I'm an arrogant sod and quite a flirt and I pretty much always know when somebody is flirting with me 8-) Gut instinct!

They eye contact thing is very true. Also, smiling and laughing a lot in your presence and finding excuses to be around you (coming over to your desk, walking past).

And now we need to know more about this mystery flirter...

You will usually go in the morning to 'register' which just means picking up a name badge and pack full of flyers from a desk :-) Then at all the conferences I've been to we've all sort of hung about making small talk and drinking coffee until the keynote/first panel. It'll all become very clear when you get there- I'll not tell you not to worry though because it would be very hypocritical coming from me ;-)

======= Date Modified 23 Jun 2010 19:01:42 =======

I hate this more than anything. A PHD IS NOT A 'COURSE' :-s I don't expect people to fall to their knees when I say I'm doing a PhD but equally there's a reason why only a small minority of people in the world have a doctorate.
Edit: and that's not because they're super special people. It's because they worked bloody hard and exhausted and probably bankrupted themselves to become experts in their field.

It follows that...

Although my sup has told me off for using this one as a quick way of joining two sentences which don't follow one another at all ;-)

Hey,

Could you use square brackets with the original date? So e.g: ''book x, 1996 [1958]''

I'm sure someone else will have more solid advice!

======= Date Modified 21 Jun 2010 19:05:58 =======
:-)

I realllly don't want to get into a debate about homeopathy right now but my objections are that the 'science' behind is actual nonsense. The solutions are diluted to the point that sometimes nothing at all of the original plant extracts exist any more and homeopaths have explained this by claiming that water can 'remember' the original substances. Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

As a result, it's unlikely even to have a placebo effect on me :-)

Anywho, my doctor has prescribed me a low dose of propranolol, so I'll let you all know how it goes after my conference at the end of the month.

Edit: sorry to ignore those who have pointed out it's not stricly a homeopathic medicine- I didn't realise this. I have read a little about it since though and the science behind it is still very shaky so I'm unsure. I suppose there's nothing to lose in giving it a try, so I will do at some point. I'm just pretty sure it won't :-)

Fair enough Delta, I was a bit snappy. Apologies. I appreciate everyone's input but I will keep my appointment today and see what the doctor says. I'm sure we will chat about all the things mentioned here and she won't give me them if it's not right for me. I'll let you know what hapens.

P.S. Rescue Remedy is a homeopathic medicine so I would never use it out of principle but that's a whole other thread ;-)

Thanks all,

Delta and Goodboy, I am coming up to the final year of my PhD and have presented at numerous conferences before so I'm fully aware that anxiety is normal etc etc. and I've had plenty of time to try and develop coping mechanisms. The conference I am specifically hoping to get help with is one which I have organized myself so I know that my nerves will be especially bad. I don't actually care about being nervous - it is the physical symptoms which, for me, can become actually painful in the run up the event and remove any enjoyment from the situation itself as well as impacting badly on my performance. It is very hard to get rid of these symptoms without removing the pyschological cause. I'll be working on that whether I take beta blockers or not as-as KB has pointed out- they don't remove anxiety itself, only the physical manifestations.
I appreciate people's advice but it seems that some have leapt to the conclusion that I'm joyfully skipping off to the doctor expecting him to prescribe with pills to deal with any minor stress or strain I feel. Myabe I should have provided more information to show that this is clearly not the case. As I mentioned, my boyfriend is a doctor and he was the one who actually suggested that B-blockers might be a good idea to help me with this particular event.

Hello,

I'm going to the doctors tomorrow to ask about getting some of these for conference/public speaking anxiety. The guy I'm seeing is a doctor and reckons I should be able to get them as they are pretty harmless and very low on addition rates. Apparantly they help to reduce the physical symptoms of anxiety- so heart racing, shaking etc. That's all I want really. Has anyone any experience of using these?

Ok, scrap number 2! But I did make it to 10pm :-)

Good thread :-)

Today I:

-got up early
-didn't check my exe's facebook page once 8-)
-sorted some things out for a conference
- had a mini breakthrough with an article I've been struggling to write since the beginning of time

Not bad, not great. I'm struggling with the article which I feel like I will never be happy with but I really have to finish it soon and get back on track with my thesis. So next week:

1. Finish revising article and send out. Most important.
2. Ring people for conference.
3. Continue work for next chapter of thesis. I'm going to quantify this and say: have 1,000 words written of any sort of quality.

Hello all,

I'm coming back to this thread. I don't know why I ended up drifting away but have realised recently how well it did to keep me motivated. How is everyone else doing?

Ok, this week:

1. Fill out and submit expenses form for conference
2. Re-read article I'm reviewing and have draft of review sent to sup by end of week.
3. Have dodgy parts of my article re-written and again sent to sup to look at. This will entail- re-reading article, reading my notes and reading necessary bits from other books.
4. Have conference website up and running.

Here goes :-)

Yes, I agree with the others. I've also seen CV's with a 'work in progress' subsection which I think is a good idea.

I can do it with my left hand but it's more difficult. Maybe the muscles in our right hands are more developed because we use them for more things? (unless you're left-handed)