If you followed the recent haps at ScienceOnline 2011, you’ve no doubt heard about the hush that fell over meeting room B when Ed Yong dropped a bomb at the Perils of blogging as a woman under a real name session. Ed remarked that while he gets plenty of direct messages on Twitter from men who hope he’ll pass on word of their latest blog post, not a single female writer had ever asked him to promote one of their pieces. WTF, ladies? This gender discrepancy in self-promotion reaches far beyond the world of blogging—in many professional realms, women just don’t ask for things as much as men do. But why?
The answer is of course incredibly complicated, and is discussed beautifully by Kate Clancy (and her commenters) over at Context and Variation. It's an issue that's been on my mind lately, even before Ed's now legendary words were uttered. But rather than write a lesser post that (let's be honest) mostly reiterates Kate's many excellent points, I thought I’d write a lesser post that describes what I have been doing to promote myself.
My sister lives in a part of the country that has several Big Research Institutions within an hour or two’s drive, and when I made plans to visit her, it occurred to me that I had some semi-peeps at those BRIs. Why not get in touch? I thought. I wrote to two faculty dudes--one, a brand new asst prof whom I'd met through a friend at SfN and whose interests overlap lots with my own, and two, a more established prof running a big-ish lab whom I've met at several meetings over the past year.
I dropped each a casual note mentioning that I'd be in the area, and that it would be great to see them if possible. Both immediately responded, and invited me to their respective BRIs to give a talk to their department. Seriously, it was that easy.
My trip, then, was both business and pleasure, and I hope it comes as no surprise to you to hear that the business side was also quite pleasurable! I had great visits at both BRIs--I got to meet lots of new people, practice my job talk, get oodles of good TT-search advice from the faculty types I met, and--most importantly--promote the shit out of myself and my research. It was nice being able to do all that without the stress and pressure of being at a faculty interview, too; just one scientist, visiting some other scientists and talking about science. And really, aside from the DataRush™, isn't that why we're in this game?
If you have the opportunity to go on a self-promotion tour of your own, I highly recommend it. Hell, you know what? I highly demand it. Until we're at the point where people are banging down our doors and flooding our inboxes with seminar invites, it is our job to make people know who we are, and that is simply not going to happen from our pubs and conference posters alone. Get out there and tell everyone how awesome you are!
(And, uh, please don't make too much fun of the crappy tour poster I put together in like 5 min on PowerPoint)
Dr Becca has a new job (NJ) as a tenure-track assistant professor in the neurosciences at New Job University (NJU), located in New Job City (NJC). She is still fumbling, just making a little more money doing it.
Woo hoo! This is awesome. I did something similar during Xmas. On my break. And one turned into an interview! Highly recommend it. Go Dr Becca!!! Go self promo!!!!
I love the poster!
Self promotion is always a good thing (in moderation). And it's awesome that you went and decided to jump into it on your own. A very brilliant, but timid, friend of mine suffers from her inability to promote herself. And then she kvetches about how she can't land an interview. I really wish she, and many other women, would take a first step, if not jump in feet first.
Go go Becca! You're my shero lol.
The poster isn't crappy at all—catches the mood rather well!
Self-promotion is a virtue at our level. And I love that, when I look at that poster, I can hear the monster-truck-rally-announcer-reverb voice intoning "DR. BECCA — BELOW THE MASON-DIXON LINE!"
Hahaha!!! I totally hear that in my head, too!
Love it! I had my very own self promotion visit a year ago when visiting an old lab peep from grad school. It wasn't really a plan until she brought up the idea of giving the talk, but I totally want to angle for more in the future!
Absolute brilliant poster ad - was it posted all over the visiting department's hallways? Hey, self-promotion is the name of the game, especially for newer profs like me. Can't be shy about it, whether you're a man or a woman. Let you be a shining example of woman power!
Man, I wish my seminar flyers had looked like that! Bet I'd have had 5 times the attendance!
Hey, these people get rock star posters for their talks, so why not you?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biologyposters/sets/72157607916720443/
Those are AWESOME!! Looks like I chose the right font, too!
Obviously all of the women bloggers should have been at the self-marketing session. Serious scientists should probably stop short of leaking a sex tape, but there are other things to be learned from the Kardashians.
Dr. Becca, we need to talk. You, me and Abode Illustrator need to get in the same room and help you get through your break up with PowerPoint graphics. It'll be the best thing you ever do.
God, please, yes!! I hate that I don't know how to use real graphics programs. I've been trying to break up with PowerPoint, but am afraid of being alone.
Please offer open enrollment for this!!!!
Dude, fuck Illustrator. Gimp's where it's out! *whips out opensoure flag*
*it's at. Goddamit.
Your poster is ugly, but I love you anyway. Glad you had a good trip.
How far below the Mason-Dixon are you prepared to go though?
For extra nerd points: The University of Otago- the most southern university
I am never prepared to go below the Mason-Dixon. Sometimes, though, for family (and personal advancement), we must face that which is unfamiliar and...confusing.
I feel the same way about the tropic of capricorn
What an awesome idea! I have never done this (though I have hosted friends on their tenure tours before, since National Lab was relatively close to some Universities). I should think about it next time I am travelling...
Self-promotion never stops. When you are on TT, in years 4 and 5 it's adviseable to do the so-called "tenure tour": try to hit most of the places from which your letter writers may be chosen. Inviting some of them to your uni works well especially if you don't know anyone personally at some institutions, as they often return the favor. I think I gave something like 15+ seminars and several invited talks during one particularly brutal semester in year 5, but I think it was totally worth it.
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