Category — Sciencing

As promised, I want to tell the story of what happened when I fell off the face of the earth last July. The 2nd half of 2011 will be told in three parts…the first of which, below, details the end of my M.Sc.

Late summer and early fall 2011 were some extremely intense months. Things happened quickly in terms of calendar dates, and yet they happened after many, many hours of work. With the return of my supervisor, she and I lost no time in kicking both of our asses to propel me to the finish line.

My memories of this time are much of a blur, but in the final weeks of my degree, life essentially went like this : I would wake up at around 10AM and would go sit at my dining space table – which “fondly” became known as “the pit of hell” – and worked until about 4AM. A good night was getting to bed at 1:30AM. My reward of going to bed was marked by having finished another round of editing of one or more thesis chapters and forwarding it to my supervisor. I’d work on my thesis while she was sleeping, and she in turn would do the reverse as she typically gets up around the time I went to bed during this period. She’d review my work within a few hours and by the time I got up the next day, I’d have new changes to make, and the cycle kept on going.

This process was very difficult and exhausting for both of us, but these many hours of work ultimately led to defending in mid-October. The night before and morning of my defense was the most nervous, anxious, and sick I think I’ve ever felt. I very clearly remember saying to Warren, “I don’t want to do this”, my tone pleading with him to do …something, anything… to make me feel less terrible about it. Luckily, time worked in my favour and kept moving. I passed my defense with six weeks of thesis corrections, and spent those six weeks getting the sleep my body told me I needed (LOTS), succumbing to a number of illnesses/colds I had been suppressing with the stress of thesis writing and defending, and officially completing my M.Sc.

Many aspects of my state-of-mind have changed since my defense. The first became apparent almost immediately after my degree was finished. After I finally, officially completed my M.Sc., I headed to Hawaii with my parents. While I was looking forward to going very much, I felt completely stressed out upon arrival. After about a day of silently dealing with this, I confessed to my parents that I was feeling very anxious and couldn’t explain why. They reassured me me to try to relax and it would pass…and after about 3 days in Hawaii, my normal state of being had come down out of the red zone and into a much more relaxed state. It was some pretty clear evidence of the stress I had been dealing with for months (years?)… my baseline emotional level was one of anxiety, even with no reason at all to feel that way. Hawaii was a wonderful opportunity to let myself achieve some balance and work on my well-being…and boy, did I let myself relax during that much-needed vacation!

Second, the constant guilt I felt as a grad student has passed. I wasn’t sure it was ever going to go away, and I am so grateful it has. The only residual of this nasty baggage has been the guilt I still feel about working my supervisor to the bone in the fall. Our relationship is still great (and was throughout the whole process of writing and defending); moreover, I think we both feel the amount of work was worth it…but I wish finishing my M.Sc. had been an easier process than it was on both of us.

Finally, I’ve started gain some self-confidence. The years I spent working on my Masters coincided with the lowest self-confidence I’ve ever had. I think this had a lot to do with my typical grad student guilt, and also the fact that the first 1.5-ish years of my M.Sc. was a very lonely time. Once the degree was done, I made a goal to actively work at building my confidence back up. Having new responsibilities associated with my new jobs, making time to be more active, and devoting time to activities and hobbies that I enjoy have made me feel so much more balanced, happy, and…confident.

Nearly 5 months since my defense, I am feeling so much better than I had in a long, long time. I still can’t believe I’m a “master”. My convocation will happen in late May, and I wonder if receiving my diploma will be the ticket I need to finally prove to myself I did it. It’s amazing…I was just discussing the impostor complex with a friend this past weekend. Not only did I not feel worthy of being a grad student during my degree, but I’m still in disbelief I accomplished it months later.  All in all, it was a 3-year challenge and an extremely valuable one at that. I’m afraid reading this blog post alone might have the potential to scare off folks considering grad school…but this describes simply one person’s (my) experience. The three years I spent as a graduate student at UBC wasn’t just grad school, it was moving far from home, tackling a new field, an exercise in loneliness and self-confidence, a balancing act of passions, a long distance relationship, staying out-of-touch with my closest girlfriends, and who knows what else. It was schooling in every aspect of my life.

Being on the other end of the experience, life is sweeter and simply filled with joy.

Dear blogorinos,

I am returned. And there is much to celebrate.

First – my Masters is done. I defended in October.

