Presenting at a conference as a Professional Doctorate student – Keith Costello.

Professional Doctorate student Keith Costello and co-supervisor Dr Phil Kearney recently attending the International Motor Development Research Consortium (IMDR-C) in Coventry. In this blog, they discuss the conference.

PK: So we were at the International Motor Development Research Consortium meeting in Coventry. Keith, what were your overall impressions of the meeting?

KC: So overall, Phil, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was great to meet some like minded people and to be part of discussions on topics I’m very much interested in. Topics around FMS, physical literacy, DCD and it was great to network with people that I might not normally get a chance to; people from England, Poland, Turkey, Portugal just to mention a few.

PK: Speaking of the range of topics and the range of networking, were there any of the presentations, any of the topics that particularly stood out as a highlight for you?

KC: I particularly enjoyed the first keynote speaker Prof. Emine Çağlar. She spoke about the TUBON project which was an assessment of about 8000 kids in Turkey and assessment of their motor competence. And it was really interesting how they assessed such a large number of children and the methods that were used and the results unfortunately, as expected, were quite stark in terms of how much work there is to do to develop children’s motor competence.

PK: I agree; it was really nice to see not just the results and the methods, but the story behind the methods and how they pulled this project together and how they made it work. That kind of detail, you don’t always get it in the published paper, but it was really nice to get that look behind the scenes. So while the meeting as a whole was very informal, there was also the formal presentation element. What was the topic of your presentation?

KC: So I spoke about a physical literacy intervention that I designed for Irish primary school children seven and eight years of age. The intervention is called FACES: Fueling, Active Competence, Empowering Success. And I presented today a little bit of the background, how and why I designed the intervention. I spoke about the methods I used, some of the results and some of my next steps going forward.

PK: And it was really nicely received; it was great to get that wealth of questions there at the end, probably not the nicest to be the very end presentation of the day, but nice to get the interest.

KC: It was. It was great to get some positive feedback because ultimately it is a little bit daunting presenting to a room full of experts. And feedback was positive so I was delighted to tick that box.

PK: The presentation format was Pecha Kucha which is 20 slides 20 seconds per slide. So you really have to work with the format. How did you find that format?

KC: Well, I hadn’t heard of Pecha Kucha prior to presenting today. I suppose there was a little bit of groundwork to be done because you don’t want the scenario where you are finished talking about your slide and you’re waiting for three or four seconds for it to transition to transition, which might not seem like a long time, but when you have 60 to 70 people looking at you, it is. There was a bit of a bit of ground work done there just to ensure there were smooth transitions, to ensure that the presentation was concise, to ensure that everything I wanted to say was said within the short time limit and the short number of slides. But ultimately it led to very enjoyable day as a spectator because the presentations were to the point, they were all very polished and you saw a wide range of topics. Everyone had well prepared and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

PK: So attending a conference, it’s something that’s encouraged on the professional doctorate programme but it’s not an essential part of the programme; would you encourage other students on the programme to seek out similar type events in their discipline?

KC: Yeah, 100%. I’ll be honest; I was a little bit daunted coming over. As I said you’re speaking to people who are all PhD candidates or actually had doctorate degrees.
So that was a bit daunting, but having done it and done it in such a lovely informal environment, I fully recommend this. Everyone was just so giving with their time. Everyone was so positive with their feedback. Everyone was willing to exchange emails and mentioned not to hesitate going forward if you need to contact me or if you want to link up on future projects. And it was great that these people, who obviously are very busy with everything else that’s going on, are so willing to spend time and give advice. So I 100% recommend this and I wouldn’t hesitate going forward doing another international conference.

PK: I think the other piece that was very evident in the room was, you know, you bringing 20 years teaching experience with you as well. And that perspective was valued by the researchers and the questions that you asked throughout the day as well were targeted questions, really good questions for researchers to consider. So I thought your professional experience that really added to the discussions in the room.

KC: Thanks, Phil. Look, ultimately, it’s hard to beat experience. I am teaching a long time. We’re always learning. We’re always evolving. We’re always trying to get better, but I have encountered a lot of scenarios over the years so it’s great to have the opportunity to ask the questions and to be asked questions.

PK: We had better go catch our plane. Thanks very much, Keith.

KC: Thanks Phil.