Today, I participated in a symposium run by another discipline.
As I sat and watched the first speaker - I though uh oh.
As I watched the second speaker - I doubled downed on the uh oh.
As I watched the third speaker - I felt like the ugly ducklinng.
I had not attended a presentation in this discipline in about 15 years & had forgotten how norms-values differ across disciplines.
So when I stood up, I introduced myself and commented my style was different - bc rather than the traditional formal theory driven & method style of presentation - I prefer telling academic stories.
I then launched into the story behind the study, contextualized the study to the story & my lived experiences, and relayed the results.
While different, and feeling like an ugly duckling, I felt good about it & received reasonable feedback.
The folks from the other discipline were gracious - albeit slightly confused - about the different style of presenting my work. I appreciated the comments and would go back any time.
All in all, it went as well as could be expected, esp. bc I didn’t do my due diligence on norms in their field.
So what did I learn?
First, no matter where you present - people appreciate a good story.
While my style was different, all four presentations had story arch’s.
Second, take time to sort out the norms of your audience.
Every discipline has a template, if you are new to a group, it’s incumbent upon you to learn the template.
I should have taken more time to prepare.
Third, while presenting to a new audience can be hard, most faculty are generous.
When I reflect on my talk, there were several pain points folks could have gone after.
My audience new more about a broader range of relevant theories than I did.
They didn’t pick at me - despite the image of academe as vicious - most people are ok.
Fourth, take time to learn from a new audience.
What was notable to me, was this group didn’t formally state research questions, go long on details of method and more.
They focused on theory and results - leaving it to the audience to read the paper for the detailed bits.
I left with ideas for how to improve my storytelling.
Finally, embrace being the ugly duckling.
The only way that you improve, is to get outside of your comfort zone.
While I didn’t intend to do that, that it happened left me confident that my work was as good as that in adjacent areas - but also showed me opportunities to grow as a scholar.
When the symposium ended, a doc student came over & thanked me. He was studying adjacent topics & enjoyed seeing a fresh way of presenting ideas.
So, while I may have felt like an ugly duckling, perhaps, I was just a horse of a different color.
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