1. Kathy McCoy CIS Department University of Delaware
Communication Skills
Mary Jane Irwin
CSE Department
Penn State
Kathy McCoy
CIS Department
University of Delaware

2. Communication is the Key!
No matter how good the idea is, it won’t go anywhere unless you can communicate it to others
Keys to successful communication:
Have something to say (and believe in it)
Figure out how to organize it
Figure out how to SAY it
Practice, practice, practice (rewrite, rewrite, rewrite)
Deliver the goods
This means you need to be able to communicate your ideas in a clear and understandable fashion – and you need to figure out how to motivate both an understanding of the problem and an appreciation of the goodness of your (approach to a) solution. When you do this, you need to keep the person (people) you are telling engaged – they need to be paying attention and listening – so it is important that you make it interesting for them to hear.
Have something to say (and believe in it) – if you are unsure about something you are not going to communicate it well. Be confident!
Figure out how to SAY it – this means select the actual words/phrases/sentences etc… when you are communicating you don’t want to be stumbling over words – particularly in a presentation situation, you want the words to be able to flow. That means you need to think about the actual words/phrases in advance (sort-of).

3. Why is Communication Important?
Good writing/presentations can’t make bad work good, but bad writing/presentations can make good work go unnoticed
Being a good writer/speaker rarely comes naturally
Get better by writing more paper, giving more talks
Get better by analyzing what good writers/ speakers do
Work at it … it’s uncomfortable but worth it!
There is no sense doing really good work if you can’t effectively tell others about it! Very good writing/presentations can‘t necessarily make mediocre content look better, but, bad writing/presentations can certainly make really good work go unnoticed.
Keep in mind that speaking/writing are rarely thought of as fun for someone fairly new to it. Believe it or not, being a good speaker does not come naturally to many people – people need to work at it in order to make them good. And, working at it is not usually a pleasant experience.

4. Have something to say…
Writing a paper/presentation often clarifies/solidifies ideas because the paper needs to tell the full story
Papers/presentations have limited time frames –figure out the most important points AND how to get them across
That means leaving out details
That’s often tricky!
As I said earlier, one of the first things one has to worry about is Having something to say… For me, writing/giving a talk is usually a learning/clarification experience. People will tell you that the best way to learn something is to teach it – because in order to figure out how to explain something to others, you first really need to understand it yourself (so you can figure out the best way to present it).
Writing a paper or presentation often serves the same purpose for your research work. You may try to write the paper, and realize there were some portions you really didn’t understand yourself – there isn’t one full story – there are holes that need to be filled in.
One hard thing about papers/presentations is that they have limited time frames/paper lengths. That means you really need to cut down on details and only say the most important thing.

5. Writing Well Means… Making something Understandable to the Audience …
Making something Interesting for the Audience to read (with proper motivation)
A poorly written paper is one where the wrong details are included, or it asks the reader to do too much work. Make it fun to read. Provide the necessary background and materials.
What does it mean to be a good writer?
It isn’t using big words or complicated sentence structures – it means being UNDERSTANDABLE. It also means being LOGICAL and CONSISTENT.
Let’s look at how this might be accomplished…

6. Writing is Important!
Writing was one of the most important lessons I learned in graduate school
It is important – spend time getting it right!
Study from good writers
Practice writing – and get feedback! (At the same time, be willing to give feedback too!)

7. How To Organize a Talk/Paper
Start early – “There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting”
Decide what the “take home message” should be
Write down the important points you want to make (in any random order) – don’t forget motivation and “way of looking at the problem”
Spend time thinking about pictures/graphs/ visual aids to help you make your points
A life-long lesson from my 6th grade English teacher (whose name I have no recollection of!). Leave yourself time to do the rewriting! Rewriting involves reading and thinking about whether the story you are telling is a consistent one and whether the intended audience will find it understandable. It’s hard!
Before writing the first time, think about the overall paper organization.
Once you have these points – you need to figure out how to order and move between them – that will give you the paper organization. Go with it – write out the paper thinking about the flow – and be ready to rewrite it!

8. Some Things To Think About…
Get the reader interested early (remember they’re busy …)
Show the reader how to read and evaluate the work – establish the point of view the reviewer should be taking
Must be technically sound, but also understandable to a non-expert
Proof the paper and then proof it again!!!

9. Get Feedback Get the draft done early for feedback
Give it to your advisor REALLY early
Give it to your friends – and offer to read their papers in return
Look at feedback as a blessing (grow a thick skin)
Let the people reading know what the acceptance criteria are
Don’t be scared! Sometimes it is hard to let go of something or to give people a draft until you think it is perfect. But, in thinking through a paper you really need to think through the entire draft before you can really critically analyze it. Don’t be fooled thinking that you can organize it in your head and it will flow perfectly onto the page once you sit down and write it.
Write it early so you can get feedback. Often it takes someone else to look at it (who is not so close to the work) to see where things are unclear or inconsistent. Get it done early so you can get it out.
Once people read it, WANT people to find things wrong with it. It is great to get feedback and then to be able to see the improved results because of the feedback!
Remember, your advisor is very busy and has lots of deadlines. Do not expect that your advisor is going to be able to work 24 hours a day on YOUR paper.
Give it to your friends – particularly those in tangentially related areas.
Let friends know what the criteria are so they can provide you with good feedback.

