1.  
2. [This page is currently under construction.]
3.  
4. On this page you’ll find some tips that I’ve collected from various smart people with experience and good advice (hopefully).  I hope you find something helpful here.  I can’t claim credit for any of the ideas, but if you think you gave me the tip and want recognition for it, let me know and I’ll be happy to attribute it to you.
5.  
6. Disclaimer: Follow this advice at your own risk.  I do not accept responsibility for any lost jobs or angry crowds that occur because of its use.
7.  
8. Scroll down to see the usual presentation tips, some presentation tips you may not have heard before,  some job market tips you may not have heard before, and some Stata commands I had trouble discovering.
9.  
10. Click here for a pdf version of the tips on this page: [coming soon]

1. 1.  Eye contact.  Make eye contact with various members of the audience as you speak.  Often you’ll have at least one person who nods as you go along.  Spending a disproportionate amount of time speaking to him can boost your confidence if you’re nervous (though make sure you still talk to others as well).  Conversely, don’t fixate on that one person who’s frowning and shaking her head.
2. 2.  Hardware.  If you’re traveling to present and you have a Mac, take an adaptor.  Also be sure to have your presentation on a data key in Powerpoint (or equivalent) AND pdf format.

1. 1.  Enthusiasm.  Be enthusiastic about your paper.  If you’re not, no one else will be.  If you’ve been working on the project for years you may be dead sick of it, but make an effort to get excited about it at least for the duration of your presentation.
2. 2.  The beginning.  Plan exactly what you’re going to say for the first sentence or two of your presentation to ensure you begin smoothly and your first impression is a good one.  But make sure the beginning is natural to say, not just natural to write.
3. 3.  Taking questions.  If someone raises her hand to ask a question but doesn’t actually interrupt you, don’t stop in the middle of your sentence to take her question.  It’s annoying to others in the audience if the presenter keeps stopping his sentences halfway through.  Instead, continue with what you were saying as you make eye contact with the person with the question and give her a nod. Then she knows you’re just about to get to her, and will be more happy to wait until you’ve finished your sentence or thought.  But do get to her as quickly as you reasonably can.  This method also has the advantage that it keeps you, the presenter, more in control of the presentation.
4. 4.  Mechanics of answering questions.  When someone asks a question that requires a lengthy response from you, don’t direct your entire response at that person.  For a start, it makes some people uncomfortable when the presenter talks solely to them for too long.  In addition, other people in the audience may have had the same question or at least (hopefully) are interested in the answer as well.  Instead, begin your response by speaking to the person who asked the question, then talk to the audience more generally.  Wrap up your answer again speaking to the person who asked.  This lets you gauge if he or she is satisfied with your response.
5. 5.  Content of answering questions.  The majority of questions you’ll get when presenting a paper (that aren’t pure clarification) can be classified as one of two types.  Type A: “I think what you’re doing is rubbish and here’s why.”  Type B: “I think what you’re doing is interesting and have you thought about this.”  It’s generally pretty easy to figure out what type of question you’re facing if you remember to think about it.  The two types should be answered differently.

1. 1.  Have a web page.  Keep it updated.  At the minimum, include who you are, contact details, your CV, and links to your research.  A picture is nice too.  Adding links to relevant web pages helps the Google search engine find your page, and ask your friends to link to you too.  When you Google your name you want your page to be among the first ten results.
2. 2.  Interviewing.  When interviewing on the academic job market, make sure you convey why you’re interested in the particular job.  A lot of candidates are passed over because the department doesn’t think they will accept the job if offered it.
3. 3.  Flu shot.  Get a flu shot for your job market season.  Getting sick sucks.  Getting sick during flyouts sucks even more.

1. 1.  Graph backgrounds.  The default for Stata graphs is an annoying pale blue background.  To change the background to white, add the following command to the options for your graph: