Scientific Communication CITS7200

1. Scientific Communication CITS7200 Lecture 10 Giving a Talk

2. Good presentation skills are vital in many professions and contexts • Research seminars, conference talks, project meetings, budget meetings, sales talks, funding applications, job interviews, meeting your future in-laws, …

3. Key points • Know your audience • What do they know? What do they want to know? • Figure out what they will learn and why they want to learn it • Be professional • Organise yourself, your materials, and your time

4. What to say and how to say it • A good talk can usually be split into five parts • Definition and motivation of the problem • General theory • Details • Conclusions • Question time

5. Define and motivate the problem Define and motivate the problem!

6. Define and motivate the problem • First impressions count! • Be concrete, not abstract • Be concrete in motivation and in details • Generalise in conclusions, if appropriate • Motivate with applications, philosophy, history, predictions, dollars, … • Cover background only where necessary for understanding or for motivation

7. Set up the notation and terminology • Keep notation (especially) to a minimum • Keep examples as simple as possible • Remind, but do not assume • Emphasise your contributions • Often a “road map” to the talk helps to impose structure

8. The general theory • Describe the methodology • Describe the key results • Explain the significance of the results • Sketch the proof/evidence of the results • Pictures/graphs help

9. The details • Present one key result which is • Important • Non-trivial • Representative • Now give details • But this is the part of the talk that is least important, and should be first to be cut • Refer them to the paper/notes, if necessary, or to later discussion

10. The conclusion • Put your results back in context • Once again, motivate the problem • Make clear your contribution • Discuss any limitations • Discuss some interesting open problems • Conclude: thank the audience, and invite questions and comments

11. Handling questions • Always allow time for questions • There are always questions! • Allow/encourage questions during the talk, if you are confident enough • Try to anticipate likely questions • Try to learn from the questions

12. Visual and aural aids • High tech • PowerPoint, LaTeX, HTML, PDF, others • Medium tech • Overheads, slides • Low tech • Pen and plastic, whiteboard

13. General points • Use large font sizes • Write points, not sentences • Do not put too much on one “slide” • Make the medium invisible

14. High tech • Use presentation software if possible • Forces you to prepare in advance • Helps you to organise your talk • Makes changing your talk easier • Looks professional and well-prepared • But plan for equipment failure, or portability issues • Have a lower-tech back-up plan

15. Medium tech • Overheads are good as a back-up mechanism • But printed overheads can look boring • And a mixture can look odd • Always use permanent pens • With slides, video or audio: be in control of the situation yourself, and prepare

16. Low tech • Recommended only for confident speakers • Allow you to tune the presentation on-the-fly • Allow you to build up complex pictures/equations/graphs on-the-fly in any order, and to control the audience’s attention

17. Pointers • Stick pointers are easier to aim • But don’t bang on non-rigid screens! • Laser pointers give you more range • But avoid these if your hands shake

18. Voice issues • Face the audience, not the projector screen, nor the computer screen, nor the OHP, nor the desk, … • And don’t get between them! • Talk to (multiple) individuals, or at least to the back of the room • Vary the tone and level of your voice • Use “normal” language

19. Getting through to the audience • Use repetition • Remember that with a talk, people cannot “refer back” to earlier comments • Use examples • Don’t get bogged down in abstractions and generalities • Never present the details of proofs • Feel free to say “more details are given in the paper/notes”

20. Know your audience • Scientists (or business people, or the general public) • Will be interested only in general results • Computer scientists • Use notation carefully and focus on the problem • Theoretical computer scientists • Will want to know exactly what your contribution is • Experts • Will want to know how your work beats theirs!

21. Timing • Never over-run your allotted time • Talks which are too short are always better than talks which are too long • Be aware of how long you have, and stick to it • Design multiple exit points, or identify material that can be skipped • Cut out details first • Make sure you’re aware of the time

22. Handling nerves • Everyone gets nervous • Make your nerves work for you • Be animated: show them you care! • But be prepared too • Deep breathing • Know your introductory “speech” • Use written reminders if necessary • Bring water, so you can pause and re-group when necessary