Comments on: Poster competition woes http://www.biofortified.org/2008/10/poster-competition-woes/ Stronger plants, stronger science, and stronger communication. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:17:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Inoculated Mind http://www.biofortified.org/2008/10/poster-competition-woes/#comment-2112 Inoculated Mind Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:43:11 +0000 http://sandbox.geneticmaize.com/?p=39#comment-2112 <p>Very weird. I wonder what could cause such a string of bad luck with poster viewing. My first experience with postering was not research-related, but about my video project.</p><p>I wonder, what would be the best way to respond to a judge who is telling you something that is obviously wrong, such as in the first case? Maybe you could have joked with him that if he's so sure that roundup is not a pesticide, would he be willing to bet your score? Perfect score if you're right, zero if he's right. :) If he responds that you'd get a zero, call him on his bluff (or ignorance). Being wrong (and staking your reputation on it) can be a hard pill to swallow, so it's hard to know how to respond when upsetting the person connected to your score might negatively adjust your score. Especially as this person sounds like they were lookin' for an argument.</p><p>In all seriousness, what I think I would have done is (assuming each judge is supposed to identify their self to you) approach the coordinator to ask when my second judge is coming because I've only been judged once. Next, you could approach the first judge or the judge group to tell them that only one person identified as a judge, and you had no opportunity to interact with a second judge. If they say that you did, then it would seem that the judge who explicitly said that they were not your judge was probably your second judge. Perhaps it is a way to put the grad student at ease, or catch them casually presenting their poster rather than formally. If there are a lot of posters, I don't imagine any judges would spend much time at posters that they're not assigned to.</p><p>I would assume that everyone's your judge, especially given that one of your judges from last year just watched the conversation and thought that was sufficient to give you a score.</p><p>It may just be that judges are looking for something that sparks their particular interests and it may not reflect on your performance or preparation. Keep entering - don't give up!</p> Very weird. I wonder what could cause such a string of bad luck with poster viewing. My first experience with postering was not research-related, but about my video project.

I wonder, what would be the best way to respond to a judge who is telling you something that is obviously wrong, such as in the first case? Maybe you could have joked with him that if he’s so sure that roundup is not a pesticide, would he be willing to bet your score? Perfect score if you’re right, zero if he’s right. :) If he responds that you’d get a zero, call him on his bluff (or ignorance). Being wrong (and staking your reputation on it) can be a hard pill to swallow, so it’s hard to know how to respond when upsetting the person connected to your score might negatively adjust your score. Especially as this person sounds like they were lookin’ for an argument.

In all seriousness, what I think I would have done is (assuming each judge is supposed to identify their self to you) approach the coordinator to ask when my second judge is coming because I’ve only been judged once. Next, you could approach the first judge or the judge group to tell them that only one person identified as a judge, and you had no opportunity to interact with a second judge. If they say that you did, then it would seem that the judge who explicitly said that they were not your judge was probably your second judge. Perhaps it is a way to put the grad student at ease, or catch them casually presenting their poster rather than formally. If there are a lot of posters, I don’t imagine any judges would spend much time at posters that they’re not assigned to.

I would assume that everyone’s your judge, especially given that one of your judges from last year just watched the conversation and thought that was sufficient to give you a score.

It may just be that judges are looking for something that sparks their particular interests and it may not reflect on your performance or preparation. Keep entering – don’t give up!

]]> By: James http://www.biofortified.org/2008/10/poster-competition-woes/#comment-2111 James Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:09:50 +0000 http://sandbox.geneticmaize.com/?p=39#comment-2111 <p>Hopefully the reaction of the other people who saw your poster was more enthusiastic. Often professors at these events are more interested in posters that are related to their own research than picking out the overall best projects.</p><p>"Horray for the villagers having eggplant (I still don’t understand why the eggplant, as it has no nutrients...) Yes, you proved that people with food are better off than people without food."</p><p>I'm going to remember that eggplants have no nutrients, I'm sure it'll come in handy to know, and it gave me a good laugh tonight.</p> Hopefully the reaction of the other people who saw your poster was more enthusiastic. Often professors at these events are more interested in posters that are related to their own research than picking out the overall best projects.

“Horray for the villagers having eggplant (I still don’t understand why the eggplant, as it has no nutrients…) Yes, you proved that people with food are better off than people without food.”

I’m going to remember that eggplants have no nutrients, I’m sure it’ll come in handy to know, and it gave me a good laugh tonight.

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