Rethink math talks
Can we build a tradition of math talks which invites the audience to engage not only with the speaker but also with each other? That is, a seminar that starts as a lecture and ends as a conversation. In this post, Sophie and Priyaa discuss how such a seminar might look based on previous experience.
Here’s a classic math joke.
In an one-hour math talk, most follow the first 15 minutes, only the experts follow the next 15 minutes, only the speaker follows the next 15 minutes, and only God and Gauss follow the last 15 minutes.
Of course God and Gauss cannot contribute to a discussion, so I’ve been to many math talks that have ended with an awkward silence, and a Q&A that only engages one or two audience members. Can we build a tradition of math talks which invites the audience to engage not only with the speaker but also with each other? That is, I dream of a seminar that starts as a lecture and ends as a conversation. The speaker, novices, experts, God, and Gauss — everyone comes together by the end of the talk.
Picture this:
It’s 10:55 and there are 10–15 people sitting in a rough semi-circle facing a trio of whiteboards. There’s the happy buzz of conversation and cookie munching. They’ve arrived early because they value the seminar and are excited to hear what the speaker has to say. You, the speaker, are ready, relaxed, and excited to share a cool story from your research.
When the clock chimes 11, the host introduces you, and you take charge of the room. Your role for the next hour is to be a storyteller and also a moderator. It’s a tall order! But the audience is friendly and willing to give you their attention.
For the first 40 minutes you present your talk, spaciously introducing each concept piece by piece. You often pause to check if the audience is present and has any questions.
As is the custom, the audience asks a question only when it is necessary to follow your talk, to clarify concepts, or if there is some mistake to be rectified. You bookmark the exploratory and technical questions for the end. Once or twice, the audience is suspiciously silent. You are nervous that you have lost them, and so you explicitly ask a couple of audience members to share where their attention is.
You finish presenting your talk, and the discussion begins. Because you made sure the audience were with you throughout the talk, everyone — from experts to novices — participates in the discussion. At first, all of the questions are aimed at you. But, whenever the question is beyond your expertise, you welcome contributions from the audience who happily share their insights. Some questions go into technical details while others are more exploratory. Each question often leads to a few minutes of back-and-forth that engages multiple people in the audience.
At noon, the group breaks to go to lunch. But the conversations continue. The next day, a student asks you about a specific detail they were interested in. You feel quite satisfied that you have created a ground for rich discussion and are reaping the rewards.
Now, does that sound like a good talk?
Sophie: This model of a talk was based on a recent experience in Tallinn, right? Can you say a little bit more about it? What felt remarkable about it?
Priyaa: Yes! So in that seminar I gave a 45 minute talk on “Polynomial comonoids are categories” which was followed by 45 minutes of impromptu questions. At first I was overwhelmed by the questions and felt the need to answer them all. However, that was simply not possible because the questions were diverse and each one was coming from the asker’s unique background. However, eventually the Q&A turned into a participatory discussion, and my job was more to moderate than to have all the answers ready. I realized later in the day that I may not have appeared impressive (since I didn’t tackle each question by myself) but I felt happy that I’ve given everyone from experts to novices something to walk away with. In fact, I think that was what made the seminar go so well: my not-knowing everything and my willingness to listen.
Sophie: I’m excited about this idea. As you know, I’ve been refreshing the Berkeley Seminar here at Topos and I am curious to try out a format like this. One thing that I’m nervous about is that it takes a lot of individual and group-level skills to track and maintain the attention of 10–15 people. This sort of attention tracking seems important both (1) for the speaker to make sure they are not losing the audience during their talk and (2) to have a friendly whole-group discussion afterwards. What sort of attitude do you think will help us gain these skills?
Priyaa: Confidence and care. I think it’s important that the speaker approaches the talk not as “I know everything” or even “I have to know everything”. If we walk in with the attitude (both the audience and the speaker) that we are here to share and learn then we can have a more relaxed and inviting setting. The second thing that seems really important is patience. It’s important for the speaker to be considerate with how much they are asking the audience to digest in the 40 minute time frame.
Sophie: Yeah, I was thinking about the time, and I’ve tried to give a 40 minute talk but it’s just so short! Especially if I want everyone to follow, and so I’m including a lot of background material.
Priyaa: Yes, it is indeed a difficult task. However, if you have a core audience that is there each week, then you can take time to first solidify their knowledge over time. And then reap its benefits when you present more complex talks as the seminar evolves.
Sophie: That basically answers my next question which was what setting can you see this working in vs. in what setting does the traditional math talk make more sense.
Priyaa: Yes, I think a traditional talk is probably great in a conference setting where there’s a large, ephemeral audience that you don’t know deeply. On the other hand, I think this sort of talk would be excellent in a setting where there is a recurring audience who are ready for conversations and who want to get to know each other over a period of time.
Sophie: Just like the Berkeley seminar.
Priyaa: Haha, yes!
Sophie: Thanks so much for sharing this! I’m excited to see how the Berkeley seminar evolves. Join us at Topos Berkeley most Tuesdays at 11 am. You can see the schedule and RSVP at topos.institute/events/berkeley-seminar.
