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Giving a good academic talk

COMP80122. Giving a good academic talk. Carole Goble School of Computer Science University of Manchester. Outline. General comments on presentations Preparation Structure Slides Presentation Nerves Speaking Questions Take home message. Good Presentations.

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Giving a good academic talk

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  1. COMP80122 Giving a good academic talk Carole Goble School of Computer Science University of Manchester

  2. Outline • General comments on presentations • Preparation • Structure • Slides • Presentation • Nerves • Speaking • Questions • Take home message

  3. Good Presentations Are clear and interesting • So, simply be clear, interesting... Remember • No rule fits everybody • we need a lot of practice In the rest of COMP80122, we practice Don’t be dull

  4. Presentation Preparation • Logistics • How much time do you have? • What technical devices do you have/need? • What is the take home message? • New result/technique. • Consequences of result/technique. • Read my paper. • Time • Practice – and make changes. • Have a friend/stranger listen & edit. Esp. an audience representative • A good talk takes MUCH longer to write than you think: 1 minute:1 hour rule.

  5. Know your audience • Who is your audience? • What assumptions can you make about • Their background knowledge • Their listening situation

  6. A presentationneeds a strong framework • Title slide (title, authors, affiliation, etc.) • Outline or Take Home Message • Background • Motivation, start using running example. • Related work, continue using running example • Results • Summary of results. • Sketch of techniques used to obtain these results. • Further use of the running example. • Summary/Outlook/Future • The Take Home Message. • Acknowledgements (colleagues and funders)

  7. Presentation Structure • Try not to overwhelm with information. • 3 point talk • I came, I saw, I conquered • 3 part structure • Beginning, middle and end. • 3 point repeat • Tell them, and tell them again, and again. • Narrative and signposting. http://www.presentationmagazine.com/rule-of-three-836.htm

  8. What is the story arc?

  9. Presentation Communication • Think visual and high bandwidth info delivery. • Analogies. • Minimize words and maximize pictures. • Two ways of saying the same thing. • Plan for whiteboard blindness. • Prepare good slides. • Expect to throw away two thirds of your slides. • Use slides to deal with complexity. • Don’t clutter with complicated background images

  10. Slide preparation • Nothing in less than 18 point • Serif fonts fade out on projectors • Don’t write out great blocks of text from your paper. A presentation is not the same a document. And we will spend lots of time trying to read it and not listen. Are you still listening? • Use nested bullet points • To make clear points quickly • Make sure you spell check • Not too many fonts • Don’t cram with text or too many bullets • Be careful of bullet builds • Don’t have bullets at the bottom…

  11. Colour choices • Avoid loud, garish colors…dark text on light background or light on dark. • Avoid text colors that fade into background, i.e. blue and black • Avoid color-blind combinations: • Red and green • Blue and yellow

  12. Pictures. Worth. 1000 Words. • Simple • Confusagrams • Animations • Time to go explain • Can’t? simplify • Big enough • Exceptions? • Making a point

  13. Animation fundamentals • Keep it simple. • The animation must serve a purpose • Don’t mix up styles. • One transition style throughout • Distractions send us crazy. • No cute cartoons please

  14. Handling Technical stuff • Take your time • Think of another way of presenting • Simplify examples for the presentation

  15. How does a clockwork clock work? “It tells the time, mechanically”

  16. Before the presentation.Get Situated. • Practice in the room. • Practice with set up. • Attend other presentations. • Get there early • Dress code for your discipline/audience. • Smart for Medicine • Scruffy for Maths • Wear something that can carry a microphone.

  17. Speaking • Be clear • Speak clearly, good tempo. • Speak loudly enough. • Gestures • Clarify messages • Animate talk • Beware cultural taboos • Practice with friends. • Acting.

  18. Giving the presentation • Audience • Speak to your audience, not your laptop or shoes. • Check faces of audience whether they can follow • Include your audience • Communication • Don’t read out slides or notes. • Listen to yourself. • Demeanour • Don’t be cool (bored). • Be enthused. • Don’t apologize. • Breathe. • Mark start and end.

  19. On the fly adapting • Previous speaker has made your introduction. • Another speaker has presented work close to yours. • Its good to acknowledge

  20. Being Nervous. What won’t help • Pretending the audience isn’t there. • Holding (and clicking!) a ball-pen. • Playing with the change in your pocket. • Using manuscript or cards. • Getting drunk. • Learning everything by heart: • you need to know what you want to say, but don’t recite. • Things you have seen?

  21. Being Nervous. What can help? • It is OK to be nervous. • Be well prepared. • Pre-prepare a good mental picture of yourself in the presentation. • Don’t be late. • Breath/drink water. • Pretend the audience is really friendly & interested. • Things you have seen?

  22. Handling Questions • Repeat the question. • Rephrase the question. • Admit if you don’t know the answer. • Ask for suggestions (review interview). • Beware getting trapped in a dialogue (research presentation). • The intent of the question. • Other thoughts?

  23. Content questions • “Could you explain to me how this component of your approach works in more detail?” • Philosophical questions • “Do you think there is added value to 3D displays over 2D ones in all perceptual tasks?” • Show-off questions • “You mentioned rendering, will you be using Path Tracing, Bidirectional Path Tracing, or Metropolis light transport, but also semi realistic methods, like Whitted Style Ray Tracing, or hybrids?” • Trolling questions • “You’ve just presented work which I have already published in 1983 in Nature and in Science, so I don’t see how your work is relevant and also my method was better and more elegant than yours. Can you comment on this?” http://noeskasmit.com/scientific-presentation-tips-part-2-the-presentation/

  24. Take Home Message What is your Take Home Message to the particular audience? Your COMP80122 presentation • 15 minutes, about your research • including background, motivation, hypothesis, aims, etc. • in small groups, with lots of feedback

  25. Useful Reading • http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html • http://www.to-done.com/2005/07/how-to-give-a-great-presentation/ • http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jrs/speaking.html • http://njn.valgrind.org/good-talk.html • http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/simonpj/papers/giving-a-talk/giving-a-talk.htm • http://noeskasmit.com/scientific-presentation-tips-part-one-preparation/ • http://noeskasmit.com/scientific-presentation-tips-part-2-the-presentation/

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