We have some lightweight but important homework for you to do before the retreat:

- Prepare and practice (!) a 2-3 minute "executive summary" for your research. (Three minutes is a hard deadline. We'll cut your talk after that, so please practice well.) If you do not have yet an exact idea about your PhD project
(understandable if this is your first term as a PhD student), you can give a broader description of your area of research or of any ideas that you have about your future project. Try to aim for these two key objectives: 1) make the talk
understandable for your colleagues, who might come from an entirely different area of computer science; and 2) make the talk persuasive, convincing your colleagues that your research project is interesting and important. The use of visual aids (whiteboard, etc.) is prohibited. (imagine that you are standing at a conference buffet and want to explain your research to someone else.)

- Think about the following question: "Why have I decided to pursue a Ph.D. degree?" Please be brutally honest. :) Write down your (brutally honest) answer and bring the (unsigned) paper with you to the retreat. Ideally, reply with more than a single sentence.