Hi everyone,
Hope you had a productive time rehearsing your presentation! I really (truly) enjoyed the ones I saw 🥲. It’s amazing to reflect on the journeys you’ve each been on!
In watching presentations – there were a few recurring pieces of advice I found myself giving out. Before May 8/9, please review them and see if any are applicable to you!
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A highly recommended way for you to end this presentation is: share *different options* you’re considering for your next steps, and seek advice about which to pursue. This will get you some real, concrete, actionable advice on where to focus your energy! Alternatively, you could include a question about something you’re stuck on, considering, unsure about.
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Do a tech check to not waste time: make sure you know how to share with sound/ video notes!
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You’ll have 7 minutes to present and 7 minutes for feedback. If you present longer than 7 minutes, it will cut into your feedback – so try to keep an eye on the time!
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IF you have any sense your connection may be unstable, HAVE A BACKUP PLAN: a prerecorded video.
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Speak from the I – this helps you avoid generalizing!
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Try to avoid passive voice (It was found  = passive voice; I found that or Astrologists found that = active voice). There are many reasons active voice makes for a stronger, clear, and more honest presentation, for instance: passive voice makes it unclear whether what you’re saying is a piece of the research/work YOU did yourself, or if it’s research that someone else did that you’re building off of. Give credit where credit is due (to yourself, and to others!)
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If you feel your presentation is unclear, you MAY want to give your presentation a structure that you outline explicitly at the beginning – ei “I’m going to talk about myself, talk about my research, explain my intentions walk you through the project, and then explain my next steps.” Having sections help!
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It is often helpful to start with saying WHAT the project is really explicitly – as an overview – and return to it later with more detail. (You can even say “I’ll get more into detail later in the presentation – but first”).
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Sometimes you have to “kill your darlings” – getting rid of things you love, because they no longer fit the overall context of this presentation. Some of your work may now… just only background – orient this presentation mostly towards what you’re currently working on and where you plan to go. That means for most of you, share slightly less backstory (or directions you’re NOT pursuing) unless they relate to your current path.
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Be transparent – I absolutely encourage you to reveal where you have doubts or questions, or when things haven’t worked.
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Similarly: celebrate your successes! Try to be very clear about what parts you are proud of, gave you new ideas, or just… work! This helps us understand your overall vision!
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You want to spend MUCH more time talking about your OWN work rather than the research it took to get there (although that is tempting). That said – your “own work” might mean the new connections you made between the things you learned about.
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Cite. Although you don’t have time in this presentation to talk through all of your bibliography (artistic inspirations, people whose ideas you are citing) – it’s great to just have them on a slide, possibly at the end, so your reviewers can see that you acknowledge the context you’re working in and people you are drawing ideas from!
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That said – sometimes showing similar work, or work that inspires you, can actually be a nice shortcut for giving the CONTEXT (the “why/who/where”) needed to understand your work. Meaning: if you show me a few people whose overall careers/bodies of work feel like what you aspire to, I will likely assume you are speaking to that similar audience in that similar context.
There are also more presentation tips compiled on the thesis resources page – but many of those relate more to your summer presentation. These are specific to what I observed today!
As a big favor to me, please fill out course evaluations before May 9! These are how the program (and my work as an instructor) are evaluated by the powers that be. They are anonymous, but I eventually read them (after your grades are submitted), and they also inform how I think about the class in the future, as well as how I am evaluated by NYU. One of these two links should work for you, depending on which section you’re officially enrolled in:
Lastly: An important message from Nun – please reach out to Nun directly if you have any questions, concerns, ideas, etc:Â Craig, Ruta, YG and I are getting started on the thesis archive. We’re experimenting with text-to-image models to generate key visuals and are thinking of extracting themes from student projects (their proposals for the time being) to use as input. Could we ask them to let us know if they’re not comfortable with that? It will not be their writing, but the common themes among the projects.Â
That’s all for now – I’ll send one more update Monday, and feel free to reach out or make an appointment if you want to talk!
Warmly,
Sarah
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