Getting
the ‘IT’
Factor
Welcome to the May Seminar 2024 Home Page!
Here, you will find information and resource links related to the annual May Seminar meeting for online PhD students in Technical Communication & Rhetoric.
May Seminar 2024 will be held Wednesday, May 16th-Sunday, May 18th. Wednesday and Sunday are travel days. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we will supply breakfast with coffee, and lunch. This information will be updated up through the event itself. For questions and clarification, contact the Director of Graduate Studies in Technical Communication & Rhetoric (DGS-TCR) at [email protected].
Check back often, for updated information, as we prepare for our May 16-18, 2024 event.
If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact the Director of Graduate Studies in Technical Communication & Rhetoric (DGS-TCR) at [email protected].
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTS EVENTS
Rapid Rhetorics (1st Years)
We want to know what drives you!
Everyone needs to have an “elevator pitch”, a three-to-five sentence overview of your work, interests, field of interest, area/areas of research.
Rapid Rhetoric gives us a chance to hear and respond to your “elevator pitch”, learn about your interests, find an overlap in our areas of interest, and identify possible collaborative opportunities, so that we all have the option of learning from each other.
Here’s how we’ll do it:
- Each table will have the same number of audience members and one presenter.
- If you are presenting, you will take 5 minutes to give us your “elevator pitch.” What are you working on, OR what is it you’re interested in? Be specific, be purposeful.
- We’ll take 8-10 minutes to respond to you, ask you questions, and offer up reading suggestions.
- Then we’ll ask you to switch tables (think of it as getting on a new elevator!) so that you can repeat the process with new people.
Research Network Forum (2nd Years)
The Research Network Forum (RNF) is a forum where researchers can discuss their work-in-progress at any stage, from conception to polishing, and receive feedback from both mentors and peers. Sometimes we get too close to our ideas, and we lose the broader perspective; sometimes we need help focusing our ideas; sometimes we know what we want to research, but we can’t quite figure out how; and sometimes we just need help situating our work. Regardless of where you are in your research, the RNF can provide valuable feedback.
Here’s how we’ll do it, built around the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s (also called 4Cs or Cs) RNF:
- At each round table, we’ll have 2-3 RNF Presenters, 1-2 faculty members, and peers from the PhD program.
- Presenters will take up to 10 minutes to discuss their research. Come prepared with a handout to share the key ideas/questions/resources with your table. Generally, you’ll give us an overview of the project, perhaps situating it in the field, then focus on an area you’d like feedback on.
- The other members of the table will take up to 10 minutes to respond to you, address your questions, offer up reading suggestions, and so forth.
- Then we’ll ask you the second Presenter to go, and we’ll follow the same procedure.
- When everyone has gone/been responded to, we’ll switch tables so that you can share your research ideas with and received feedback from a new set of faculty and peers.
Practice Conference Presentations
What makes a good presentation? Practice!
In the past we have seen good presentations come from modeling excellent presentations. Too often, it is our bad experiences that teach us what NOT to do.
To reinforce the “practice!” idea; we’re asking you to give a conference-type presentation in a safe(r) space. Your presentation can be on a research project you’re working on/have completed, but it can also be a presentation on some aspect of research, of pedagogy, or theory (or some combination of the above!).
Here’s how we’ll do it:
- The presentations will be similar to those you’d give at a “real” conference.
- You’ll be asked to give a 15-minute presentation (with visuals and handouts if you like). You can go slightly over the 15 minutes, but we’ll stop you at 20 minutes. NO ONE should ever go over their allotted time in a conference presentation.
- After the presentation is done, we’ll ask that you stay and answer questions for 5-10 minutes. After that, we will give you some general feedback on what worked and what you might revise for the next time you give a presentation.
Quick Links
* Please note: For the duration of the TCR Ph.D. program, students may use ONE exemption from May Seminar.
TEXAS TECH
100 Years of Excellence
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