CS 664 Sample Presentation G. S. Young Computer Science Department Winter 2017

Outline Purpose Presentation Guidelines Conclusion References For Speakers For Audience Question/Discussion Session Evaluation Conclusion References

Purpose Give some guidelines to speakers as well as audience Explain some do’s and don’ts in making a presentation or listening to a presentation

Guidelines for the Speakers Preparation Know your audience Know your equipment and environment Power point file Use a large font Do not clutter your slides Do not use too many colors Rehearsal Pace yourself Everything on the slide should be explained Do not read your slides Talk to the audience, maintain eye contact

The Format of a Session 30-35 minutes talk 5 minutes question/discussion

Organization of Your Talk Brief introduction What is the current state of the art Why you are interested in this topic High-level description of the main results Background and Definitions Technical Depth Describe the methods/techniques to solve the problem Suitable to the level of audience Conclusion Contributions, applications, future trends References

Presentation Content When change topics, summarize what have discussed thus far and how that relates to what you are about to discuss next. For complicated algorithms, Introduce concrete examples before formal algorithms For complex software system, Do a demo before discussing a software system in depth, such as implementation decisions

More Do’s and Don’ts Do not put too much mathematics on the slides. Just enough mathematics to bring the key points across Use figures and intuitive examples All symbols and acronyms must be defined and explained before you use them. Avoid cluttered graphics with lots of text and complex legends If there is difficulty with a particular question, do not be overly defensive. Sometimes difficult questions can be turned into an idea for future work

Guidelines for Audience Active listening Write down comments during talk Asking questions You may interrupt the talk if you just don’t get it or would like to correct some mistake Follow-up questions or questions expect to have a long answer or discussion should wait until the end

Guidelines for Question/Discussion Section Everyone is required to participate Formulate your questions or comments Raise your hand and wait your turn Please don’t be shy to participate No question is a silly question If you don’t quite understand the talk, ask the speaker to give a brief summary If you are not quite sure about some details, ask the speaker to explain more on some particular slides

Discussions For any question raised Let the speaker answers the question first Audience may add more or bring up other related discussions Speaker may ask audience some questions too To warm-up the discussion session To test if audience really understand the talk

Guidelines for Evaluations Give a score in each required section Be objective Comments Be specific and constructive Don’t write same comments again and again Will be sent back to the speaker anonymously Your evaluation will be scored towards your final grade

Conclusion Attendance is mandatory Please come on time and attend every session No make-up presentations is allowed except for emergency If needed, the class will meet on the final exam week

References Every talk must include a reference list Li, Victor, “Hints on Writing Technical Papers and Making Presentations”, IEEE Transactions on Education, vol. 42, no. 2, May 1999. Zanden, Brad, “Preparing an Effective Presentation”, http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bvz/presentation.html (accessed December 23, 2010). Special thanks to Dr. Srinivas, Dr. Yang and Dr. Sang for sharing their CS664 teaching material with me