Internal Guidelines
The main aim of the MMI colloquium is to provide a forum where participants can broaden their horizon, where ideas can be discussed, and where cooperation and social integration between participants is stimulated.
In order to achieve these aims, the MMI group has put together a set of guidelines for presenters, audience, and organization.
Presenter
Preparation
At least one week in advance, title and abstract should be e-mailed to the organizer of the colloquium. For PhD and MSc students: consider involving your supervisor in preparing for the presentation, so that you will get the most out of it.
Type of presentation
A wide variety of types of presentations can be considered. The presentation may, for example, focus on presenting an interesting new result, a demo, a small pilot of an experiment, a survey of a particular area, a problem that you are currently facing in your research, an interesting paper that you have come across, a paper that is about to be submitted (where the audience can give comments to improve it), etc.
Style
In order to make the colloquium interesting and engaging for the presenter as well as for the audience, make sure that you reach out to the audience. An academic audience tends to like an intellectual exercise, so you can try to let them think along with you and to discuss open problems or (initial) results. Make it clear what the objective of your presentation is, and if a specific kind of feedback is seeked, then ask for this at the beginning of the talk. Standard forms on which the audience can provide feedback on content and presentation style are available from the organizer. For example, your objective may be to learn to explain things to people less familiar with your research topic, or to get comments from the audience on how they view your research.
Length
The colloquium should not take longer than 45 minutes in total. Depending on the aim and type of your presentation, make sure that it does not take longer than 20-30 minutes, in order to leave enough time for questions and discussion.
Content
Since the MMI group has members from diverse backgrounds, it is important to present the context for your work and to explain its relevance, both in general as well as for the MMI group in particular. This may include, for example, an overview of current challenges in the field. Also, be careful and make sure that the audience can still follow you when using formulas and equations that may require expert knowledge in order to understand them. In order to stimulate discussion, you can, e.g., consider explicitly incorporating possible discussion topics in your slides.
Audience
Attendance
Research personnel of the MMI group is expected to attend the colloquium. In case of an internal speaker, the reason is that MMI members are expected to show interest in the work of colleagues. In case of a guest speaker, attending the colloquium (even if the topic is not directly related to your research) is seen as an act of courtesy.
MSc students are strongly encouraged to attend several colloquia, to get inspiration and more background for the master's thesis research.
Participation
The presenter will make an effort to make it an engaging presentation. The audience can support this through an active attitude, for example, by asking questions if something is not clear. The audience is expected to be on time.
Organizer
Announcements
The organizer is responsible for maintaining the colloquium website and for sending out the announcements.
Frequency/timing
The colloquium will be held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 16:00 hours. It will be held with a frequency of once a week, with breaks over summer and Christmas. Several colloquium talks will be held by guest speakers. There will be one presenter per colloquium. The variety of research topics in the MMI group will be reflected in the topics of the colloquia.
Social aspects
Networking and cooperation will be stimulated by providing drinks after the colloquium. A couple of colloquia with guest speakers will be "pimped" through more elaborate announcements, etc.