Dr K’s Snappy Guide to
GIVING A CONFERENCE PAPER
Most of us start our conference-paper careers by proposing to read a paper we’ve written for an
advanced class or seminar. (If you’re looking for advice on how to write an abstract to get that
paper accepted, click here.) That’s fine, but there are several key differences you need to
observe to convert a successful written paper into a paper that can be successfully read. This
snappy guide points you at some of the basic changes you’ll need to make.
First of all, a conference paper is NOT a research paper. They are two different rhetorical acts,
written for two different audiences. A research paper is designed to show your professor that
you’ve had a critical idea and that you’ve done research. So usually it is studded with long
quotations, lists of critics and what they’ve said about your idea, and other forms of proof that
you’ve learned something in your class. And it is usually written in your best “Impress My English
Professor” prose—long, compound-complex sentences, semi-colons galore, and terminology and
jargon strewn hither and yon to make you “sound experienced.”
But a conference paper is a different animal. It’s designed to make a specific critical point out
loud to a group of people with some interest in the topic—people who aren’t giving you a letter
grade—and, depending on the conference, even to people who might not be familiar with your
subject but thought the title sounded interesting. Furthermore, they don’t have the written text in
front of them; they’re listening to the paper. So the text you deliver needs to be redesigned for
oral delivery. Specifically, you will need to revise your written text so that it “reads” well. Here
are some of the most common areas where you can make a written text more listener-friendly:
•
Never, never, never, never violate the time limit. If you have 15 minutes, don’t exceed
it. If you have 20 minutes, don’t exceed it. Nothing makes you look more egocentric and
less professional than violating your scheduled time. (Figuring out how long you have is
simple. If it’s a 75 minute session, allow 15 minutes for questions. If there are 3 papers,
you each get 20 minutes. If there are 4 papers, you each get 15 minutes.) Cut, slash, and
simplify that 22-page paper into one you can read in the allotted time. If you have to focus
on two works rather than three, do so—just make sure your abstract says that.
The rule of thumb is that at a conversational (non-Yankee) reading pace, you can read 810 double-spaced pages in 20 minutes—less if you are stopping to show things on
PowerPoint, read quotes from a handout, etc. It’s okay if your 20-minute paper is only 18
minutes, or your 15-minute paper is only 13 minutes—but don’t run too short, either. That
makes your idea seem unconvincing and makes the audience wonder about whether you
can be taken seriously.
•
Practice out loud when rehearsing your paper. Bore your roommates, spouses, and
pets to death by reading the paper over and over out loud. This builds mental muscle
memory, making it less likely that nerves will make you stumble or lose your place during
the actual delivery. Do some research on the conference in advance; some conferences
are less formal than others, while others will expect a very formal presentation style. Ask
your professors, or do some online searching to find discussions of previous
conferences.
•
Simplify the prose style. In oral delivery, you’ll want shorter sentences with less
complex syntax. Make sure you have very obvious transition points, much more
noticeable than you would in a written text. It really helps listeners follow an oral text
when you say “The second point I’d like to make is” or “So, to sum up.”
•
Bring a readable text to the conference. Many scholars print their papers out in 14 or
15-point type so they can read it more easily. Put the page numbers in large print at the
top of every page so it’s easy to keep them in order. Have a working paper clip. If you’re
using visual aids, have them backed up—both on a flash drive and a CD, or stashed on a
web page (if you know you’ll have Internet access) in case the technology is balky. Don’t
give your talk by reading from your laptop. It may suggest to your audience that you didn’t
finish your presentation until the last minute and may suggest that your paper isn’t worth
hearing. Saving trees is important, but presenting a professional ethos is more important
at this point in your career.
•
Don’t feel obligated to read every word of what every critic has said about your
text. It’s fine to say “Critics like Matthieson, Woodlief and Reynolds have described the
American Renaissance as being….” rather than reading long quotes from each of them. If
you add that wonderful phrase “Time today does not permit me to read what Matthieson,
Woodlief, and Reynolds have said; to summarize, their position is X,” you’ll be well
rewarded by audience smiles. If people bring this up in the question session, you can say
“Well, I hope to publish this as an article, and I’ll be including Y, Z, and Q.”
•
Provide a handout of relevant quotations, especially if you are paying particular
attention to language use. You don’t need to bust the budget—if you bring 25 handouts,
people can share. But having the words in front of people makes the listening
comprehension go up. (By the way, let the session chair or a listener hand them out.)
•
If you have long quotations, you may not have to read them out—you can refer to
the handouts: “As you’ll see from example one on your handout, Austen describes
Pemberley as…” and go on from there.
•
If you have esoteric names or terms or foreign language quotes in your paper, make
sure you can pronounce them correctly when you’re reading out loud. That handy
thing called the dictionary is your best friend—and ask a professor how to pronounce the
name of any scholars or terms you’re not familiar with. (Some online dictionaries have
sound files of correct pronunciations as well.) I once saw a presentation where a full
professor was talking about “Jacques De-Ride-Uh” in a paper—when Jacques Derrida
was actually in the audience! Derrida was a gentleman about it, but the audience was
really embarrassed the whole time. You don’t want to be in that situation!
•
Expect questions and comments. That’s what a paper is supposed to engender—
discussion and conversation. Usually the questioner will want you to clarify or expand on
an idea, and this can be very valuable listener feedback. If someone asks “Have you
considered X?” and you haven’t, feel free to say so—and ask the person for references.
