UNLV Connections: Word from the Interactive Measurement Group

Society for Personality and Social Psychology Virtual Conference 2023

by Kimberly A. Barchard, Jelsy Cadenas Santos, and Susan Gutierrez

Teaching Climate Change during Statistics by Kimberly A. Barchard, Kaelyn Griffin, Jaedyn Billerbeck, and Luke Reyes, presented by Kimberly Barchard from February 23-25 at the SPSS Annual Convention in Atlanta 2023.This February, we recorded two presentations for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology virtual conference. Kim Barchard, Kaelyn Griffin, Jaedyn Billerbeck, and Luke Reyes presented on Teaching Climate Change during Statistics, and Yuhan Bi and Kim recorded an additional presentation on Making Purchasing Choices to Reduce Climate Change. To prepare for the virtual conference, we meticulously drafted, revised, captioned, and edited the video presentations. During the virtual conference, we shared our research on climate change to an audience of national and international researchers, scholars, and students.

While preparing for the conference, we exercised many technical skills. For example, we used just a few words or images on each slide, but provided ourselves with word-for-word presenter notes so that we could explain ideas clearly. We also used animations to draw attention to certain items on the slides, and we moved items forward or back to prevent overlap. We carefully orchestrated the relationships between slides: For example, we created three different slides to describe our measures so that the presenter notes weren’t too long, but we formatted the material so it looked like it was all on one slide. This was the first conference where we included closed captioning in our presentation, so we experimented with several different software programs, going through much trial and error before selecting the best option.

We also honed our presentation skills. Because the presentations were recorded and we would not be able to answer audience questions, we had to polish the materials more than we would have for an in-person presentation. We had to consider the audience’s background and knowledge level, anticipate areas of confusion, and answer questions before they arose. To polish our materials, we incorporated feedback from multiple people, which allowed us to enhance our formatting, animations, and flow. These two areas of growth interacted: Our desire to communicate with a broad audience pushed us to refine our technical skills.

By participating in a prestigious national conference, we sharpened our communication, problem-solving, and software skills. Presenting at professional conferences is very beneficial and rewarding, so we encourage all students to do so!

References

Barchard, K. A., & Griffin, K. (2023, February). Teaching climate change during statistics. [Poster presentation]. Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

Bi, Y., & Barchard, K. A. (2023, February). Making purchasing choices to reduce climate change: Choosing sustainable options, supporting collective actions, and avoiding buying new. [Poster presentation]. Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.