How to Prepare for This Conference
What Should I Expect on the Day of Conference?We recommend that you arrive before the opening ceremonies in order to pick up your package.
There will be several sessions planned during the day, each session dealing with a specific social, political, economic, and/or cultural issue (For an example, please see the following webpage: http://cms.kwantlen.ca/Page11021.aspx). Each session will be consisting of three presenters. Each session is set for one hour: 45 minutes of presentations and 10-15 minutes question/answer period at the end.
The chair of each session will first introduce the presenters and their research at the start of the session. The chair will follow the order of presentations as is reflected on the Program. The chair will also highlight the important points of each presentation and will offer how they relate to one another before the audience is asked to participate in the discussion at the end of the session.
For Attendees
Take a look at the descriptions of the sessions and the abstracts and choose the sessions and papers that interest you. During the presentations, take notes and come up with questions that you would like to ask the presenters about their research. For practice, you may take a look at last year's abstract and session information and choose one or two sessions that you might have been interested to attend. You can access the information here.
We also recommend that you attend as many sessions as possible. Attending multiple sessions is a great way to learn about current research and to develop interests or ideas about possible research topics for future undergraduate or graduate level courses.
For more information about how to prepare yourself for a conference, we recommend that you visit the following webpages: http://www.cgu.edu/pages/864.asp (Claremont Graduate University, CGU Writing Centre, Presenting Conference Papers in the Humanities), and http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/mernst/advice/conference-attendance.html (University of Washington).
For Presenters
Presentation in a conference is no different than your class presentation. The chair of your session will inform you when your time is almost up and will ask you to stop your presentation if you go over the allotted time by more than two minutes. Due to time limitations, we recommend that you focus your talk on two to three issues/factors. Make sure that you stick to your allotted time limit when presenting your paper.
For more information about how to prepare yourself for a conference, we also recommend that you visit the following webpages: http://www.cgu.edu/pages/864.asp (Claremont Graduate University, CGU Writing Centre, Presenting Conference Papers in the Humanities), and http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/mernst/advice/conference-attendance.html (University of Washington).
Preparing for Presentation
A great way of preparing yourself is to practice several times before the day of your presentation.
Please contact Dr. Mirfakhraie at amir.mirfakhraie@kwantlen.ca to make an appointment with him if you would like to do a mock presentation on campus.
Know Your Audience
The majority of those attending this conference will be students who are taking first, second, third, and fourth level sociology or other courses. There will also be a few instructors from the Sociology Department and other disciplines.
Define the terms and concepts that you think your audience may not be familiar with.
Should You Read from Your Paper?
It is recommended that presenters not read from their papers but use it as a reference, though you may read sections of your paper when necessary.
We recommend that you prepare a PowerPoint, illustrating the main points/arguments of your paper/research for the audience so that they can easily follow you. Besides, the PowerPoints may also be used as a reference for your speech.
Do not offer too much description.
Be explicit in terms of your main thesis/argument.
Can I Show Clips of Films and Videos or Other Visual Forms?
Yes, we encourage you to use other visual aids, but keep in mind your time limit. Also, make sure that you have embedded the exact part of the clip of the film that you want to show as part of your PowerPoint. You will not have time to manually do this during the presentation. When you are called to present, you must be prepared to start your presentation immediately.
Important Notes
Save several copies of your presentation on UBS drives, CDs, and email a copy of it to your email address, just in case you are unable to open your file.
Make sure that you are not using a Mac computer to put together your PowerPoint. Use a PC instead.
If you have any other questions, please contact Dr. Amir Mirfakhraie at amir.mirfakhraie@kwantlen.ca.
