Presenting Science Molly S. Costanza-Robinson, Ph.D. Middlebury College Environmental Chemistry 270 Spring 2011

Outline Presenting Using power point to present Presenting science

Outline Presenting Using power point to present Presenting science

Presenting Enunciate and project your voice Make eye contact with your audience Avoid nervous habits Reading is not presenting  2 notecards are allowed; try not using any!  Use short, bulleted phrases to keep you on track

Rehearse: It helps you… Organize your talk  Is the order of your slides logical?  Do you know what comes next?  Prioritize the information Stay within time constraints  Is your 15 min talk really 25 min?  Can you concisely describe an idea? Stay calm and confident  interruptions won’t throw you off  allows for spontaneous thoughts

Consider your audience What do they already know? What do you want to teach them that is new? What will be of interest to them?

Consider your purpose To demonstrate your understanding of environmental chemistry To link our classroom learning to a specific case study To guide your classmates through the important aspects of the case study

Hourglass Structure Start broad: importance of topic Get more specific: background science Even more specific: methods & results Broaden out again: conclusions & take- home message

Outline Presenting Using power point to present Presenting science

Slide rules Spend at least 1-2 min. per slide Use <5 bullets per slide Use 24 pt font or larger derule20.jpg

Color Choices: contrast is good! BLACK BLUE GREEN RED Don’t use light colors like YELLOW white on black white on blue yellow on blue Don’t use PASTELS M.A. Daugherty

Avoid too many words If you have very long sentences being projected on the board, I can guarantee that no one will be listening to the words that you are actually speaking. They will be reading, and your emphasis will be lost. Keep it short Use phrases Force people to listen to you

Avoid distractions Although this is cool it distracts from the science Just enough “design” to be pleasing

Powerpoint advantage: visuals Photos Diagrams Colors

Don’t go overboard M.A. Daugherty A bit much, yes?

Outline Presenting Using power point to present Presenting science

Scientific Conventions Appropriate units Specific & quantitative Appropriate conventions  Symbols (  m), subscripts (NO 3 ), superscripts (people/km 2 )

Tables Help your readers focus on what you deem important

Graphs Organic matter Macro-inverts fish Walters et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42, Annotations can help readers quickly grasp the important distinctions

Graphs II Walters et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42, Way too much data Way too small to see Is there a better Approach?

Walters et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42, Site 1Site 6 Trophic position % of ΣPCBs Di and tri PCBs decrease up the foodchain at both sites Penta PCBs increase up the foodchain at Site 1; trend unclear at Site 6 Trophic Trends for PCB Classes at Two Sites % of ΣPCBs

Acknowledgments All the speakers I’ve heard present All the people who have given me feedback on my presentations