Second – the night after my Masters Defense, I got engaged.

And finally – the beginning of 2012 marked the beginning of my career as an educator.

There has been much dancing and celebrating these last few months, much joy and relief!

Over the next few weeks I will be bringing us up to speed on all the happenings of late 2011 and the blog-worthy experiences of 2012. I’ll touch on some posts written last year that have since seen some developments. Accompanying these reviews and changes come a slight remodelling of the blog. The title and tag line have changed (somewhat). Additionally, the Abstract and Author Specs pages have been edited…check them out to see what’s in store for this conversation. But for now….let’s dance!

Hi all,

Damn, I suck a blogging. Currently, I’m sitting in an internet-less café (How Dare It) and am typing this up in Word because the tingling I-should-blog feeling I’ve had for the past 3 days has finally turned into a full-blown mood, and a blogging mood should not be wasted. [note: posted 2 hrs later]

There have been so many times in the past 2 months that I’ve wanted to write a blog but it’s either a bad idea (I’m angry) or I have emotions that I don’t know how to describe in any way that isn’t completely emo, and there are enough youtube and tumblr accounts for that as it is. And so I have stayed away, even though I have had the best of intentions, and loved you very much just the same, blog!

So as I may or may not have made clear in the previous paragraph, the past couple of months have been quite … rollercoaster-y.

I have been VERY emotional. Some days I feel like I’m 4 feet away from the summit of completing this degree. Other days I feel like I’m at the bottom of a mountain I’m not equipped to climb. Other days I shift between these two feelings minute-by-minute. It is fucking exhausting.

My poor dear boyfriend has dealt with a lot of crying outbreaks – for example: I’m*sob* sorry*sob* I’m*sob* crying*sob* again*sob* but*sob* that*sob* commercial*sob* made*sob* me*sob* so*sob* sad*sob* – WHAT IF WE DIE TOMORROW*sooooooobbbb*
…you know, the completely irrational. He just went to visit home for his 2-month summer break (he’s a highschool teacher) and while I miss him, I feel like it’s probably better for his sanity and for my productivity. We’ve also done a 2-year long distance stint so we’ll pwn this short break anyway.
Unfortunately, I’ve started to put a lot of pressure on myself to *be normal again* after I finish my degree, so that the poor dude doesn’t have to deal with this emotional overdrive forever. This pressure is already stressing me out. Do I even know what my normalcy is? Does HE? We started dating only 5 months before I started this degree…it could be my defining feature. Screw.

So I cry and I work and I avoid work. Those are essentially my 3 states. I get lots of sleep, but not too much, I go through moods of eating really well and eating really unwell, I don’t work out much anymore but it’s because I feel like there is no time, not because I don’t want to exactly. I’ve been finding working off-campus to be most useful, I’ve made my morning home in a new (to me) coffee shop, and for 2 days I had a glorious time working in a library that is a 1-hour drive from Vancouver when I accompanied boyfriend to his town-of-work. I also almost-always have some sort of hobby on the go for sanity: in the past 2 months it’s basically been either knitting at night or subbing on a friend’s softball team. Sometimes I forgo the hobbies and work like a boss all day. Hobbying is admittedly more common when dinnertime rolls around.

This past month I had some interesting interactions with my supervisor. She’s given me lots of help with anything and everything I ask, but the tone of her emails is reminiscent of the one I “paraphrased” months ago. It doesn’t help, but I’ve been rather guns-a-blazing with her a bit recently so we’ll call it even.
On the flipside, despite enduring my blaze, she has graciously expressed willingness to work with me in the (near) future, post-degree. Whether or not she’s just being professional I can only wonder, but I appreciate her supporting my future endeavours either way.

So I guess that’s it for now. Over time, I have been given a couple very lovely complements that this blog is great at documenting “what being a grad student is like” and I even had a good friend say “I wish new grad students would read this”. While that is probably a little too generous a compliment, it did prompt me to try and take on the goal of really documenting what the hell this ride is like. Unfortunately the “mood” I’ve been in for the past 2 months has been poorly documented as it is usually comes hand-in-hand with lethargy.

I’ll try to do better, although I resolve to never blog angry. And I hope that sometime soon I might have good news to share….

-Rebecca

Hi all,

I’ll start by saying that what I’m about to say isn’t all I have to say about this topic. Yep.

