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[hopepage]

Hello, does anyone have any experience of how to handle well the situation where you meet with a group of faculty during your campus visit? Is it a chaotic situation where you need to take responsibility for talking to as many as possible? Or is it more organized that you just sit there and they will ask questions? Or does it depend? By the way, I am a shy person and not good at maneuvring between people at social gatherings, so I am afraid that this will do a disservice to me. Any tips on how to handle will be welcome.

[athena1]

I'm shy too. Usually it's one of a few things, either a formal job talk where you do most of the talking and answer question, a formal interview where they ask most of the questions and you answer and maybe get to ask a few at the end, or a meal that's informal. At meals, I dont' feel like I need to talk nonstop, but I do try to be attentive and contribute to the conversation.

[brunhilde]

How I handled this depended on the context of the group meeting. At one point I met with 8 faculty members in a more formal setting. In this case, I asked a bunch of questions and maybe 2-4 would give an answer and that might lead me to ask a related question or might lead them to ask a question of me. So it did seem like all conversation was funneled through me. There are also group situations over meals. In these situations, while they are still focused on me, there is more general conversation and back and forth between other people.

I am shy as well and I was a bit worried as well and everything turned out fine. In a group of 4 people, there will almost always be someone more naturally talkative. I found myself quite tired at the end of one day with no more energy to take responsibility for the conversation. They will start conversations about fun things to do in the area or buying a house, etc. You should participate, but don't need to be the life of the party.

[hopepage]

In my schedule I am supposed to have an hour meeting with the department faculty, besides having lunch with some faculty. I am not sure what to expect and what to prepare for that. On my last campus visit, I had a meet and greet, when I was in a room with some food, and some faculty would come in, and I would talk to some of them. Since I am good at social occasions, I found it difficult to break current conversations and greet and talk to new people coming in. So I ended up talking most of the time with 2 or 3 people. I wonder whether this time is will be more formal. Any advice or guidelines on how to prepare?