Several trainees including PhD students, postdocs and technicians, have already been working in the lab for the past few months. I was so excited by their joining. Meanwhile, the way these guys met me for project discussion soon reminded me that I may be should list some suggestions about how to talk with your advisors.
1. Do it regularly, e.g. once or twice a week, especially in the first year. This could be very helpful to make you form a manner to push yourself to do more, reading more and think more.
2. Always prepare your specific topic(s) you may wanna talk with her/him before the meeting. You will learn more if could try to follow this logic during the meeting: a. What I have done (experiments) during the past days; b. I think the results could indicate a conclusion (support the original hypothesis or not); c. Based on the current results, I plan to do XXX or YYY. Would you agree? Or which plan we should try first?
3. Try to talk about or report the new progress with your advisor actively before she/he ask for it. Otherwise you could see the advisor as a very aggressive one. Naturally you may often do things with high pressure during the following years. The original aim of your work is getting knowledge and learning problem solving, but not satisfying anyone include your advisor or your parents.
4. Keep your thinking independent. You could even argue with or try to convince her/him with new results, previous publications or knowledge, upon the transient disagreement between you two about the next plan.
5. Record the important or valuable suggestions or questions raised in the meeting with a pen, but not by your mind.
6. Ensure all the unsolved issues get feedback/renewal in the next discussion!
7. Never be afraid or shy to communicate with the advisors. Try to think the advisor could be just a teammate. Union with her/him could undoubtedly promote your scientific exploration!
Again, what I did, what I think and what I plan.
Hope it helps.
Fan Zhou's Blog Site 
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