But given what’s going on in my head right now, I thought it would be a good time to give you an accurate picture of what being a Grad Student can sometimes entail:

“Failure Failure FAILURE! You have so much to do, your goals are impossible! You have wasted an entire month! You can’t even accomplish non-grad-school goals! – But wait, I can handle this, look how much work I’ve already done. – Yeah, you’re only going to think that for 30 more seconds… FAILURE. Why don’t you waste another hour? Make more social plans? Eat more junk? You can’t beat this. You will always fall short of what you wish you could be.”

Does my edited stream-of-consciousness sound familiar? Perhaps like a recent interpretation of a supervisor email? Yeah. That’s all my brain.

Anyway, as I said I will go into more detail soon, but I feel like I don’t have enough time to spend an hour or more writing a descriptive post. I’ll be back soon. And don’t worry, I haven’t gone emo or work in complete darkness. This mood is on the negative end of normalcy, but I’ll be honest with you: it’s normalcy all the same.

Hi all,

About two weeks ago I attended a workshop at the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology during which we discussed “What do you wish you had known as a new instructor or student at University?”

I attended this session as a means of gaining insight from the brains of wise veteran instructors.

The group was small, but I was very much enlightened by the end of the session. We explored both the realms of students and instructors – what we’d like to be equipped with when new to the (either) scene, and what resources we should provide to new folks, as veterans.

In answering these questions, we constructed maps with clustered post-it notes that summarized themes, pivotal questions, and solutions. The maps for students and instructors ended up being virtually identical. It seems that, in being a “new” anything, our biggest issue is fear of the unknown and how to be confident and succeed in new and unfamiliar environments. As veterans, it seems that providing support in a number of ways – paper resources, directing to campus services, reading groups, one-on-one guidance – could do the trick.

What really struck me was that the (self-declared) lack of the “newbies” could be easily remedied by what the veterans could provide – mentorship. I suppose I use the term “veteran” to mean “expert”, implying that there is an understanding of the field, the content, and likely of the cogs that make the whole machine work. This is why I say they could “easily” support those facing the unknown, I refer to the inherent knowledge base of a veteran.

When I began my engagement with teaching and learning, my dad (an emeritus professor) sent me a book he’s had for years, titled Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in Sciences and Engineering by the National Academy Press. This book starts by broadly defining a mentor as “someone who takes a special interest in helping another person develop into a successful professional”. It mentions that in academia, mentor is often used synonymously with faculty advisor or lab supervisor, which isn’t always the case. Mentoring fosters a relationship that is personal in addition to professional; “an effective mentoring relationship is characterized by mutual trust, understanding, and empathy. Good mentors are able to share life experiences and wisdom, as well as technical expertise”.

Since this cartoon lightbulb has gone off at the CTLT workshop and continues to float above my head as I go through this nice little book, I have been thinking a great deal about mentoring and ways to improve work environments via this avenue.

I encourage you all to think about issues you may have run into as a “newbie”, problems you may be facing in the workplace, and consider what place, if any, mentoring has in the solution. Feel free to leave a comment and start a discussion too! I would be happy to discuss – this is my own personal “Hot Topic” right now!

Over time, dear blogorinos, I have developed a system for dealing with high-stakes emails, which in the world of M.Sc. really means supervisor feedback. It basically goes like this:

1. Begin by expecting the worst.
2. Once the feedback finally reaches my inbox, develop stomach pit.
3. Read quickly, much like ripping off a bandaid.
4. Abandon email, slowly and quietly process, and go back within a day to re-read and thoroughly consider.

Normally this works swimmingly. It allows me to “get over” the fact that yes, there is feedback in the email (why isn’t my work just perfect already!?), then move on to appreciate it and develop an action plan.

This week, the plan didn’t go quite as swimmingly as usual. On the Thursday before Easter Long Weekend, I had a (self-imposed) deadline to tie up all the loose ends on what I had recently been working on and send my supervisor all of it before I went on a glorious weekend trip (which left me very refreshed, I’ll have you know!). I did just that – sent her 4 files with a detailed list of all the things I had done since I sent her a file one month before this.

Yesterday – one week later – I received a response. Here is what I got out of my “quick read”/item # 3 of my high-stakes email response system. Keep in mind I’m still under the influence of items 1 & 2.

Hey Rebecca

I’ve gone through all your files. You did a lot of work, but you still have tons more to do, sucker! It will take you forever.

