Walk as lions

"If we're gonna fly we fly like eagles
Arms out wide...
If we're gonna stand, we stand as giants
If we're gonna walk, we walk as lions"
- "Lions" by Skillet

Not long after I started at WHOI, my advisor suggested I get on the schedule to give a departmental seminar. I contacted the person in charge, put my name on the list, and voila! Today was my presentation.

Ready to present! Photo by Cassidy D'Aloia.

Giving a seminar is a highly efficient way to introduce my new department to myself and my research. I had a large sample of my new colleagues in one room as a captive audience and the opportunity to make a first impression. I knew the talk would be very important for defining others' perceptions of me, so I selected my material carefully. I practiced my talk numerous times and even got feedback from a small group. If I was going to give a talk, I was going to give a great talk.

And my prep work seems to have paid off. I was reassured to find the audience receptive and engaged. The mark of a good seminar is always the questions it generates, and I got several great questions from others in the department. My presentation covered two chapters of my dissertation, both about benthic fjord communities in the high Arctic (Svalbard). There are a lot of unanswered questions in the region, so I enjoyed talking with other department members after my talk about future research directions to pursue.

Overall, it was a great day!