Lightning talks

This event is part of the GRADventure Professional Skills Conference. Visit the conference web page for a full schedule of events.

To start off the GRADventure Professional Skills Conference, you’ll hear lightning talks from four different University of Waterloo staff members presenting on relevant topics from their areas of expertise. After the lightning talks, you’ll have an opportunity to join a breakout room with one of our lightning talk facilitators to learn more about the topic and ask questions.

Lightning talks:

• Creating a tailored résumé; presented by Kira Bruschke, Career Advisor, Centre for Career Action
  • This lightning talk will focus on analyzing and interpreting job postings in order to create a tailored résumé.
• Communicating in context: Assessing the rhetorical situation; presented by Nadine Fladd, Writing and Multimodal Communication Specialist, Writing and Communication Centre
  • The concept of the rhetorical situation is the foundation of effective communication. In this talk you’ll learn what a “rhetorical situation” is and how you can use this concept to help you make effective choices in your communication tasks, whether you’re drafting a journal article, presenting at a conference, applying for research funding, or making jokes on Twitter.
• Leadership and mentorship in grad school; presented by Sadaf Mollaei, Team Lead, Student Leadership Program, Student Success Office (SSO) & Tamara DeSouza, Team Lead, Foundational Training Program for Peer Leaders, SSO
  • Hear from two current graduate students, who are also working as Team Leads in the Student Success Office, about their experiences with leadership and mentorship in grad school. Sadaf will also talk about how to get involved with the Student Leadership Program, and Tamara will explain the benefits of the Foundational Training Program for peer leaders.
• Conducting informational interviews; presented by Justine Salam, Graduate Professional Skills Program Specialist, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs
  • In this lightning talk, you’ll learn about the value of informational interviews as a tool for career exploration and networking. You’ll also hear tips on how to make your informational interviews successful.

Additional Information

• Registration is required through Eventbrite. 
• This session is taking place on Zoom, and will utilize the self-select breakout room feature. In order to ensure you can access the breakout rooms, please join with the Zoom desktop or mobile app (updated to version 5.3.0 or higher), rather than through your web browser.
• The lightning talks will be recorded and made available to University of Waterloo graduate students and postdocs through our secure conference recording request form. Please check the conference web page approximately one week after the live session.
• A link to the live session will be emailed to registered attendees two days prior to the event, as well as the day of the event.