The Craft of Scientific Presentations [Feynman] developed into an accomplished and inspiring teacher and lecturer, who gave virtuoso performances full of showmanship, humor, with his own inimitable brilliance, style, and manner. Jagdish Mehra

Because presentations are expensive, one should consider whether a presentation is truly needed Cost in salaries of audience Cost in time for presentation Cost in time to prepare presentation

Presenter can read audience and react A B C C D Presenter receives instant reaction ! ? ! ? Presentations have several advantages over documents Work can come alive for audience Work

Speaker has limited chance to catch errors ??? Audience cannot reread text has one audience chance to hear Audience cannot look up background material Presentations also have several disadvantages

Presentations can be viewed from three stylistic perspectives Structure and Speech Delivery Archives, Cal-Tech Visual Aids

audience purposeoccasion You begin preparing a scientific presentation by analyzing your constraints who are they? what do they know? why are they here? what biases do they have? to inform to persuade to inspire to teach formality size time

BeginningBeginning EndingEnding Middle As with documents, the structure of presentations should have clear beginnings, middles, and ends

Beginnings prepare the audience for the work to be presented Defines work Work = A + B Maps presentation A B C D Shows importance Gives background

The middle presents the work in a logical order post-combustion methods combustion methods pre-combustion methods

pre-combustion methods combustion methods post-combustion methods combustion methods In the middle, you make smooth transitions between major points

The ending summarizes main points and places those results in the context of the big picture point 1 point 2 point 3 point 4 point 5 point 6 point 7 point 8 point 1 point 7 Summary Big Picture

Presentations can be viewed from three stylistic perspectives Structure and Speech Delivery Archives, Cal-Tech Visual Aids

One type of visual aid that deserves reflection is the presentation slide

Audiences remember more when you use well-designed slides Recall (%) Hear and See See Hear

What information to include? Excluded Included What format to choose? No matter what type of projection you use, you must make certain decisions

Choose a format that is easily read Arial BOOK ANTIQUA Choose legible type Choose a helpful layout words

Color can distinguish a presentation

Color affects how fast the audience can read The color combination that is read most quickly is black on yellow.

Color affects how fast the audience can read What is important is that the combination has contrast—the one on this slide fails to do so.

Color affects how fast the audience can read Combinations of red, green, and brown are difficult for many people to read

Color affects the emotions of the audience Avoid having a hot color such as red or orange as your background color.

Headline Body Recommended here is a sentence-headline design that quickly orients the audience The sentence headline succinctly states the main assertion of the slide Body supports with words Body supports with images compressor combustor turbine

Secondary flows enter the primary flow through film-cooling holes and dilution jets Turbine Vanes Secondary Flow Primary Flow Secondary Flow Dilution Jet Combustor Simulator Film-Cooling Holes

What information to include? Excluded Included What format to choose? No matter what type of projection you use, you must make certain decisions

Include slides that accent important details Results Four warmest years of century The world is warming Images Neptune has three moons

Include slides that show organization Beginning Title Mapping Middle Middle 1 Middle 2 Ending Conclusion

Cynthia Schmidt Mechanical Engineering Department University of Texas Methods to Reduce Sulfur Dioxide Emissions From Coal-Fueled Utilities

Three classes of methods exist for reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide post-combustion methods combustion methods pre-combustion methods

90% removal capability low capital cost—able to use in existing equipment high operating cost ability to use different grades of coal separator air inlet cleaned exhaust grid The most effective combustion method is an atmospheric fluidized bed

Percentage Reduction of SO 2 coal cleaning coal switching fluidized bed absorption adsorption % 80% 90% 95% 80% In summary, by using these methods, coal utilities can greatly reduce SO 2 emissions Questions?

Avoid complex images DEAR- ATOR HOT WELL RGF A B Avoid filler information Roentgen discovered x-rays in He found that a cathode-ray tube produced fluorescence in a distant plati- num-barium-cyanide screen. Avoid long lists Corrosion Acid rain Toxic materials Pulsed combustion Energetic materials Pyrogenic materials Smog Exclude details that the audience does not need or cannot remember

Presentations can be viewed from three stylistic perspectives Structure and Speech Delivery Archives, Cal-Tech Visual Aids

Delivery is the speaker’s interaction with the audience Cal-Tech Stage Presence Voice AIP Movement Cal-Tech

You have several choices for how you deliver your speech Memorizing the Speech + allows eye contact - difficult for long speeches - room for precision errors - no room for improvising Reading From a Text + ensures precision - does not sound natural - no room for improvising - hinders eye contact Winging It + sounds natural - has much room for error Speaking From Slides + insures organization + allows eye contact + allows improvising - some room for error

In summary, you can improve by practicing and by critiquing the presentations of others Cal-Tech Linus Pauling Chien-Shiung Wu AIP Richard Feynman Cal-Tech