Getting out there (aka Thing 15)

Photo credit - steve greer, Statue in the grounds of Gregynog Hall

Looking Back:
I have attended a few conferences over the years as delegate and speaker.  I also organised a conference some years ago and have supported the organisation of workshops / training events in various roles.
Communication during the organisation of events is absolutely key.  Whether you are a delegate, a speaker or an organiser, you are investing time in the event and that time should not be wasted.  If you waste your own time then more fool you, but then learn from that!!  If your time is wasted by others then that is utterly frustrating.  The only way to deal with that is to communicate.  Ask for more details.  Remind people that you haven't had their response.  Make sure you've given enough information.  Above all, keep patient in your approach.  People respond better to a kind word than a blunt one.  It sounds a little simplistic I suppose but I think the greatest frustrations come about by not having all the information you need in order to move forward.  By not being proactive about it you ARE wasting your own time.

Future Plans:
Ultimately I need to take whatever opportunities are presented to me.  I have a few areas I'd like to develop in order to advance my career.  They don't necessarily fit together though.  So until I can seek out suitable opportunties I am not sure what my next step is going to be.  There are a few areas I'm working on: getting a mentor and training in leadership.  They're still just on the horizon though, so it's going to take some time!  The most important thing is that I AM communicating.  I am asking and I am putting my message across (at least I hope so).

Finally, I would like to go to a Gregynog Colloquium in the future.  I went to one several years ago and co-presented.  It was such a great place to be, interesting and a lovely vibe.  I'll put that on my hopeful list!

Dotting the i's and crossing the t's (aka Thing 14)

Photo credit - zappowbang, The Elements of Style

I used Endnote religiously when I worked as a Research Assistant some 7 or 8 years ago.  I thought it was fantastic.  Especially as it allowed the flexibility or customising styles to create your own.  I'm glad to see these free versions are available as it means students can use themt and feel more confident about their referencing.  Our University has recently undergone a pilot year with a new Harvard Referencing guide and will now go forward into the next academic year with the new guide being used as the style for all students studying courses/modules that require the Harvard style of referencing.  With this development in place there are further discussion taking place regarding styles used for other courses/modules.  With this in mind I hope additional steps will be taken to add the styles used in our institution to the style repositories of the free software so that students are better able to meet the requirements for their coursework.  In our department our tutors support students with referencing.  I realise that many of our students are rusty when it comes to technology, but for those that are a little more confident this free software would be ideal.  Our students struggle with more than just the mechanics of referencing of course.  So our tutors will still be busy with explaining the reason for referencing to students - where/when/why etc.  But I certainly hope to see this progress in the near future.