Announcements - Winter 2024

Hi everyone,

First, just a kind reminder that your evaluation of someone else's critical review is due this Thursday, Feb 22nd. There should be an 'assess' button on the other person's deliverable, which will show you the assessment grid and criteria. I agree that Moodle can be very unintuitive... I'll try to get the marks out as soon as possible after Thursday.

Second, as I've mentioned before, there's no class on Thursday, Feb 22nd.

There's the (optional) SEMTL meeting at 09:30. Last reminder to sign-up for it: https://semtl.github.io/meeting/2024/01/25/Concordia/

I wanted to take this opportunity to briefly speak about being at a conference:

• Dress: Like I mentioned in the presentation part, try to dress in 'business casual' or something like it. Nice shirts (usually with collars), sweaters, blazers, work pants, etc. Don't stress if you don't have the right thing to wear at this moment, but take it as an opportunity to see what others are wearing.
  
• Networking: Conferences are the number one place to meet others and find out what they do. 1) Develop an elevator pitch of your research, one or two sentences long. You'll be asked what you do, and you should be able to answer confidently. 2) Try to meet students at the same level as you (Master's or PhD). Try to get a sense of their topic and research questions. This will help you define the scope of your own research.
• Q/A: As I mentioned, make sure that you are asking short and high-quality questions after a presentation. There's always the chance to approach someone after and discuss in private.
• Etiquette: Remember that you represent yourself and Polytechnique. When you join a community, you might see these people again for the next twenty years. So be kind and professional. In particular, listen when the presenter is talking, be clean and proper with the food and coffee, and have nice discussions with others.
• Fun: Have fun, and enjoy being part of a community! You're on the research journey together with others at fine institutions in Montreal. I encourage you to reach out and develop connections with other students.