Textualities 2016: A Conference Contemplation

After all the preparation, its a little hard to believe its all over, perhaps a little deflating, truth be told! The prospect of a conference was daunting and nerve-racking- I think we were all of one mind on that score. Giving a coherent and timely presentation on a topic relevant to our thesis subject sounds fairly straightforward but the precise attention to detail, timing and layout would strongly beg to differ. Add the responsibility of a website (in the case of Sara, Hawraa, Cliodhna and I) and it leaves you with a fairly pronounced sense of its importance.  After weeks of tense preparation, the 4th March dawned and the Western Gateway Building awaited in its forbidding form…….

 

 

 

Only it wasn’t so threatening after all! We arrived early to make sure our presentations were uploaded and in working order for the day ahead. The room was small with a nice comfortable atmosphere and it served to alleviate nerves a great deal.We busied ourselves with setting up our laptops, as we were going to live-tweet and blog about the various presentations throughout the conference. After the scramble for electric sockets, we took our seats and waited for the conference to begin. Our guests included lecturers, friends and family members, which added to the sense of a warm, supportive setting. So, with everything in place, the conference commenced at 9:30.

We were divided up into panels; each panel had a speaker that introduced each of the presentations and conducted “question time” after the panel had concluded their topics. “Question Time” would then follow the presentations-anybody present was free to ask questions about the respective topics. The panel was seated in a group whilst receiving these questions. I was on Panel Two, and our speaker was Maria Manning. The minute our panel was announced, it was a tense few minutes for me, anxiously distracting myself with Twitter until I was called to speak!

 

 

My topic was the heroic figure and its preservation and representation in literature in the various genres down through the years. I was originally going to stick to the texts I am examining for my thesis, but I thought some background on the significance of the heroic figure was vital to emphasize the significance of the character in fiction. It is not simply a figment of literature but of variations of cultural influence and taste from the past to the present. It is such a complex figure, a seemingly stoic mould that was broken down and subjected to contemporary experimentation- which is what makes Scott and Woolf’s take on the figure so important, as they are both from two completely different genres of literature style and their opinions of the matter show the gulf of progression and change.

I enjoyed “Question Time”, as it was interesting to get the reaction of your audience to your work-also, as our topics were largely connected to our thesis titles, it was vital in the sense of getting feedback from our lecturers in relation to our ideas and the direction they were going. Regarding the range of topics covered in the conference, it was extensive and the originality of each presentation was amazing . From Beowulf to Shakespeare to Scott to Bronte to W.H.Auden to Akira to John Malkovich-the list was endless. The enthusiasm shone through, completely engaging the audience from start to finish and making it a very enjoyable experience.

Overall it was a wonderful afternoon. I would definitely say I have gained far more confidence in public speaking and presentation skills. Thus concludes my first conference experience. Pecha Kucha? No bother!