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Instructions for Paper Presenters

If you are presenting a paper at the MESA annual meeting, please note the following.

Submit your paper by October 15, 2008

Please submit your paper to the MESA Secretariat and to your panel chair and discussant (if assigned). The copy for MESA may be sent via email to mlowder@u.arizona.edu. Papers need not be the final copy; drafts are fine. The copy you submit to MESA will be bound into a catalogue and placed on display at the annual meeting. With your permission, your paper will be made available for purchase as part of the meeting proceedings; as with any scholarly work, the author retains the copyright and sole ownership of the paper. If you don’t want your paper made available for purchase, simply write on the cover sheet or first page “NOT FOR SALE.” Please use this exact notation so there is no confusion. There is no suggested paper length. MESA receives papers of varying lengths. Your topic and your depth of coverage should determine the length of your paper.

Plan your presentation for 15 to 20 minutes depending upon the number of papers on your panel and any instructions you may have received from your panel chair. It is unlikely that you will read your whole paper, but rather a summary of it that will fit in the allotted time for your presentation. It takes about 20 minutes to read 10-12 double spaced pages. Practice reading the paper summary you have prepared and time yourself. Our friend Mary Hunt of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER), Silver Spring, MD, kindly allowed us to share the following tips she prepared on paper presentations at academic meetings:

Be Brief, Be Witty, Be Seated

  1. Be Brief. It takes about 20 minutes to read 10-12 double spaced pages. Allow a little time for introductory remarks and to repeat for emphasis what you really want to get across. Err on the side of too little material rather than too much. Your audience will thank you. Studies show that the average attention span for spoken words is slightly over 10 seconds. A few good ideas with a clear introduction and concise conclusion will stay with your listeners longer than a convoluted argument. Allow time for questions as it is another opportunity, usually more listener friendly than being read to, to communicate your ideas.
  2. Be Witty. Every (MESA) scholar is not Whoopie Goldberg or Lily Tomlin, but it is important to think of an academic audience as people first and foremost. A touch of humor is always appreciated. It keeps the audience alert. Think of the presentation as needing the clarity of a picture, the precision of an article, the flow of a conversation and the satisfaction of a good meal. Humor adds levity and makes your remarks memorable. Anecdotes and examples will give you a chance to lighten what might otherwise be a deadly dull performance.
  3. Be Seated. Honor the time constraints because they assure that everyone will have an equal opportunity to speak. It is boorish not to, a sure sign of inexperience. Practiced speakers finish up with a bang on or a little ahead of the time. Novices start out strong but end up fumbling because they try to speed read a 30-page paper in twenty minutes. When they realize that their time is rapidly coming to a close they often exclaim, "Oh, heavens, I am just going to skip the next ten pages and read you the conclusion," or desperate words to that effect as if the content they are leaving aside has no bearing on the argument. To avoid this faux pas, keep your presentation to the time allowed. But if you do not manage that:

    1. acknowledge the time keeper with a nod so as not to distract your audience;
    2. summarize your remaining material without reference to the time problem;
    3. move smoothly to your conclusion like a practiced speaker and nobody will be any the wiser…except you, the next time.

Delivering a paper is learned behavior. It is like preaching a sermon, teaching a class or giving a lecture anywhere else. You can get it right with practice. Bad things can happen-the microphone can go dead, your PowerPoint® presentation can freeze, you might even have an attack of nerves that will cause you enormous stress. But for the most part it will be a good, even an enjoyable experience. You can enhance it by offering a warm thank you to your introducer and by thanking your audience at the end, Miss Manners would suggest. A quick e-mail thank you to the presider and/or the person who chairs the section is a nicety that increases graciousness among us.