451449 Professional Development and Research Methods Part B

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451-449 Professional Development and Research
Methods - Part B

• Lecture 5 - How to present your research

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Listeners have one chance to hear your talk and
can't "re-read" when they get confused. In many
situations, they have or will hear several talks
on the same day. Being clear is particularly
important if the audience can't ask questions
during the talk. There are two well-know ways to
communicate your points effectively. The first is
to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid). Focus on
getting one to three key points across. Think
about how much you remember from a talk last
week. Second, repeat key insights tell them what
you're going to tell them (Forecast), tell them,
and tell them what you told them (Summary).
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Think about your audience Most audiences should
be addressed in layers some are experts in your
sub-area, some are experts in the general area,
and others know little or nothing. Who is most
important to you? Can you still leave others with
something? For example, pitch the body to
experts, but make the forecast and summary
accessible to all.
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• A Generic Talk Outline
• This talk outline is a starting point, not a
  rigid template. Most good speakers average two
  minutes per slide (not counting title and outline
  slides), and thus use about a dozen slides for a
  twenty minute presentation.
• Title/author/affiliation (1 slide)
• Forecast (1 slide)Give gist of problem attacked
  and insight found (What is the one idea you want
  people to leave with? This is the "abstract" of
  an oral presentation.)
• Outline (1 slide)Give talk structure. Some
  speakers prefer to put this at the bottom of
  their title slide. (Audiences like
  predictability.)
• Background Bring in enough background information
  (i.e., text, diagrams, charts) to allow the
  audience to understand the significance of your
  research. Focus on concepts that would be
  relevant to your research data. Do not
  overemphasise the introductory material. The main
  thrust of the presentation is a critical analysis
  of your own research. Remember --- balance!

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• Motivation and Problem Statement (1-2
  slides)(Why should anyone care? Most researchers
  overestimate how much the audience knows about
  the problem they are attacking.)
• Related Work (0-1 slides)Cover superficially or
  omit refer people to your paper.
• Methods (1 slide)Cover quickly in short talks
  refer people to your paper. Present schematic
  diagrams to explain your research plan.

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• Results (4-6 slides)Present key results and key
  insights. This is main body of the talk. Its
  internal structure varies greatly as a function
  of the researcher's contribution. (Do not
  superficially cover all results cover key result
  well. Do not just present numbers interpret them
  to give insights. Do not put up large tables of
  numbers.) Organize the presentation of your
  results based on concepts that will allow the
  audience to follow the logic of your conclusions.
  To put it another way. There are as many ways to
  present the same data but you should decide what
  way would be easiest for the audience to follow.
  Don't present the data based purely on the
  chronological order in which you performed the
  experiments. Slides should be titled and labeled
  to allow the audience to understand what the
  slide is showing and how the data are organized
• Cover the methods of the experiment at the same
  time as you present the data. Explain the methods
  in enough detail to allow the audience to
  understand what's being done, but don't overdo it
  or you might lose the audience. Sometimes a brief
  one-sentence description of a familiar technique
  is enough (i.e., this is a western blot of).
  However, be prepared to explain methods in more
  detail if someone asks. For particularly long
  methods or complex procedures a slide with a flow
  chart is useful before presenting the data.

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• Summary (1 slide) Concisely summarize the main
  conclusions of your work. Textual and cartoon
  summary slides are helpful. Briefly re-visit the
  result that supports each major conclusion (if
  time allows).
• Future Work (0-1 slides)Optionally give problems
  this research opens up. Describe future
  directions (always use a slide here) especially
  in line with what your research might have
  brought up.
• The final slide should acknowledge your mentor or
  colleagues that helped you in your work.
• Be prepared for questions from the audience.
  Questions are usually good! They mean you have
  captured the audience's attention!
• Backup Slides (0-3 slides)Optionally have a few
  slides ready (not counted in your talk total) to
  answer expected questions. (Likely question
  areas ideas glossed over, shortcomings of
  methods or results, and future work.)

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Ten commandments (with annotations gleaned from
Patterson's talk by Mark D. Hill) Thou shalt
not be neat Why waste research time preparing
slides? Ignore spelling, grammar and legibility.
Who cares what 50 people think? Thou shalt not
waste space Transparencies are expensive. If you
can save five slides in each of four talks per
year, you save 7.00/year! Thou shalt not covet
brevity Do you want to continue the stereotype
that engineers can't write? Always use complete
sentences, never just key words. If possible, use
whole paragraphs and read every word. Thou shalt
cover thy naked slides You need the suspense!
Overlays are too flashy.
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Thou shalt not write large Be humble -- use a
small font. Important people sit in front. Who
cares about the riff-raff? Thou shalt not use
color Flagrant use of color indicates uncareful
research. It's also unfair to emphasize some
words over others. Thou shalt not illustrate
Confucius says A picture 10K words,'' but
Dijkstra says Pictures are for weak minds.''
Who are you going to believe? Wisdom from the
ages or the person who first counted goto's?
Thou shalt not make eye contact You should
avert eyes to show respect. Blocking screen can
also add mystery.
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Thou shalt not skip slides in a long talk You
prepared the slides people came for your whole
talk so just talk faster. Skip your summary and
conclusions if necessary. Thou shalt not
practice Why waste research time practicing a
talk? It could take several hours out of your two
years of research. How can you appear spontaneous
if you practice? If you do practice, argue with
any suggestions you get and make sure your talk
is longer than the time you have to present it.
Commandment X is most important. Even if you
break the other nine, this one can save you.
http//www.cs.wisc.edu/markhill/conference-talk.h
tml
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Project Presentations

• Appearance
• Organisation
• Professional approach
• Keep overheads uncluttered
• No reading from prepared script
• No slang, comic routines

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Top ten tips
1. Know the room. Be familiar with the place in
which you will speak. Arrive early, walk around
the speaking area and practice using the
microphone and any visual aids. 2. Know the
audience. Greet some of the audience as they
arrive. It's easier to speak to a group of
friends than to a group of strangers. 3. Know
your material. If you're not familiar with your
material or are uncomfortable with it, your
nervousness will increase. Practice your speech
and revise it if necessary.
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4. Relax. Ease tension by doing exercises.
5. Visualise yourself giving your speech.
Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud,
clear, and assured. When you visualise yourself
as successful, you will be successful.
6. Realise that people want you to succeed.
Audiences want you to be interesting,
stimulating, informative, and entertaining. They
don't want you to fail. 7. Don't apologise. If
you mention your nervousness or apologise for any
problems you think you have with your speech, you
may be calling the audience's attention to
something they hadn't noticed. Keep silent.
8. Concentrate on the message -- not the
medium. Focus your attention away from your own
anxieties, and outwardly toward your message and
your audience. Your nervousness will dissipate.

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9. Turn nervousness into positive energy.Harness
your nervous energy and transform it into
vitality and enthusiasm. 10.Gain experience.
Experience builds confidence, which is the key
to effective speaking.