Walk with confidence!
This is probably the best advice I ever recieved in a chem lab. Before, I'd walk hesitantly, not sure about what I was doing, or if I was doing it right; lots of chem students do it. If you walk with confidence people don't ask you if you're lost.
My lab demonstrator at the time was well known for being zealous in doing things right and knowing why things should be done in that particular way. He'd often ask questions to the class, and after that bit of advice I'd chime in with the answer. This wasn't to do with sucking up or showing off. It was about playing to his style and keeping the class moving (since they'd inevitably stop until someone answered).
Interestingly, its one of the ways I got to know people in chem. People would ask me stuff. They got better marks but I think I got the better reputation.
This reputation for knowing the answer and troubleshooting followed me after chem into fourth year and more to my social interaction. Particularly with my Indian friends, I'd developed a reputation for knowing things, how they work. Its given me a rather one dimensional character to them, but that's probably cause we've quite different outlooks on life and none of them has talked to me about things that I care about (I don't really know that many of them do know what I care about). The exception to the rule here is my brother and one of my best friends, Prashant.
In 5th year this got to the point where in class of people I didn't know, they'd still ask me questions: how's this work, how do you work the program, etc. I remarked to a friend, Ben, "Do I look like a tutor?", which he didn't really answer.
Maybe I give off a vibe. Maybe its walking with confidence.
Anyways, I was reading this article about the bad medical advice Oprah has been giving out on her show (re: MMR vaccinations, thyroid disease, hormone treatments, full text here: http://www.newsweek.com/2009/05/29/live-your-best-life-ever.html)
All the guests on her show, and even Oprah herself, they all do the walk. They talk with authority.
This was a strategy I used a lot while demonstrating; when you talk with authority people listen and absorb what you're saying. Someone in Oprah's position has a lot of power to influence people, and a lot of responsibility to say the right thing. What's alarming (and particularly evident) in the final anecdote of the article, is that Oprah isn't aware of the influence she has on people.
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