I edited everything. In the 2nd Chapter, the one I didn’t know you were working on, there are multiple times I don’t understand what you are talking about. Good job. This needs work. That needs work. This and that need work.

You may recall I said I wanted frequent updates during my sabbatical. Now I never want to hear from you again until your whole thesis is written! Ha!

You may also recall you wrote a detailed list outlining all of your progress and choices. Well, I don’t! I didn’t read that list, which I will now prove to you with a number of statements pointing out, with incredulity, the things that are already carefully explained in my inbox! O, if only I were to read it!

Sincerely,

Jailkeeper

Before we proceed – let me emphasize again where I was in the mental realm. Not only did I want her to edit a large chunk of my thesis (well, the largest chunk I’ve produced yet), some of which she didn’t quite know was coming, I had requested to Skype and discuss defence dates. It was most definitely a “high stakes email” – one that would help me figure out when I can finish my degree. So I most definitely had a pit in my stomach before reading it, and I most definitely read it pessimistically. My “paraphrasing” above is in no way representative of how my supervisor writes or would speak to another individual – not even close – let me remind you I adore her. Simply, her email was disappointing as it did not touch on Skyping nor determining a freedom date and rather pithily pointed out all the weaker aspects (amongst a sea of 1000s of words of new material) which I believe I already explained/described my plan to tackle them. My pessimistic attitude took her response and, during item #4 of my high-stakes email response system, convinced me that what I had read in her response is what is written above. Ah, the mental health of a M.Sc.!

So that’s how it sat with me for half a day. I first read her email sitting in my comfys, just out of bed around 6:30AM, and unsurprisingly felt bummed out afterwards. Luckily and unluckily, I had to mark like crazy, so although I didn’t have time to dwell, it allowed me to avoid a subsequent re-reading of the email. Finally in the afternoon I got to it again, re-read it, and then I opened the edited files. This was something I neglected to do in the morning.

The feedback? There was barely any editing. It was totally manageable. The chapter she didn’t know I started working on was largely unedited. Given how thorough her editing always is, I am going to cut myself a break on this one and believe that this is a good sign, not a bad one. My response to this new development was basically polar opposite to my reaction of her email: I laughed.

Though her email still reads a little more pithily than usual, it is balanced by good support of my writing efforts. Could it be possible she doesn’t want to edit as frequently because she trusts my writing skills? Oh wait, hasn’t she told me I’m a good writer, multiple times? Could it be that there were only 2-3 sentences in my surprise chapter’s methods that confused her? Could it be she’s confused about some things because we did those experiments over 2 years ago and as a 2-month-in graduate student at the time, I didn’t quite have a handle on exactly what was happening? Hang on a second, didn’t I want her feedback on those points to begin with, to clarify what we did back then?

And so, I have learned the flaws of my system. Firstly, I should probably cheer up chum. I am well aware I need to work on pessimism and this experience was definitely a case in point. In addition, while it is nice to give myself time to process important developments, it really only works if I understand what has actually developed. Not just an email I’m dreading to read, but the actual feedback that will propel me into the future.

Sigh. It’s friday. It’s sunny. I’m going to a play tonight. I’ll get through this…eventually…sucker.

Hello blogorinos,

I have had a very exciting week.

Firstly, my life has been gloriously devoid of DATA-ing. The goals I outlined in my last post, which I neglected to italicize, are materializing a little slower than I’d like (poor pacing in regular font, I suppose) but I did have a productive work day yesterday and I am now “in” writing my 2nd chapter. Meaning, I’ve started it, and have about 2 pages of writing. This is good.

What has been particularly enjoyable is that given the nature of this research project – that is to say, a long drawn out debacle that began before I even started my M.Sc – I have found that writing this chapter demands a stronger narrative voice than one might usually expect.

So I have had fun writing the methods…and the methods may very well be the meat of the paper because the project was methods development…except my supervisor is on holiday, does not know I’ve begun Ch 2. without finishing Ch 1. (which shouldn’t matter really, these are self-imposed deadlines), and may quash this little guiding voice I’ve inserted into the paper. Said quashing will take place approximately 2 weeks from now though, when she returns from her break and I’ve presumably flushed out the writing quite a bit. We’ll see how that goes, but for now I’m trusting my instincts.

