Student Seminar November 2023 — A 20-Minute Presentation in My Second PhD Year
The student seminar in November 2023 was the fourth seminar I attended overall, and my second — and final — as a presenter, this time as a second-year PhD student.
A Much Longer Presentation
Unlike Master’s students and first-year PhD students, second-year PhD students are required to give a significantly longer presentation:
| Level | Presentation | Q&A |
|---|---|---|
| Master’s & PhD year 1 | 10 min | 5 min |
| PhD year 2 | 20 min | 10 min |
That difference made prep noticeably harder. Same as the year before, I wasn’t allowed to reuse results already presented at my first-year seminar — old research could only get a brief mention, limited to a single slide.
More Data, Not More Background
With more time to fill, there were two theoretical strategies: extend the background section, or show more data. Padding the background seemed like the “safe” option — but my supervisor shut that down immediately.
His reasoning: keep the background concise, and put the real focus on data and results. The more data shown, the clearer it is that real research work happened — and that dataset would also be useful later for writing papers.
Preparing for a Longer Q&A
With 10 minutes of Q&A, the number and range of questions goes up. To prepare, I tried to anticipate likely questions from professors and fellow students well in advance, then built appendix slides with extra figures and supporting data I could pull up quickly during the discussion.
One Small Silver Lining
As a second-year PhD student, I was usually scheduled to present early in the session. That meant once my presentation was done, I could relax a bit and just wait out the rest of the day.