Presenting at Conferences

Although I've come a long way in the past year toward feeling more comfortable talking in front of people, giving presentations is still not my favorite thing to do. There's something about the authority that comes with being the teacher that makes me feel less nervous (unless it's the first day of class) than when I'm speaking to a group of peers in a formal presentation-type setting. Nevertheless, presenting at conferences seems to be a good thing to do. It's hard for me to get over my shyness and my feeling that I don't really know enough about anything to be able to share my knowledge with other grad students and professionals. But, I've decided I should try to do it anyway (plus, if I'm presenting at a conference, I can apply for funding to help with my expenses). Also, it does look good on a resume (or a PhD application, although I'm feeling less and less interested in taking that route).

That said, I may have mentioned that I submitted a proposal (along with two of my friends and our teaching advisor) for the CCCC conference in the spring. I can't remember what that stands for (we just call it the 4 C's), but it has to do with college composition. Well, we just found out this week that our proposal was rejected. I'm not heart-broken about it, because I really would prefer to go to the TESOL convention again, anyway, but it would have been fun to go with that group. Thankfully, I had a "Plan B" regarding TESOL--the deadline for proposals for the main conference is long gone, but the graduate forum proposals weren't due until December last year (and this year's info isn't even posted yet). So, I think I can submit the same proposal for that part of the conference. Having been to the grad forum last year, I feel like I've got a good chance of getting accepted, and it'll be a pretty low-stress environment.

But, I've also just been invited by another EL/L student to present at a conference at her home university in Chihuahua, Mexico in October. She's asked several people from EL/L to do it, and her university is offering to pay all of our travel, accommodation, and dining expenses. (Plus, we don't have to submit any proposal for approval--our friendship has essentially pre-approved us.) I decided the offer was too good to pass up, so it looks like I'll be heading to Chihuahua with some friends in about a month! The conference is for undergraduates in their English department, and I can present on the paper I wrote for Dr. Troike last semester. (I've already got a powerpoint and handout to go with, so tweaking things for this conference should be pretty simple). Also, they want us to present in English (so that's a relief!), but I'm sure I'll still have plenty of opportunities to practice my Spanish (which I really need to do more of). We're still working out the details, but I've decided to go for it. (Mark, by the way, has been very supportive of the whole idea since I mentioned it as a possibility earlier this week. His enthusiasm has definitely helped me feel up to taking advantage of the opportunity.)