EE591b Advanced Image Processing Copyright Xin Li A “Devastating” Message Doing good research is not enough; how to sell your work is equally important Justifications If your work is truly first-class, you do not need to worry about selling but unfortunately the majority of us are not geniuses. Therefore, salesmanship does make a difference It is a part of the game – everyone plays by game rules and those who study rules better have a higher winning chance – game rules include salesmanship strategies. Research is not like soccer or football (winning or losing is obvious from the final score) but more like gymnastics or skating (judges are your peers) Not just research depends on salesmanship; almost everything in your life counts on it (how to sell is a part of thinking)

EE591b Advanced Image Processing Copyright Xin Li Scenario I: Best Paper Awards How are best paper awards selected? Examples: watermarking, fingerprinting, most SIGGRAPHS papers Counter-examples: Burrow-Wheeler Transform paper, TMW paper on lossless image compression, Window-Weighted block MC paper

EE591b Advanced Image Processing Copyright Xin Li Scenario II: Promotions in Industry The secret of getting promoted in any company: Know how to sell your work to your boss

Two fold of salesmanship How to write good technical papers? Thesis, conf./journal papers Patents and technical reports How to give good oral presentations? Formal occasions: job interview, conference sessions, … Informal occasions: in the elevator, beside lunch table, …

Technical Writing (I) Learn LaTex Read sample papers Understand logic (more important than grammar) Hierarchical organization

Technical Writing (II) Better to say little clearly, than saying too much unclearly (If the paper is not readable, author has not given writing sufficient thought) Avoid Using Too Many Acronyms and Long Sentences If your ideas do not work well in some interesting scenarios, tell the reader (People appreciate a balanced presentation)

How to write weak results If results are not that great, come up with better ones Do not hide weak results behind bad writing Be sure to explain why results are weaker than you expected If you must publish: write well, but may have to go to second-best conference Only a few conferences in any area are worth publishing in Too many papers in poor conferences bad for your reputation Just because a conference is “IEEE” or “ACM” or “International” does not mean it is any good If results not good enough for a decent conference, rethink your problem/solution

Technical reports Useful to get early feedback from other researchers Puts a timestamp on your work Can include more information / results than might fit in a paper

How to Present? Objective: convey a simple message within the given time limit Approach: hierarchical organization of your train of thought Basic: 1 minute per slide “A picture is worth a thousand words” EE591b Advanced Image Processing Copyright Xin Li 20039

Talk outline or not ? Useful when several ideas discussed in a single talk Short talks : Skip the outline Long talks : Include an outline Make the outline interesting

Useful references Speaker’s Guide, Ian Parberry The Best Method for Presentation of Research Results, Veljko Milutinovic 96.htm Many other guides on the web