needle's eye

How do you fill this seminar room

with scientists?

Offer them pizza!

In the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, this happens most Wednesdays. About ten weeks ago, the Moss (mentor-boss) signed me up for Pizza Talk. He phrased the proposition in the form of a question, but I wasn't fooled - it was a statement.

I spent a few weeks ignoring the inevitable, and eventually came around to preparing the talk. The seminars in this series are given by postdocs and some doctoral students. The talks are short - under 30 minutes - which generates its own sort of pressure as the length demands pith and fluidity.

There's a lot that goes into crafting a talk, and I spent a fair fraction of the past two weeks preparing for the talk. Nervous? Oh sure, I was nervous. Really nervous? I'll cop to that.

Some studies find that as fears go, public speaking ranks right up there with death. This makes perfect sense, actually. Think about it - you are out in the wilderness, none of your tribe is near you, and another tribe is staring at you intently. I believe that the ancient DNA says, "They want to have you for dinner." I related this to a colleague, and she said, "Well, that's what the pizza is for!" A perfect answer.

In high school, I performed in musicals and never got stage fright. The night before my talk, I realized that singing before hitting the stage was key to creating a positive outlet for nervous energy. Casting about for a good tune to use, I chose the Hallelujah chorus, but felt that I needed to change the words in order to avoid hubris and consequent bad luck. So I was walking down Longwood singing:

PEP per oni, PEP per oni, pepperoni, pepperoni,
peppeh roh oh oh ni

PEP per oni, PEP per oni, pepperoni, pepperoni,
peppeh roh oh oh ni

pep peh er oh o oh - oh oh oh ni
(pepperoni, pepperoni, pepperoni, pepperoni)

pep peh er oh o oh - oh oh oh ni
(pepperoni, pepperoni, pepperoni, pepperoni)

By the third slide, I realized that I was having fun, and began to savor the presentation. In the end, my Pizza Talk, given to at least one hundred PhDs and doctoral students, really did go well. I was entirely satisfied with the talk, and nearly so with the Q & A afterwards. At the outset, I did not expect to end up with that level of satisfaction.

Comments

[mishka]

So is it possible for a non-scientist to understand what you talked about? Just curious. I have two strategies: 1) imagine everyone in the audience (or the scariest person in the audience) in underwear and 2) look one or two friendly people in the eye and talk to them if things get dicey. Mostly, I'd rather talk to a big room full of people than work the room at a party where I don't know anyone, though! Congrats on getting through it well.

[IHateToast]

so who cleaned up?

http://xkcd.com/21/

[Liz (the crazed weasel)]

hey, congratulations on a great talk! Go, you!

[Rebecca H.]

It is not difficult at all to envision you singing the Pepperoni Chorus on your way to your talk. I'm glad it was a success :)

[Ariel]

Congrats on the successful talk! When preparing for a scary presentation, I remind myself that the absolute worst-case scenario is X number of minutes of utter, soul-crushing humiliation. Then I remind myself that I survived junior high, so I know humiliation won't kill me. Somehow that quiets the primal "they're all here to eat me" panic.

[Erich Schwarz]

"PEP per oni, PEP per oni, pepperoni, pepperoni, peppeh roh oh oh ni..."

You are such a Suzanne.

:)

(And, good your talk went well!)

[Danielle]

The pepperoni chorus. I'll have to file that one away for future use.

[Emily L]

As one of the postdocs in the audience I can attest to the extraordinary pith and fluidity of your talk. I had no idea that it was due (in small part) the the pepperoni chorus. I'm sure the preparation was the greater cause of the success.

[Liz]

Now I have the Pepperoni Chorus stuck in my head...

But more importantly, I'm glad it went so well! Congrats on a talk well-finished. :)

[Julie]

*lol* there's a great way to conquer a fear! I did less well when I gave the fastest master's thesis defense in the history of our department but they gave me a degree so must have done well enough. Congrats on what I'm sure was a fab seminar.

[heather]

nice work! Some days I'd take a room of Ph.Ds over my students... ;-)

[Kim]

Good going! I went to a pre-concert lecture once and the speaker sang to the theme we would hear later on, "I like pizza, I like pizza, I like pizza, let's go order some." It's still stuck in my head.