How to make the meetings with my faculty mentors more efficient and effective?

I feel I may speak for many of my peers: we love and hate meeting with our faculty mentors. I enjoy the intellectual exchanges and their hands-on guidance on my research, but sometimes I feel even more lost and distressed after a meeting that is supposed to help me.

I am a problem-solver. Over these years in graduate school, I’ve been trying different things to improve my experience in these meetings, which is not easy for someone who were not familiar with the academic culture and hidden curriculums in the U.S. Recently I got some comments that I am good at communicating with faculty. I was like, am I? As I reflected on my experiences, I decided to write down the lessons that I learned from my experiences and the wisdom from several faculty and peer mentors. 

Every meeting needs an agenda.

• I always prepare agenda for ME. I often list highlights of recent progress and my questions (i.e., things you need your faculty mentors’ input). Sometimes a discussion can go off-topic, which may lead to new and exciting research ideas. But I also need to graduate, which means finishing the current projects before proposing new ideas!!

• In the agenda, I always list my thoughts and questions for the next steps of the current project.

• I send the tentative agenda at least one day prior to the meeting time so faculty may add items that they want to discuss. Also, it may cue them to read the documents I sent (I hope).

• At the beginning of a meeting, I briefly review things I hope to discuss today. During the meeting, I constantly check the agenda and take the last 10 minutes to review the agenda for important items that we haven’t discussed.

Send documents for review several days prior to the meeting.

• I often estimate the time based on several factors, such as the length of my write-up, their familiarity with the topic, and their schedule.

  • For example, if I have a two-page summary of some new analyses in my dissertation, which I assume they remember the topic, I will send it about one week before our meeting.

  • When I schedule a meeting, sometimes I confirm/ask how many days in advance they want to have these documents.

• I am very good at procrastination. One mental trick I find helpful is to set the deadline for myself (on my planner) a few days before the actual meeting time.

• I don’t think it is necessary to share a super-organized and polished write-up. It depends on the stage of your project and the preference of your mentors. For work-in-progress, sometimes it is more efficient to share raw drafts - leave some space for the inputs from your faculty mentors. Also, editing takes extra time.

• If I send a draft the same day of our meeting, in my email, I will also ask if they want to start the meeting a bit late (like 10 minutes or 15 minutes depending on how much time you have with them) to read the draft. Many faculty can be insanely busy on certain days. Honestly, I just like to offer them some grace (even for a stretch or tea break) - I believe professors, despite being super smart and highly functioning, are human beings, too.

Document sharing over Zoom vs in person.

• For Zoom meetings, make sure all the documents I plan to share are handy before the meeting starts. One trick is to create a temporary folder of all meeting-related documents. I don’t want to waste 2 minutes to find the document on my computer if I only have 30 minutes with my advisor.

• If the meeting is (unfortunately?) in person, I print out all meeting-related documents. Some faculty really love writing notes on paper during a meeting. You may later need some help from a colleague to read their handwriting though.

There are several things to do after a meeting.

• Take a break if needed. Some meetings are super exhausting.

• Summarize meeting notes, list to-dos (if not during the meeting), and send a follow-up email ASAP if you need clarifications.

Bonus: meetings are not always necessary.

• I truly believe emails are often more efficient than meetings. Plus, scheduling a meeting can be exhausting, particularly if it includes several people.

• For emails, I find it helpful to learn the time periods that people are actually active on emails. Professors have teaching duties and a lot of meetings from 9-5. I understand if they work on emails late evenings and weekends. However, this does not mean you have to work on these times. I use the “send later” feature a lot after being suggested by a friend. If I want to get the attention of someone who enjoys working at late night, I still draft my email at 4 PM, which is my active email time, but schedule the email to be sent at 9 PM. I also write emails on Sunday afternoons but have them sent early morning on Mondays.