Last week, at the ISCOM (Institute of Supply Chain and Operational Management) conference, I had the opportunity to chat with Professor Simai He during a tea break. Curious about navigating the plethora of Management Science (MS) talks, I sought his recommendations on which ones to attend. While he didn’t specify any particular talks, he shared some valuable advice, which I remember as follows.
Presenting a paper in management science typically involves three distinct sections. The initial third of the presentation usually encompasses the introduction of the problem, a review of the relevant literature, and the formulation of the model. It’s crucial to pay attention to how the presenters articulate their motivation and translate it into a research question. This aspect is currently a primary focus in management science research papers.
The middle third of the presentation delves into the technical details. It’s important to follow along as much as possible, but don’t be discouraged if some parts are challenging to grasp. In fact, it’s quite common for audience members to get loss. (Including He, as he said himself lol)
The final third is dedicated to the conclusion, where presenters discuss their research results and the managerial implications. This part is particularly insightful and requires careful listening as well as critical thinking, as it demonstrates how researchers frame the contributions of their paper.
This advice was a revelation, offering a new perspective on how to approach these talks. I have taken Prof. He’s linear algebra class, which is absolutely amazing that I still refer to his slides every now and then when encountered some technical problems, for example, dealing with matrix decompositions.