10. Understand Your Audience
Know your audience
Who is on the program committee?
What kind of work do they do?
What is the style of the conference?
What is the assumed knowledge?
Remember program committee members are busy people
Your writing has to be clear and concise – don’t try to say too much!

11. Know the Criteria for Acceptance
Significance
Technical soundness
Relevance to conference topic
Relevant literature cited
How general is the contribution
Is the paper well-written/clear?

12. What if the Paper is Rejected
Decide if the paper can be salvaged
If so, revised the paper addressing reviewer concerns
Resubmit the paper to the next relevant conference
Don’t give up easily

13. Author Ordering Whose name should go first? Last?
How big a contribution gets one on the author list?
Don’t forget to include
Acknowledgement to the funder (ask your advisor for the grant number)
Acknowledgements to others who made contributions, just not enough to make the author list

14. LPU What about dual (simultaneous) submissions?
To two different conferences – NEVER
To a conference and a journal – ONLY if the call specifically allows it
What about two “versions” of essentially the same paper ? – LPU hurts you in the long run
Don’t let anyone push you into something that you are uncomfortable with

15. Beware of Plagiarism
“Plagiarism, in which one misrepresents ideas, words, computer codes or other creative expression as one's own, is a clear violation of such ethical principles.”
All authors are held responsible for the paper content
Understand the rules to avoid self plagiarism

16. Oral Presentations Determine the talk and make the slides
Write out exactly word-for-word what you are going to say on each slide
Give the talk out loud to yourself with the slides and printed notes in front of you
Note mistakes in the slides
Jot notes on places that just “don’t seem to work” or “flow”
Note if the talk is too long or short
When jotting down notes about problems – don’t try to fix them – just note where there are problems

17. Some Slide Mechanics 30 minute talk = ~ 30 slides
Never use variable width fonts
Never use less than 24 point font
Shoot for about 3 points per slide and less than 30 words per slide
Use animation (rather than a laser pointer) –
Make effect use of color – but don’t overdo it
but
don’t
overdo it

18. Still Practicing… Act on the results of the practice
Does the overall talk work?
Is it close to the right amount of time or do you have to cut/add major chunks?
Fix the slides
Rewrite the text to fix the rough spots (sometimes this means re-ordering or working in a new transition or significantly changing a couple of slides)
Repeat until Good! (Speak slowly; don’t use notes)

19. The Dry Run…
It is often harder to give a talk to your friends and colleagues than it is to a large audience that doesn’t know you
Make sure to do it early enough so you will be able to incorporate changes
Lay the ground rules for the dry run – make sure they know where you are giving the talk (what kind of audience), how long you have, whether you can be interrupted, etc.
Consider that you think your friends probably like you – and you just have this fear that you are going to be saying something that they are going to think is crazy or stupid or …
Laying the ground rules helps involve the audience so they will hopefully provide you with more feedback. You need to communicate with them that the purpose IS to get feedback to make this the best it can be. They are NOT going to hurt your feelings with suggestions.

20. Still on the Dry Run… Deliver the talk as if it were the real thing
Smile
Be confident
Look them (all) in the eye
Be enthusiastic about (all) the material
Speak SLOWLY
Speak clearly
Modulate your voice emphasizing the important points

21. More on the Dry Run Listen carefully to the comments
Be grateful for every comment you get! (Remember, you don’t need to incorporate them if you don’t like them, but another viewpoint is ALWAYS helpful.)
Pay particular attention if someone is confused or didn’t understand a point that was made – that really needs to be fixed!
Rewrite the talk based on the comments
Go practice it for yourself again!

22. At the Conference It is natural to be nervous
Check out the set-up in advance (take that stresser away)
It is best if you can actually TRY the media in advance
Ask for help if something doesn’t work right
Know what “signals” for time you will get
Remain confident – you KNOW this material and it is GOOD – now show them!
Between sessions or early in the morning go try your talk on the AV equipment – stand where you will stand – figure out where you can put your notes, materials you might need – make yourself comfortable with the setup.
Know what “signals” for time you will get – but don’t depend on getting them!

23. Answering Questions Be prepared !
Give session chair “sample” questions
Have backup slides for the questions you expect
Make sure you listen to/understand the question – repeat it back to the questioner
For questions that need long/detailed responses, ask to meet after the session
Don’t be afraid to say “that’s a really good point/idea and on our list to consider for future work”
Don’t get into extended arguments

24. One Last Issue Keep a professional web page Update it regularly
Include a professionally done head shot
Put personal stuff (family pictures, etc) accessible via a link clearly marked as such
If you wouldn’t be happy having your mother see it, don’t put it there

25. Resources
That every graduate student in CSE should have on their bookcase
Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2001
Alley, The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid, 2005
Zobel, Writing for Computer Science, 2004
Colwell, The Pentium Chronicles, 2006

26. Summing Up
Communicating your ideas clearly is an important skill that needs to be worked at
The more you do it, the easier it becomes – but that fear doesn’t ever go away
Never let them see you sweat!
You need to be excited about the material – if you think it is boring or unimportant THEY will think the same thing.
It doesn’t matter how scared you are – you CAN pull it off – don’t let on that you are scared. Don’t ever apologize for the presentation – do the best that you can with what is on hand and enjoy it.