PhD-INET Study Group Guidelines [1]
1. We highly encourage participants to commit to presenting, as well as attending other people’s seminars. Presentations offer mutual benefits to speakers and attendees, and these benefits are generally increasing in the number of participants.
2. Speakers should begin with a statement about the status (in terms of progress) of their research and what they would specifically like feedback on. The audience should keep these details in mind throughout the presentation. This is not to say that nothing else can be discussed or questioned; just that time on different aspects be allocated in line with the stated priorities.
3. Each presentation should have moderator, which should be rotating through the attendants of the Group. The moderator should:
a. Keep track of time and communicate this to the speaker;
b. Make sure that the speaker clearly stated their objectives for the talk, if it hasn’t been done;
c. Intervene in case of protracted discussions or inappropriate behavior by any of the participants.
4. The audience should allow speakers time at the beginning to frame their talk without interruptions. Try to stick to brief clarifying questions during the first 5 minutes. The speaker is welcome to waive this if they would like feedback on the first few slides/minutes.
a. If the speaker is looking to get feedback on presentation slides, let’s keep the feedback during the talk big-picture (e.g. overall organization and flow, slides that should be included/excluded, additional results or tables to include) so that we can make it through the whole thing.
b. If the speaker is looking to get feedback on specific sections of the paper, try to refrain from asking too many questions until we get to the sections in question.
5. Further tips and etiquette for making high value questions and comments:
a. Raise your hand to indicate that you wish to ask a question or contribute to the discussion. This avoids interrupting the presenter mid-thought and allows the presenter to mediate the discussion. Avoid interrupting or talking over the speaker or another participant.
b. Phrase questions in a way that the relevance is clear, i.e. clearly reference what you find to be confusing, or if you have a criticism, make sure that it is constructive.
c. Don’t hold the talk hostage. If you continue to be dissatisfied with a response, allow the speaker to move on and follow up offline.
d. Listen carefully to determine whether the speaker will address your question before you ask it. For that reason, avoid discussing among each other when a question is being answered.
e. Share the floor and remember seminar time is a scarce resource.
f. Minor comments are helpful for the speaker to receive afterwards. Feedback regarding slides, literature references, etc. likely do not need to be discussed during the presentation but would be more helpful for the speaker to receive afterwards. You can also type up minor comments during the presentation and send them to the speaker afterwards.
[1] Adapted from “Guidance for a Constructive Culture of Exchange in MIT Economics Seminars”