This week, I presented for the first time at Wellesley’s annual Tanner Conference. It’s a venue for students to present and share their work over the summer to other students. People talk about fellowships, volunteer positions, jobs, internships, and even gap years. I hadn’t participated in any previous years, so I figured I should take this last chance. I completed my internship through Wellesley in Washington, a program that provides housing and a stipend to students accepting unpaid internships in Washington DC. (Tanner-ing is “strongly recommended” for students who participate, which may have also influenced my decision a bit.)
Tanner is an all-day event. Classes are cancelled, dining halls are closed, and the college breaks out the nice catering. People come in from off-campus to watch student’s presentations. Presenters are divided into themed sessions (“Uncovering and Recovery: Archeology and Preservation,” “The War in Cancer: From DNA to Cells and Patients,” “Security and Privacy: As Not Seen on TV,” etc.) and four to six people present per session. I presented in “Marketing and Multimedia Engagement: Mobilizing the Tools of Communications.” My internship was in the marketing-communications department of Save the Children, an international development nonprofit.
I focused my presentation on how my humanities background, particularly my English degree, helped me in my internship. I started with a slide of two people–a professorial woman and a guy in mirrored shades laughing and pointing:
“So if you came to this session, you’re probably in the humanities. That means you’ve met these two people. The woman promised you that your humanities degree might not have a ‘career path’ but it would give you ‘applicable, transferable skills that employees really look for.’ The man found out that you went to a liberal arts school and said, ‘Oooh, what are you majoring in? Underwater basket-weaving?’ I’m here to tell you: the jerk is wrong.”
It got a laugh, at least. It was relatively smooth sailing from there. I didn’t accidentally skip over any of my bullet points or start referencing a slide that I had ended up cutting, both of which may or not have happened while rehearsing. My presentation did run about a minute short, which was a little concerning–my tendency to speak too quickly, particularly when I’m nervous, is bad enough that I actually got shuffled into speech therapy for a year or two in middle school. Other than that, I think it went quite well. I was quite relieved to be finished–
–at least until a professor approached me afterward and asked if I’d present to the English Department. This professor happened to be teaching a class that I’m in, and my Tanner advisor, and my major advisor, and my thesis advisor, so . . . yeah, I agreed. An English Department presentation will probably be more chill and I will definitely enjoy throwing in some little English-specific jokes and asides. (“Editing is a very useful skill in the workplace, one that you’ve definitely developed here by editing your papers–and probably your STEM friends’ papers as well.”)
I would highly recommend going to Tanner your first year. Pick sessions that match what you think you want to do, what you secretly dream about doing, what just plain interests you, and definitely whatever your friends are presenting (key bit of Tanner etiquette there). I guarantee that you’ll learn something fascinating, or at a minimum, enjoy the sweet catering.