The main purpose is to allow anyone (e.g., graduate students, postdocs, faculty) to present their research in progress and solicit constructive feedback. The style and structure are at the discretion of the presenter (i.e., they need not fill 50 minutes). The spirit of EELunch is different from Cramer Departmental Seminars or talks at meetings in that EELunch is intended primarily to benefit research programs as they are active – when hypotheses, experiments, analyses, and interpretations remain malleable. EElunch can also be a place for presenting final answers and finished products, but this is not its primary goal. Thus, a measure of success for an EELunch is the extent to which a research project evolves into something better than it was as a result of dynamic interactions with the EEB group.
Informality is encouraged at EELunch (e.g., bring your lunch), but do not confuse a comfortable venue among friends with an invitation to “wing it” or to present a slideshow. That would be a missed opportunity for you and disrespectful to your colleagues. Note that slick PowerPoint presentations can also be counterproductive, especially if they stifle audience input and subtract from your thinking time before EELunch.
Some general strategies for presenters:
● Consider ahead of time how in particular your research could most benefit from the group (e.g., what are possible explanations that you have not thought of for a surprising pattern? What would be a creative alternative for analyzing a data set? What are parallels in other systems that you do not know as well? Are your interpretations as broad as they could be, within the bounds of your study questions and data?).
● Plan things so that input is specifically invited and received on points that you identify ahead of time.
● Be receptive of feedback that is unexpected (indeed, the unexpected is generally the most valuable feedback of all).
● Throughout, strive to invite input with frequent pauses and lots of eye contact. Make it clear that you want their most beneficial comments, which may not always be ones you want to hear or ones you have answers for. Remember that it is better to get “tough” comments and questions at an informal presentation at Dartmouth than in a grant, manuscript review or a presentation at a national meeting.
● Have a bit more material than you expect to present, and have a plan for what could be left out. This gives flexibility for allowing constructive discussions to mature.
● Remain in command of the discussion. It is up to the speaker to focus the audience and use the time well. Don’t be afraid to say “we can talk about that individually afterwards” if you feel that a particular line of questioning is dominating the discussion.
● Remember that EELunch is an appropriate place for taking some intellectual risks. Deliberately push the boundaries a bit on how general your questions are, how strong your inferences are, and how broad are the implications. If you do not get pruned back (i.e., criticized for overreaching with your questions or data) a bit in EELunch then you are probably being too conservative and narrowly focused.
● Take notes when people ask questions, or better yet, ask a colleague to do on your behalf.
● Make your own notes afterwards. What were the questions and comments? What were the hardest questions? What would have been the perfect response, keeping in mind that what a questioner needs to hear is frequently other than the literal answer to their question? In the future, how can you prevent distracting questions from arising in the first place, keeping in mind that the most important questions generally require deeper changes to the research than editing a PowerPoint slide? Take note of the interesting questions, and in the future seek to answer them without prompting just as they are arising in the mind of the listener. What worked well (no questions, lots of nodding)? Where did it seem like it was not working even if there were not questions (puzzled looks, impatient colleagues, dozing faculty)? What could you have left out without detriment? What could be added or changed to make a challenging part of the presentation go easier?
● Actively pursue further discussions with your colleagues on points of the EELunch. The best EELunches are those that keep on giving after the hour is up. Find comfortable situations to ask colleagues direct questions about your style as well as the content. Make it clear that you want to hear about any distracting quirks, too soft a voice, weird color choices in slides, frenetic laser pointing, etc.
Judge the success of your presentation by the extent to which it provoked thoughtful comments and unexpectedly challenging questions during and after the EELunch.