Very, very rarely, someone in the audience will have a nasty remark to make. That’s
their problem, not yours. The way to handle it is to say “Thank you for that feedback. I’ll
give that a lot of thought,” and then gracefully move on. (Since this makes the giver of the
comment look foolish and makes you look graceful and professional, you win.)
•
Think about having a short bibliography on your handout, especially if you are
presenting new material or materials from a point of view with which the audience may
not be familiar. Don’t give the whole bibliography from your paper—you’re not doing
someone else’s research for them—but do provide highlights that an interested reader
might like to follow up.
•
Sometimes a speaker before you will not observe the time limits and you may have to
cut your paper “on the fly” to fit it in the session. This isn’t fair to you, of course, and
you are certainly justified in being annoyed—but if you want to come off as a star, don’t
show the audience your annoyance. Instead, improve your ethos by saying, ruefully,
“We’re running short on time, so I’m going to try to condense this as I go, and I do
appreciate your forebearance as I do this.” This will enlist the audience’s sympathy (first
of all, you’re respecting their time, and second of all, most of them have been in a similar
situation at some time and know how you feel).
If you’re in this situation, skip the critics and the background and focus specifically on
your thesis and support. That way at least your main message gets delivered. Often
papers like these get the best reception because of how well you’ve handled a difficult
situation; I’ve known several graduate students who’ve had to do this and then were
invited, either by the panel chair or someone in the audience, to give another paper as
“compensation.” At the very least, you’ll show yourself to be a graceful professional in a
very sticky situation.
Access
The Modern Language Association reminds presenters that there may be people in the audience
who have sight and hearing difficulties. These people may not always be obvious, and you can’t
just assume they aren’t there. To accommodate these attendees, the MLA recommends the
following for its meetings (and meetings of its affiliates, like SAMLA):
•
If the attendee has a sign-language interpreter, stand and speak in such a way that the
interpreter can see you easily. Don’t speak from a darkened area of the room, since
some hearing-impaired attendees may need to read lips to follow what you say.
•
Bring several large-print copies of your paper for those attendees who may need a visual
assist in following your paper. (16 pt is probably fine.)
•
Make sure print is large enough on the screen for visually-challenged attendees to read.
•
Describe images and point to specific parts of them (don’t use one of those red laser-dot
pointers) so that visually-challenged attendees can interpret them.
•
When referring to passages on handouts, give the attendees time to find what you’re
referring to and to digest the material.
•
Read distinctly and clearly, and always restate questions before you answer them, so
that all members of the audience can hear them.
•
Turn off projectors and other “background noise” generators when not in use so that
there are fewer distracting sounds in the room.
Some Other Ways to Improve Your Conference Presentations
Like I said, giving a conference paper is a rhetorical act. Dress the part. No open-toed shoes or
flip-flops, no t-shirts, no jeans, no wrinkly clothes. Play the role of one of the grownups. As the
Texas Medieval Association website advises,
You should dress conservatively. Being mistaken for an undergraduate gets old, and no
one takes you seriously. [Dr. K’s note: this is true even if you are an undergraduate.]
Likewise, you should only read a paper while adorned with a visible tattoo and a tongue
stud if you are an Ivy League grad student presenting avant garde lit crit. You want your
ideas and your work to be remembered, not your clothes.
Don’t “session-hop.” Even if two of your friends are presenting on different panels at the same
time, don’t sneak out of one panel after the first paper to go to another paper. That’s disrespectful
to the other speakers and puts your friend in an uneasy position.
Go to sessions other than your own. Sometimes you get funding to go to a conference in a
neat place and you’re tempted to check out the town. Remember, though, that a conference is
just that—a chance to hear other scholars and get involved in professional conversations (i.e.
networking). Often you’ll run into someone at a session who’ll say, “Oh, I heard your paper,” and
then a conversation begins about your work—often leading to new opportunities for you. If you
make hit-and-run appearances at conferences, it gets noticed—and that tends to cut down the
number of invitations you’ll get to return. Also, if you’re being funded to attend a conference, it’s
dishonest if you don’t spend time doing what the funding gives you the opportunity to do.
Make sure people can get in touch with you. Put your name, affiliation, e-mail address, and
paper title on your handouts (this makes it easier for people to get in touch with you after the
conference). Buy some inexpensive business card blanks for your printer and take a dozen or so
with you to the conference. If a professor at another school asks how s/he can get in touch with
you, give out your card, and get one of theirs. (This is particularly important if you’re networking
for possible Ph.D. programs or employment!) All of these little touches contribute to your ethos—
the sense that you’re serious about yourself and your work.
Remember, a professional conference is just that—a place for professionals to confer. Since your
work has been accepted for presentation, the other people coming to the conference are willing to
take you seriously. If you take yourself seriously as well, you will get more out of the conference
than you may ever have imagined. Good luck!
In preparing this handout, I also consulted “A Guide for the Conferentially Perplexed,” written by
Theresa M. Vann for the Texas Medieval Association in 1998. I appreciate TEMA’s willingness to
share that information, which is available at http://pages.towson.edu/duncan/conguide.html.
Professor Kelly Richardson also offered valuable suggestions. © 2008 by Jo Koster, Department
of English, Winthrop University, kosterj@winthrop.edu All rights reserved.