Have I yet mentioned that I am enjoying writing? Much like running – who the heck knew!? It’s a challenge in that I am regularly limited by my lack of knowledge and am forced to take reading breaks, but when I can write, I certainly enjoy it.

Moving on – much is new.

1. I have been awarded the UBC Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award. This is a HUGE honour, to say the very least. I found out this excellent news in my mailbox on Friday, which made for an excellent weekend kick-off. This letter has given me back approximately 5 minutes (cumulative) per day since I no longer need to obsessively check the website with previous winners’ names listed. Also, it validates putting my ePortfolio first for 1+ week and my passion for teaching and learning. Probably not in that order. Poorly put.

2. I have reached a point where daydreaming and planning for the future is actually a good use of my time. I think the transition from being a waste to an effective use my time happened in the last two weeks or so?! In these last two weeks I have been told of numerous opportunities that would be basically perfect for me, and become available with fairly good timing. I have also met with an individual who I believe holds the golden key to my obtaining the post-grad job I truly want. This latter development happened just before I began to write this blog!

The bottom line from this meeting is that I should be able to acquire some sort of opportunity here (or at least apply for them…heh..heh…*sob*), and the job I truly want will indeed be available, but it will also be an international competition. ….slightly intimidating. Overall, the coffee date was very positive, Ms. Golden Key is very enthusiastic about what I do next, is supportive of my intentions, and I think I made it clear that I was officially throwing my hat into the ring for that job. I’ve also realized there is not just one Golden Key holder. There are many. Basically a whole faculty worth.

As it turns out, the timing of all the opportunities I alluded to above may work out in such a way that the jobs I like slightly less are getting filled slightly before the job I truly want, which is slightly inconvenient. I have to be grateful for the timing of all this though, I am a very lucky girl indeed that these opportunities are even available in the same general window that I too become available. I have some ideas of what to do next to continue on this path of future planning, many of which were supplied by Ms. Golden Key. Basically it consists on going on a number of other coffee dates with new and familiar faces!

I shall leave it here for now. Perhaps in the next post I will have an update on the future, or it may simply focus on writing, narrative, and getting things ready for my supervisor’s return….to email.

If I had to use one word to describe what I’ve been up to in the last couple weeks it would be DATA!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve been fixing up my data, I’ve been thinking about my data, I’ve been writing about my data, I’ve been confused about my data, I’ve been pleased with my data, I’ve been asking my supervisor about my data, I’ve basically been dating my data in a love-sick first-boyfriend kind of way. Not that I’d ask my supervisor about who I’m dating.

As per this post, I had set some goals for the end of March, particularly for March Break whilst I was home alone for the week. While I didn’t end up feeling as miserable during March Break as I predicted, I did indeed pump up my efforts, finished microscoping, and sent a draft of a chapter chunk to my supervisor. Huzzah! As an added bonus, her feedback didn’t say “burn it and start again”!

Last week I was lazier, in part because my boyfriend was back and my mom was about to visit, and in part because I lacked a thorough, motivating plan. Apparently, blogging in italics really solidified my commitment to microscoping. And so I declare this an accountability blog!

These last few days I’ve been trying to work on the discussion section without stats or my tables and figures and it is slow-going. I know all the tables and figures I will be making and have rough versions of them amongst my data sheets, but I haven’t made them in the professional-looking software yet. The only place I can do stats and make my figures is on an old computer in my office and I spend most of my time away from school at the moment (especially since my mom is currently visiting). Plus – what are stats? I need to do some serious reviewing.

So now I’m at a weird spot. I’ve decided to work backwards. I am not as far as I’d like to be in thesis-writing, but I feel like I may be able to catch up by starting the next chapter (without finishing the first). Earlier today I started fixing up my data for chapter 2. My logic is that I will be using many of my references for each section of my thesis (Intro, Ch1, Ch2, Conclusion) so why not write sentences for them all at the same time? Not the same sentences, but visit each reference only once (a girl can dream).

Along these lines, why not do all my stats and all my tables/figures for both chapters at once as well? If I go through the data this week as I refresh my statistical knowledge, I can soon create graphs and p values to no end (until the end)!

I don’t know if this will work. Either way, I will try doing Ch2 stuff for a little while to give Ch1 and I a much needed “time out”. As it turns out, getting hot and heavy right away has made Ch1 and I a little testy with one another recently. Plus I need to give myself some time to read up, which this does.

