More importance of being....

Well the conference is wrapping up now and I have a few more bits of reflection on presentations to add to my original list:

1. Warnings. I was in a presentation that was generally benign when suddenly I was confronted with images of a decapitated sheep's head in a vice. If you are going to show this, especially when jumping from "innocent" images, it might be a good idea to warn people.

2. Know your technology and do a practice run if possible. Have a video? Play it ahead of time so you know if the audio is wonky or that it won't run without a certain player. Too many minutes were lost in presentations over fudging with technology. In this conference it was fairly easy to get into the presentation spaces ahead of time and make sure everything will run. But even when that's not the case, stick to something you know will work, have a backup plan or even just try to use your own laptop if possible.

3. Do not read your powerpoint. I would hope most people would have something to add besides the few words they have included in their powerpoint. If not, you either don't have enough content or you've loaded your powerpoint with far too much information. Plus I feel like a kindergardener having a book read to me by the teacher - I can read thank you very much.

4. Language. This one is a bit sensitive, but make sure you can converse in the language in which you will be expected to present. If not, make some arrangements. It's very frustrating to not understand something that sounds as though it might be very interesting, but I just can't get to it.

5. Move the pointer! This one might be an issue of minutia but I cannot stand when someone clicks on something either in powerpoint or a video and then leaves the cursor in the middle of the screen. It's quite distracting to see this little finger icon or an arrow when I am trying to focus on whatever it is you are showing.

So that's it for now. I'll have radio silence until I get to London sometime tomorrow afternoon. Oh and by the way, my presentation went well and I am proud to say I did none of the mentioned offenses. But I do have one more don't that I know I am guilty of: stop saying "um." (Any suggestions for me on that one?)

The importance of being...

Years ago at the first conference in which I presented, I was was scheduled to go in the first panel. While this was nerve-racking, it did free me to relax and enjoy the rest of the conference. At this conference, I am scheduled to present on the last day, in the last session. While on the one hand this is extending the nervousness, I also have an opportunity to see a lot of other's presentations while thinking about how to refine my own. And here's what I've discovered. When thinking about your presentation it is important to:

1. keep it simple. Case in point, the graph I snuck a photo of. This was not the most complex of this presenter's slides, but he was too quick for me to snap a shot of the busiest slide. This was exacerbated by him not explaining these graphs and after a few, I just sort of stopped trying to read all the little red text on black.

2. stay on topic. If you show me images or video, talk about those images and video. If you seem to be talking on a completely different subject than your visual aids, and don't offer any way of telling us how they are connected, I am just going to tune out and just focus one or the other.

3. practice. Each session is two hours long and has about 4-5 presenters. So that's about 15-20 minutes per person. So practice what you are going to say ahead of time. With a watch. See how long it takes you. Many presenters went well over their alloted time with the clever strategy of looking down at their paper or focusing on the screen to avoid the time monitor's indicators of just a few minutes remaining. Not only will practice help you to know how long to talk, it will also help you to be less nervous and appear more organized - this will also save you time.

I've heard a lot of interesting concepts, theories and work in this conference so far. But very often I was distracted to the point that I almost missed it. And while I'm nervous to go last, after another day and a half of these presentations, hopefully I can refine my own presentation learning from what does and doesn't work in the others.

Overall, this is a really great conference. (And tonight I have my first real British pub experience!)

(insert British colloquialism here)

Greetings from England! I'm attending and presenting in the International Visual Sociology Association conference on the campus of the University of Cumbria in Carlisle England. The conference has only just begun and I've just come from the keynote address by a very interesting man named Howard Hull. Luckily my presentation is on the third day so I have plenty of time to acclimate to the local time (I'm a bit sleepy at the moment). We had a bit of an internet problem but I seem to be one of the lucky few who could get their mac laptops to connect to the wireless. This conference seems very promising, so more to come as possible (hopefully the internet continues to work). The image above is the Learning Gateway, a very nice facility in which the conference is being held.

Taking calculated risks

I've never considered myself much of a gambler. I'll proudly take my place with the low stakes gamblers at the nickel slots in any casino. But I've come to realize that I do have a bit of a risk taking streak after all.

Now this isn't pity party for Liz, "I used to have to walk uphill in the snow both ways" talk or anything, but I didn't really come from any kind of background that would support going to college, much less to major in Art. In most parents' minds, an Art major is right up there with Philosophy or Women's Studies (no offense!) in terms of future job prospects. Whenever I have to meet with prospective stuents' parents the dreaded, "how will my child ever survive" question invariably always comes up. Luckily my parents were cool enough to let me do the only thing I was ever really interested in doing.

So not only was this the case with undergrad, but when I set my sites on a private art school for my graduate studies, the tuition was a serious inhibitor. But I thought about it. How long would to take me without a graduate degree to earn enough money to pay for tuition? And then how much higher would my salary be with a terminal degree? With a much higher salary I could pay back my tuition must faster than I could ever save it up. So I took out loans, mostly fed but a few private, and I went to grad school. I had a good experience, I learned a lot about art and I got into teaching straight out of grad school. I wouldn't be where I am now if I hadn't taken the risk of student loans and I'm happy I took that risk.

And now (not to brag, I swear) I have many opportunities to present both my artwork and my research at conferences and exhibitions all over the world. Sure, my university does have some support for this, but not really enough to cover the cost of traveling to everything - I have eight or nine trips I scheduled for just this year alone. Very often I have heard faculty lament about not going to a conference because the university wouldn't cover the costs. But isn't this, as the saying goes, cutting off one's nose to spite their face? Can you just imagine someone's resume or tenure portfolio listing all the prestigious conferences they were "invited" to but did not intend? All the grant proposals they developed but never completed because they couldn't get any money? Good luck with that. The truth is that while it is great if your university can support you, very often they can't and it's no excuse to not produce and become an important and relevant scholar in your field.

I'm footing the bill for several trips to Europe this year. This all while paying off those aforementioned student loans. But I don't mind, I'm not panicked. Again, the benefits versus the cost make this a calculated risk. I love what I do. I love to make art and I love to teach art. Having the ability to be a keynote speaker, or share my artwork and my teaching philosophy and to make a name for myself in my field are all worth the cost of a plane ticket. It makes me a better artist and scholar, not to mention really boosting my frequent flyer points!

Too often I hear from students who are getting ready to graduate or who have just graduated that they thought about grad school but that it was too expensive so instead they are going to work a while and then go. I know what I'm going to say is a horrible sweeping generalization, but I think for many of these students that is a mistake. Unfortunately, there's not much one can do these days with just a BA. I worry about those students. I wonder if they'll ever go back to making art. Often times they don't. Many students come back a year or two after they've graduated frustrated that they haven't made artwork since school.

So whatever your goal is, grad school, a conference in Prague, or whatever, you should ask yourself, "is this really out of reach?" My mom tells me sometimes that I'm lucky to have achieved everything that I have. But I have realized that it wasn't so much that I was lucky as that I was stubborn. I knew what I wanted, and I didn't stop until I found a way to get it. What do you want? Are you going to go after it or wait and see if it comes to you?

Image by MarkyBon

I'm back!

3,616 images and 2683.9 miles later I'm home. It was a really good trip overall and I got a lot of great images for my series. I even covered more area than I had anticipated I could cover. Now all I have left is West Palm Beach through Key West which I will hopefully be able to complete later this year. You can see some of what I shot here. Now, time to catch up on a month's worth of work!