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[Anne]

I have a campus visit coming up in the next few days and could use some advice. I've been asked to give an "informal" 20-minute talk about my scholarship. What does this mean? I'm preparing some notes to follow (I certainly don't want to go in there just talking off the cuff), and I am not planning on just reading a part of my dissertation to them, but I'm still a bit thrown off by the "informal" label. Anyone had similar experience as a talker or search-committee member evaluating such talks? I'm in English, by the way.

Thanks,

Anne

[TMK]

Informal can mean many things, and so more information is necessary in order to advise you. What kind of school is this?  Is it a research university? A small liberal-arts college?  Also, what will your course load be at this school if you are hired?

I suspect, if this is a school where teaching is primary, they will want to see you talk about your research and relate it to how you would bring that into the classroom. If the school has a heavy teaching load, they also want you to describe how teaching and research link, because if they don't, the likelihood is that you won't do research at all, which is not what they want.

All job talks are supposed to evaluate your presence in the classroom in some way, but I think saying "informal" is a shorthand to emphasize that aspect of the talk. If you have questions, though, you should ask the search chair for more specifics -- what the faculty reacts positively to, what is meant by "informal," etc.

[Anne]

It's a small liberal-arts place, a teaching school, definitely, but faculty do some research.  

Thanks for your comments so far. Maybe I can make reference to how I've taught a specific text related to my research near the end of my talk.

[B.F.]

I strongly recommend that you ask the search chair to explain what they mean by an informal talk. We can guess what it is, but that does not mean that our guesses will be accurate. You should be very clear about what type of talk they expect, and it is reasonable to contact them and ask them to explain.

[Clueless]

I always assumed "informal" meant they didn't want you to write a speech and read it. Just know what you'd want to say and be open to questions.