So this week I will be data-ing and reading. Next week I will be stats-ing and figure-ing. The following week I will be reading and writing as fast as I can. For Chs 1! and 2! and the Intro!

…Can she do it? Is it written in italics? Oh wait–

8 hours ago, me to officemate: “Planning my defence is going to be challenging, considering 2 committee members have to videoconference in from separate places.”

officemate: “Yea, sux to be u!!!”

.
.
.

1 hour ago, Skype: “O hai Rebecca, wanna download our new version? You can videoconference with people in different places. No big deal.”

Me: Fall off chair.

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today, Earth & Ocean Sciences Graduate Student Council hosted the first ever EOS Graduate Student Research Roundup from 2-4 PM in our main building’s lobby. As one of three Coordinators (the presidential role) for EOS Grad Council, I oversaw the planning of this event – I felt like it was my “baby”. This event was advertised for 3 weeks or so, and had a great response from student and faculty, who replied to the advertising emails with “Great Idea!”. It was a good start.

Yet here I sit, writing this blog before 4PM. I had 2 posters of my own on display and oversaw the event, so I would be there ’til the bitter end – and I was. What happened?

It is one of Grad Council’s goals to make connections with faculty and fellow students. As a Department, we are fairly segregated – the oceanographers in one building a 5-10 minute walk to the main Department building, geophysics in another, and so on. So you can go about your grad-studently life without having to connect with other groups – hence the reason we have this goal.

There’s an “urban legend” among some Grads that emphasize the disconnect:
Once upon a time in the early 2000’s, a graduate scholar was to give a scientific presentation for a the Department-wide seminar series but feared the wrath of faculty and their intelligent questions! And so the scholar decreed that no faculty were permitted to attend! And ever since, the decree has hung over the heads of faculty, who have not attended grad student initiatives ever since, and this way it will be forevermore!
While I believe that this event took place, I’m going to go ahead and quash the idea that there is some Disney-like evil charm preventing faculty going to events.

However, this evil charm may as well exist because we had low faculty attendance today. We had an excellent amount of grads at the beginning, we had some undergrads who wanted poster tips (and were very eager nice ladies if I do say so myself!), and we had a couple faculty smiling faces come by which was incredibly appreciated. But literally – just a couple. 2 or 3. Those who wrote “Great idea!” emails did not attend.

The lack of faculty became quite noticeable after the initial rush for free coffee and donuts. In response, even poster presenters began to leave the event to go do other things since faculty weren’t there. By 3PM there was a very small group of committed students waiting for the odd faculty to come see the event. By 3:30 or so the group gave up. Gave up and packed up.

I was disappointed in the low faculty numbers but the packing up was what really bummed me out. The low point was when a student even turned away a very enthusiastic professor who came in the 2nd hour on his own. He was really engaged and talking to a student (me) when others started packing up around us, I suppose because he was the only attendee at the time. When he turned around to talk to the next student about their research – whatever it may be – he was turned away!

I’m not intending to separate myself from this group, because I sat to write this before 4PM. I’m part of the problem. That’s the thing, we can’t truly be upset faculty didn’t come b/c we didn’t last the event either. What about faculty who came after 3:30PM? We’ll never know.

And what about the faculty who did? We would hope that the enthusiastic faculty members who came this time can encourage their colleagues to go next year. Except this one enthusiastic professor will most likely remember that he was gently told to leave. Now what kind of review do we expect from that?

Despite this narrative of disappointment, the grad student attendance was so satisfying, and the faculty that came were so pleased, that I believe this event will indeed become annual, as it was intended. Thus it is imperative we work on the model so that it will become better attended next year.

Lessons learned:
-The main thing is that I should give a voice to what I care about. Even if I’m on my own in my opinion. I could have made the choice to stay at the poster event to ensure it lasted until 4PM. When our faculty was “rejected” I should have said something like “well it’s not 4PM yet, who wants to tell _ about their research?” indicating that I would not participate in packing up.
-Clarify the commitment expected from participants – mainly that if you present your poster, you commit to be there until the (potentially bitter) end.
-Toy with the idea of shortening the event to 1 or 1.5 hours. If it is 1 hour, it should overlap for a 1/2 hour with 2 classes so that we can increase accessibility to teaching profs and students in classes.

On to the next, I suppose? How do you deal with group-effort disappointments?