This talk was given on the 24th of November for the Leuven.AI institute with some tips & tricks for attracting & surviving media attention as a PhD student, based on experiences from Thomas Winters.
13. Media Attention
Public talks & Interviews & Mentions
Active Updates
Twitter & LinkedIn
Online Presence
Website & Blogs
& GitHub
High barrier to access
and understand
PhD
Default
Papers,
talks
Informs searchers what
you do in easy way
Update people with your
latest research
Nice to have
15. Name
Research
• Where
• One-liner summary
Projects
• One-liner per project
• Blog-like description
(link to)
publications
Many easy website builders available!
See also: https://github.com/twinters/dtai-personal-page
18. Something easy & fun to remember
Easier to remember, look-up and reference!
19. • Upload to GitHub with good name
• Proper ReadMe
• not just “code for AAAI22 paper”
• Explain WHAT it does and WHY
• Link to demo / google collab notebook
• BibTeX citation
21. 🖼️ Consistent avatar
across all platforms
📷 Use a decent camera
⬜ Simple background
🌞 Prefer warm &
contrasting colors
😄 Smile!
24. Serendipity: unplanned fortunate discovery
Proactive: creating a situation rather than
just responding to it after it has happened
Proactive Serendipity: Actively putting
yourself in places where unplanned fortunate
events in the right direction can happen
25. Proactive Serendipity: Actively putting
yourself in places where unplanned fortunate
events in the right direction can happen
26. Get your work out there
• Branding (website...)
• Updates (Twitter...)
• Networking (conferences, events...)
• Dare to go alone
• Online stalking: Look up people who will be there
Get rent-free headspace
The importance of cheerleaders!
27. Also network outside your core field!
“Personal cheerleaders”
Not collaborator, but know your work and
recommend you when relevant
Branding helps finding them!
33. Your academic, interactive business card
1. Follow people
• in your field (e.g. Authors of your favorite papers)
• From upcoming conferences (to more easily
connect upon meeting)
2. Tweet your research
3. Retweet similar to your research
• to build brand: inform others about your field
• to have other content (besides self-promo)
We’re all great researchers, doing interesting studies. But how to get this information to others? And can we make others spread research for us? Can we attract media, and how can we survive such media attention?
Share some experiences with the media, and how to best handle them in my experience
I might say obvious, but can help to see it in structured way
Start with a story: you get an email from a researcher that you do not know
& Who of them describes some of their project in high level on them?
unlike in a company, YOU are the one responsible for your branding
unique research line, show it to the world!
-> Take your branding seriously
Not just interested in main collaborators
“I don’t want to waste time on Twitter” -> No need to follow other people than in your field.No need to follow it either.
“I don’t want to waste time on Twitter” -> No need to follow other people than in your field.No need to follow it either.
High level to low level
Works for basically any good project: you can “pitch” it in one liner
High level to low level
Works for basically any good project: you can “pitch” it in one liner
Ideal conference talk: “broadway version”/companion to your paper. Your paper got in, we’re all friends, don’t worry. Explain us what drove you to this research, what you found interesting. Not “reporting”, but conversation!
View a talk like a conversation, but with aided visuals. Not like a proof that you used tax payer money wisely.
Your (grand)mother needs to be able to understand
Kill your darlings: don't mention specifics like results unless it is your main point