now that I'm back on the forum, i thought I'd share with you the next horror of my academic career - Research fellow Interview next week 3.15 Wednesday. I have to do a 10 minute powerpoint presentation on my proposed research followed by 30 mins questions!! I feel sick. Anyone got any adice or experience of this sort of hell?

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Hi DJWicked, when I applied for the lecturer job I have now I had to give a 15-20 min PowerPoint pres to all members of the department followed by questions, then later that day a panel interview with the vice principle, dean, head of department etc. I was really nervous. I wrote out the presentation about a week before, fine tuned it, practised it on friends who gave advice on other things to add/change. Practiced more. Timed myself. Made sure I knew it off by heart (but took cards anyway just in case)...

One of my friends told me that perception is everything. When I went in for the interview I tried to do an impression of a confident, intelligent, enthusiastic person (not that confident in real life!). Was careful about my pace of speaking, speaking loud enough, body language etc (recommend standing up). By the time the presentations were over I was feeling very happy (that I had got through it) and the questions wizzed by. So my advice is prepare, practice, appear as confident as you can and remember they are human and probably hate presenting too. Very best of luck.

Hi Wickid

The only thing to do is practice, practice and more practice! Then, despite the nerves, you will just run on auto-pilot. By the time you get to the questions, you'll be so relieved that the talk is over than you'll be feeling much more relaxed. Best of luck for your interview!

(Think of it as great viva preparation too!)

Thanks for advice. Trying to design the presentation at the moment, then going to practice loads and get my friends (yes, i do have some Stu) to comment. Still scary though as I really want it