1. Secrets of Effective Presentations Dave Wilson

2. The most memorable talk…

3. Outline motivation content presentation

4. Motivation

5. Start by finding your motivation.

6. Why talk (for others)? communicate a discovery presentation: critical final step of research

7. Why talk (for you)? obtain feedback advertise yourself understand your own work better

8. Talks vs writing faster greater potential for impact immediate response speaker’s pace vs reader’s pace repetition required less complexity allowed

9. Content …if you want to improve your talk, start by improving the content

10. Starting out identify the audience choose your main point build your talk around it work within your available time

11. Talk structure create a backbone (framework) describe it early refer to it often be explicit and specific

12. Pitfall: the travelogue No one cares about what you’ve done until you explain why you’ve done it. Rather, describe: discoveries improvements

13. Classic Structure (hard to beat) Introduction Methods Results Discussion

14. Introduction purpose: motivate and build interest describe general problem-provide evidence what is known what is not known specific research question If they don’t buy the question, they won’t buy the talk!

15. Research Questions Bad: “Can we develop a model of the rat tibia that includes trabecular and cortical bone?” Good: “Does a model of the rat tibia predict fracture incidence more effectively than the current technique (physical exam)?”

16. Methods be brief focus on the overall picture don’t dwell on the details plenty of illustrations point form descriptions

18. Results link each result to a research question describe the message of each graph summarize key results

19. Results Bad: “S/Q increased as a function of RST in experiments 2, 4 and 7 but not in experiments 3, 5 and 6”. Good: “Cementing fractured vertebrae increased their stiffness by 28%, but they were still 20% less stiff than unfractured vertebrae”.

20. Discussion answer research questions explicitly rarely time for exhaustive discussion sensible? contribution? implications?

21. Conclusions two or three concise

22. Presentation

23. A great secret to great talks “Get your audience out of the puzzle solving business”

24. The Medium choose the most advanced available, but don’t break new ground… computer slide overhead chalkboard

25. Timing aim to be under time rehearse, rehearse, rehearse get feedback leave time for modifications

26. Problems: Talks Frequent too technical too long unstructured unrehearsed figures unclear poorly motivated Rare too simple too short inappropriate structure overly polished insufficient figures insufficient detail

27. Slides Don’t have anything to apologize for!

28. Slides as legible as possible use established colour combinations aim for 1 slide per minute estimate visibility: distance from monitor/monitor height = distance from back row to screen/screen height

29. Slides Avoid distractions: cluttered backgrounds audio/visual effects illegible text unclear figures

30. Text Slides clear from the last row minimum text paragraphs are for papers don’t mix up different fonts avoid overly ornate fonts avoid slide margins check for errors!

31. Text Slide Problems Multiple colours are distracting Text too small ALL CAPS ARE HARDER TO READ Fancy fonts are distracting Here’s the problem with too much text. Do you really want to read this? Of course you don’t. The text should enhance the talk rather than replace it. Nobody wants to read a paragraph of text on the screen-they’d rather hear you talk. So don’t do it, okay?

32. Figure Slides message must emerge clearly simple, simple, simple one graph or figure per slide eliminate extraneous elements highlight key elements thick lines high-contrast colours label axes use legends fill the slide

34. Do tables work well?

35. a abcdefgh

40. Problems: Slides Frequent distracting too much text too much colour cluttered Rare too plain insufficient text bland colour overly simple

41. The speaker’s job: arrive early figure out the controls prepare well - let the talk happen don’t read find and project your enthusiasm make eye contact tell a story

42. Questions anticipate questions make sure that you understand the question restate the question if you don’t know, say so be brief this is your time (don’t put up with aggressive or rude questioners)

43. Dealing with anxiety it’s normal Why are you anxious? rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

44. Problems: speakers Frequent boring reading dwell on a question overuse pointer use acronyms/jargon bored Rare forget the talk don’t answer a question well underuse pointer language too simple overenthusiastic

45. Talk tests Can you read it from the last row? Abbreviations and acronyms eliminated? Does it stand alone? Are questions deep? Have you spent enough time?

46. Summary find your motivation use a backbone eliminate puzzles work hard

47. …wouldn’t it be nice?