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Tag: pause think respond

Nathan

My Reminder

Daily Post

In an effort to speak clearly at webinars and cover what I need to say without too many words I have a small background pop-up on my desktop when I’m presenting that simply says “DON’T WAFFLE!”

It works quite well.

I don’t have a script for any session but I do have talking points. I can dig into most of them to much greater depth than I might typically. In the moment I might go on and on because I’m excited and then I notice the time and realise I have to now say less about the next topic and wonder, flustered in the moment what I could cut and so-

DON’T WAFFLE! has served me quite well as a little reminder.

 

A less direct and less exclamatory way that I might interpret this is say less, communicate more.

It’s a reminder to pause. To breathe. To think about the next words: I might know the point I want to make but the particular words matter. When I’m asked a question I can take my time to think if I pause.

All of these are reminders for me, but they largely apply to any kind of presenting or responding to questions – even the viva.

What reminders do you need to help you engage well in the viva?

Nathan

Take Your Time

Daily Post

Take your time as you finish your thesis. You’ll never make it perfect but you can be proud it’s as good as you can reasonably make it.

Take your time as you get ready for your viva. Plan your prep and give yourself space to do the work without stressing or rushing.

Take your time in the viva. You don’t need to speak as quickly as possible – you can think, you can be clear and you can respond confidently.

Take your time after the viva to breathe and appreciate what you’ve done. Getting a PhD is not something that everyone does; at the very least it marks you out as someone capable and determined.

If you can, when your PhD is complete, take some time to think about what you’ll do next.

 

PS: the Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical starts on Monday! A daily post from the archives all through the summer while I take a creative break after seven years of Viva Survivors 🙂

Nathan

In The Frame

Daily Post

Pause, think, respond.

That’s how you engage with a question or comment in the viva. You pause in order to think and you think in order to respond well.

Pause and Think: Are your examiners clear with their question? Do you know what they are asking or needing you to speak about?

Think and Respond: Be calm and clear as you respond. Are you responding to their question or comment directly? If not, how are you reframing that?

If you can’t respond directly to a question then you need to think about how you can still engage with it. “I don’t know” and exploring why you don’t know is a good response. Trying to steer away and talk about something different is a bad response.

Pause and think to fully understand how a question or comment is framed. Think then frame your response well so your examiners can clearly understand you.

Nathan

A Moment’s Panic

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Last month I was finishing my setup for a webinar when something unexpected happened.

I was using Zoom, as I have for four years, and when I shared my screen it looked very different: I was in my slides! I was overlaid on my introduction, confined to the bottom left like a TV news presenter.

I panicked.

For five seconds I looked at the options, the images, the words, the clock in the corner ticking to when I had to start talking. For five seconds I panicked and frozen whilst also doing 101 things.

And then I remembered a key idea from my session: pause, think, respond.

  • I closed my eyes and took a breath. For five more seconds I just stopped.
  • I opened my eyes and looked at the screen and thought. What mattered here?
  • I responded and stopped the screen share. I still had time. I was no longer looking at the wrong thing. With no active problem in front of me, could I find the right thing?

Five seconds later I did and everything was fine.

It was a simple update to Zoom’s interface. An extra option and a change to the default. Something unexpected, leading to a very stressful thirty seconds.

After years of doing things one way – whether it’s Zoom or your research – it could be surprising or even panicking to be faced with something different.

In your viva, you might encounter questions you’ve not considered. You might hear an opinion that is counter to your own. You might need to think about options you’ve not thought through before. Any of these might cause a moment’s panic, but if that happened it’s OK.

Pause. Think. Respond.

Take your time. Get past the panic. Work past the worry. Respond as best you can.

Nathan

Silence In The Viva

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Like nervousness, silence might not feel comfortable sometimes but it doesn’t necessarily mean something negative.

In your viva a moment of quiet could be while you or an examiner checks a detail or finds the right place in your thesis. You might need a quiet pause to think or read, or to make a note. Silence could be a side-effect of a video viva delay or a simple pause to settle after a noise from outside.

Silence in the viva is a brief quiet between questions, responses and discussion about really important things. Silence in the viva is not for long before the words flow again. Silence in the viva is just one of those things that will happen.

Prepare for talking at your viva by rehearsing and talking before your viva. Use that opportunity to prepare for the silence too.

Nathan

Your Role

Daily Post

At the viva you have to engage with the questions and comments of your examiners. You have to be a good participant in the discussion that rises from your thesis, the questions and what unfolds naturally.

That’s it.

You don’t have to be extra-smart or super-relaxed. They’re not looking for you to take on a persona. You don’t have to have an answer for everything or speak in a certain way.

Your examiners want to hear what you think and see what you know. Your role in the viva is to respond. You don’t have to be anything you’re not.

Nathan

The Pauses

Daily Post

There are no bad reasons for taking a pause during your viva.

A pause to check you’ve heard your examiners correctly. A pause to get your thoughts in order is helpful. Checking a detail from your thesis is a useful beat of silence.

The pauses in the viva aren’t limited to your side of the table or the Zoom call. Your examiners may have to read their summaries or make a note for later. They may need to check between them to see who will speak next.

The pauses in your viva are the punctuation for the discussion. Like punctuation in a book they are just as necessary.

Pause, think and respond. Pause, check and ask. Pause, note and consider.

Silence isn’t always comfortable but pausing in the viva is never bad.

Take your time.

Pause.

Nathan

One, Two, Three

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A short pause between hearing your examiner’s question and responding.

A little break to check you understand and think things through.

A simple beat to get things right in the viva.

Your examiners don’t expect you to rapid-fire responses to their questions. The viva is a discussion, not a quiz. Take your time to listen, think and respond well.

Nathan

Taking Your Time

Daily Post

There’s a time frame for completing your PhD, for preparing for the viva and for engaging with it on the day. Each is measured differently of course! Years for a PhD, weeks for preparation, hours for the viva. You might feel busy or pressured, but with all of these stages of the journey you can take your time.

In the viva particularly you can take your time. It’s not a quick fire quiz. It’s not scoring points. The questions are not random and the questioners are not unknown. The process is clear, even if every question is not known ahead of time. Pause, think, respond. Engage with your examiners’ questions.

Take your time. Nobody really wants a four hour viva – I know from personal experience! – but however long your viva is will be right for you. It will be what was needed, driven by the number of questions your examiners have and how you approach them.

Take your time. You do not need to rush to finish, now that everything is nearly done.

Nathan

Tricky or Trivial

Daily Post

Describing the viva’s conversation and questions isn’t as simple as picking an extreme.

Questions can be tricky because of the standard of the work being talked about. Responding could be trivial because of the work that you, as a postgraduate researcher, have put into your thesis.

A comment might be simple, easy-to-understand, and in the moment you might find yourself lost for words.

It’s not sensible to focus on how much of one kind of question or another one might get. Instead, you can focus on being prepared.

Read your thesis and practise for the viva. Refresh your memory so that you’re as comfortable as possible talking about your work. Understand that you can’t know every question that is going to be asked, but you can prepare yourself to listen, pause, think and respond.

The viva isn’t trivial, but nor is it so tricky that you have to worry. Get ready to engage with whatever your examiners bring to the discussion.

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