The Best Talk Goes To...
Psychology graduate student, Jennifer Poon, submitted an abstract for a poster to the American Psychological Association in December of 2011. Little did she know the success that was around the corner.
The APA liked her poster and decided to have Poon give a talk at the 120th Annual APA Convention in Orlando, Florida for the Division 7 Young Researchers in Developmental Psychology Symposium. On August 2, 2012, Poon gave her talk titled, "Put a Smile On: Display Rule Usage in Children of Incarcerated Mothers".
For someone who is not a public speaker and gave a talk along with doctoral students who gave presentations on their dissertations or theses, she was surprised to learn that she won the "Outstanding Research Presentation" award at the biggest conference in Psychology.
"I hate public speaking, but I was prepared, professional and still myself," said Poon.
With this being Poon's first time giving a talk at a big conference, the experience gave Poon a confidence boost in public speaking skills. Currently, Poon is getting more research together to apply to another conference: Society for Research and Child Development. She was encouraged by Dr. Janice Zeman to give a talk instead of a poster.
"This experience solidified that I am a good public speaker," said Poon.
