The experience with journal club was definitely fun, but more challenging than I thought. When I first downloaded my article before spring break, I was horrified, especially because the pdf showed 27 pages. 27 pages?! How was I ever going to read through that? But once I started reading, I was in for another shock, because the article itself was only 4 pages, with a few detailed methods page after the actual article, and many pages of extended data after that. Not that it made things easier because the article was jam-packed with action/ experiment, so it took me a couple of days and multiple readings to understand what exactly the article was talking about, what the figures represent, and what things like CHIP seq and DRIP seq mean.


I think one of the hardest parts (besides the actual presentation) was choosing what to share with the class. Some of the experiments the researchers did leading up to the main concluding experiment were really interesting, and I almost wanted to go into the details of how they helped lead the researchers to their conclusion. But alas! There wasn't enough time! I had to go back and change a couple of my slides because they were not the juiciest part of the research. 

The actual day of the presentation rolled around, and to lessen nerves I tried to do some power poses. And what I was hoping for:



But what actually happened was more like:


I was really nervous, rushed through what I wanted to say, forgot to mention a few points, and although during practice I usually ended up going over 10 minutes, I ended up finishing around 45 seconds before 10 minutes. 

Ooops. 

But oh well, it's over now! I am definitely grateful for this experience of understanding my article, figuring out the best part to present to my audience, and especially learning from everyone else's presentation. I think everyone did amazing jobs on the presentations, and I definitely learned a lot by watching them present.

Good job everyone!

To continued improvements in 20.109!
-- Shin

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