prepare, present, and answer questions in a scientific talk. We will see how a talk prepared with a single premise and delivered with good eye contact is clear and enjoyable.

1990

Organizing this symposium was a tremendous learning process for all of us. Here, we record the process we used, and the guidelines we’d follow (or not!) if we were to do it all over again. We hope they’re helpful to junior scientists looking to organize meetings of any kind, but especially those dealing with systemic issues affecting the research enterprise. The organizing tips are presented below in topical “chunks” arranged in the chronological order we found they first required attention. However, most chunks have tasks that need to be executed over a long time scale. To facilitate the management of this, we assigned individual people to coordinate many of them. If you’d like to organize your own symposium on these topics, please feel free to use whatever assets we have that may be useful to you. We would be delighted to offer additional advice; please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We’d love to help spread the word about your meeting!