Gödel’s Lost Letter writes an interesting post suggesting that complexity classes — categories of computational problems related by the resources necessary to solve them — play a similar role in complexity theory as elementary particles in high-energy physics. (Via Chad.) All very fascinating stuff, no doubt. But along the way a much more important issue is raised: when there is a seminar, should we have donuts before, or after?
Back then, Yale computer science used the post-talk-food normal form. That is after the talk donuts were served to the audience and the speaker. Most places then and now use pre-talk-food normal form, but Yale was different. I always wondered why we were different, but it was Yale.
I have to say that Yale is right on this one, and yet almost everyone does it backwards. Some sort of refreshments — coffee, tea, stale cookies, donuts if you’re lucky — are generally served before a colloquium or seminar, to attract an audience and presumably put people in a good mood. The problem is: we haven’t heard the talk yet, so we can’t chat about that, and if the audience is big enough we might not even know which person is the speaker.
Whereas, if donuts or whatever are served after the talk, not only do you make it more awkward for grad students to scarf some food without sitting through the seminar, but you have offered a very natural topic of conversation — the substance of the actual talk everyone has just heard. And the resulting conversation will usually be better than the desultory Q&A that follows a typical talk. For one thing, it’s just more natural to stand around and chat while sipping coffee or munching a donut than while one person stands at the front of a room and everyone else sits in the crowd (many of whom are restless and ready to scat). For another, students who might be intimidated out of asking a question in front of the whole audience can screw up their courage in a more informal setting. And most importantly, the chances that the actual speaker will get something intellectually useful out of the whole experience are enormously larger if they get to interact with a bunch of people who have just heard their talk. (Not even to mention the abomination of the usual “lunch talk,” where the undernourished speaker seminars away in front of a collection of people happily chewing away at their meals.)
I’m sure a lot of influential people read this blog. Let’s put that power to good use. What do we have to do to change the traditions and make it standard that coffee is served after the talk instead of before?
Don’t Topology conferences map coffee into donuts by diffeomorphims?
I’ve been to some very well-catered conferences, where the lavish food is in a central location adjacent to each of several auditoriums and smaller meeting rooms at, for instance, CMU. There are great conferences where one must purchase food in the hotel restaurant or a catering table set up near the main ballrooms (International Conference on Complex Systems). The huge San Diego Comic-Con (120,000+ people) is almost impossible to find food at. Seminars at Caltech often have a breakfasty and a lunchy table outside the plenary lecture hall. My worst memory was that, 20 seconds before I was to start my invited talk (I was already on stage) at an AIAA conference, someone yelled “They’re serving free roast beef sandwiches at the IBM booth” and 2/3 of my audience stampeded out the doors. I later published a popularized version as “Future Spacecraft Sensors” [Quantum, No.41, Winter/Spring 1992, pp.23-26, Thrust Publications, 8217 Langport Terrace, Gaithersburg, MD 20877; ISSN 0198-6686. But not the same…
I think that’s a good idea to serve them after.
Manual TrackBack ping: A poll on what food should be served, and when.
Well if one wants to have donuts after the seminar, the seminar has to be start early (before 4 pm). At PSU we used to have cookies after the seminar which used to be between 3-4 and that gave ample opportunity to indulge in informal chats with the
speaker. Starting a colloquia before 4 is not possible because of teaching conflicts etc.
Also I have been to seminars/colloquia where there is usually a class scheduled in the same room after the seminar and that is usually inconvenient to the speaker as well as
the audience, so there is no time to ask questions.
You’ve got to keep them waiting for the snacks or they will eat and run.
I think they should have food before and after –
Do nuts eat doughnuts?
This reminds me of my days as a grad student in Chicago. I had a great adviser who purchased an espresso machine for the lounge, allowing me to stay awake for most talks! On the other hand, the astronomy grad students somehow got their department to provide cookies without the obligatory talk – avoiding the eat and run problem. Those were the days…