Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2018

Career Developement

How to Ask Questions at a Conference

New at the 2018 Annual Meeting! Data Visualization Monday, February 19, 2:15 pm –3:45 pm

Working up the nerve to ask questions at conferences can be hard, but you should definitely pat yourself on the back for taking the initiative to try. That being said, there are some things that you can think about to help you ask your question most effectively and to make the best impression.

This interactive session will focus on how to best represent your data visually, whether for a talk, a poster, or publish- ing a paper. New tools and approaches are now enhancing how we interact with our data. How to determine the best approach, summarize complex material in easily digest- ible forms, and why simpler is better will all be discussed. Datasets and real examples of visual interpretations by participants will be discussed. Please visit https:/www.dropbox.com/request/ hAk6Aa0bOeUrHV1A2x2H to drop your sample files.

Statements We’ve all seen it happen. The statement “question” is all too familiar at academic conferences. You may have seen audi- ence members make their own statement about the topic at hand. More often than not, people “asking” these kinds of questions are not really trying to get information. Rather, they are usually trying to prove they are right or why they do not agree with the speaker; possibly trying to one-up the speaker. Don’t do this. It’s hard enough to think on your feet, but it’s even more difficult to have to shift to someone else’s point of view. Ask a question publicly or privately It may be scary standing up at a conference and asking a question. Before getting up the nerve to approach people at random or asking a question during a session at a large con- ference, try practicing at smaller events, such as those around your university or company. Starting small will help you build up the confidence to start raising your hand! Another tech- nique you could try is to approach a speaker right after his/ her session. This alleviates some of the nerves you may feel about asking a question in a large room full of people, and can lead to a longer discussion and further engagement. Repeating a question If you do have a question you want to ask, make sure that it wasn’t already asked and answered earlier during the Q&A or during the presentation. This can be hard, especially if you had to duck out of the session at some point. If you are not sure whether your question has been addressed, you can mention this and/or make it clear you are asking for clarification in order to not irritate the speaker and the audience. Be sure to make the most of the BPS Annual Meeting —be confident and ask your question!

Special issue Reconstituting cell biology Guest edited by Manuel Théry (HôpitalStLouis,ParisandCEA,Grenoble) Submission deadline: 15th February 2018 Call for papers Journal of Cell Science is pleased to welcome submissions for this upcoming special issue. We encourage submissions of Research Articles, Short Reports and Tools & Resources papers. This special issue is intended to have a broad scope, so we are open to articles froma wide spectrumof areas. All special issue papers will be published shortly after acceptance, and collected together in a special issue scheduled for release in early 2019.

Find out more at: http://jcs.biologists.org/content/call-papers-reconstituting-cell-biology

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