Chalk Talks

The "Chalk Talk," used primarily in the life sciences, is basically a discussion of your research agenda, generally without help from slides or formal visual presentation. In the talk, you're expected to communicate your research goals, the specific aims of your planned experiments, expected outcomes, and the reasoning behind your approach, including possible alternatives, should "Plan A" fail.

The key point is that you are not seeking the approval of your graduate committee or your advisor. You are vying to be their colleague and as such, you need to show that you have opinions and ideas that are going to make you an important part of their department.

For a comprehensive overview of chalk talks, you should watch this video by Erik Snapp, Ph.D., Director of Student and Postdoctoral programs at the Janelia research campus part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

General Advice
  • Ask the Chair of the Search Committee what is expected, as you want to make sure not to disappoint anybody (This request will also help you build your relationship with this person).
  • Try to remain enthusiastic and engaging, rather than defensive.
  • Spend a minimum of time on the past/present; focus on the future.
  • If possible, write stuff on the board ahead of time rather than in real time.
  • Keep it simple. Boil things down.
  • Focus on communicating and connecting.
deer in headlight

 

If you want to avoid feeling like a deer in the headlight, practice, practice, practice.

 

 

 
Quick Tips from a former Postdoc
  • Encourage the first questioner, especially if it's in the middle of the presentation: "Oh, great, a question!"
  • Listen attentively to the questioner--without interrupting--in order to really understand what they're asking. Nodding along helps, but try your hardest not to start planning your answer yet.
  • Repeat the question back in your own words, to show your understanding of it, and also to make sure that everyone agrees on what is being asked. Try to state it so well that the questioner will feel that you said it even better than they did. And here's the magic part: As you're doing this, you will naturally begin to plan your answer.
  • Then, state a simple answer, which should be "yes/no/I don't know." Force yourself to be clear here. This will ensure you don't end up sounding vague.
  • It's fine to say "I don't know" because you will now follow up iwth a discussion to esplain why. Try to be as succinct as possible, but your can talk about related things you know. Just don't take too long, because there are likely many other questions and you want to get to as many as possible.
  • Finnish by summarising again: "So, the answer is yes/no/I don't know."
Some additional resources