Goal of a research talk

1
Goal of a research talk

• Primary goal for a scientific presentation is to
  inform or persuade an audience about technical
  results
• Clarity
• Deliver the information in as logical and
  straightforward a fashion as possible

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Know your Audience

• Who will you be talking to?
• How much do they know about the subject already?
• Group Meeting
• Experts in your system
• Experts in the field
• Other scientists
• Undergraduates
• Non-scientists
• Put yourself in the listener's shoes first and
  last.

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Know your subject

• Why are you giving this talk?
• What are the important points?
• What is the background?
• What are the experiments and data?
• What are the conclusions?
• What effect do you want your presentation to
  have?
• Know every word and result on the slide
• Especially if you show someone elses expt.

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Limitations

• How long have you got?
• Do you have to follow a certain format?
• Where will you be giving your presentation?
• Can you change the room around to suit your
  preferences?

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Different types of preparation for speeches

• Speaking from points
• Memorizing
• Reading
• Speaking off the cuff

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Speaking from points

• Conference presentations, lectures
• Advantages
• Credibility earned
• Eye contact
• Ease of adjusting speech
• Natural pace
• Disadvantages
• Wording not exact
• Long preparation time
• Need to practice the speech repeatedly,
  especially to get the transitions smooth.

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Memorizing

• First few words of presentation
• Short introduction of a speaker
• Advantages
• Precision
• Credibility earned
• Eye contact
• Smooth delivery
• Disadvantages
• Unnatural pace
• Inability to adjust speech
• Potential for disaster
• Long preparation time

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Reading

• Press conference
• Quotation within presentation
• Complex wording within presentation
• Advantages
• Precision
• Smooth delivery
• Disadvantages
• Credibility undercut
• Lack of eye contact
• Unnatural pace
• Inability to adjust speech
• Long preparation time
• Never read an entire speech at a conference,
  lecture or seminar!!!

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Speaking off the cuff

• Answering a question
• Asking a question
• Advantages
• No preparation
• Eye contact
• Natural pace
• Disadvantages
• Potential for disaster
• Difficulty in organizing
• Lack of visual aids

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Structure of a presentation

• 1. Attention-getting opener
• a question
• a quotation
• a statistic
• an anecdote
• 2. Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em
• 3. Tell 'em (using examples)
• 4. Tell 'em what you told 'em with a memorable
  close.

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Organization of presentations

• Beginning
• Big picture
• Introduce topic
• Provide background
• Middle
• Discuss the topic
• Show points to support the ideas
• Ending
• Summarize findings
• How does it fit into the big picture
• Make sure the transitions between these section
  are smooth and the audience knows the transition.
  
• Middle-End transition is most important because
  it signals that the end is near and they pay
  attention.
• A pause can signal a transition.

Intro
Results
Conclusion
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Know the depth of the presentation

• How detailed should the talk be?
• People only remember 10 of what they hear
• What should be emphasized?
• How much does the audience want to know?
• None for a 10 min. conference talk
• A lot for a group meeting
• The more depth, the less scope
• Talk about a few things in depth?
• Briefly hit on many topics?
• Do not drown in details.
• Let audience know what details are important

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Leaving the audience in the dust

• Clarity is the most important in the beginning
• What is the subject of the presentation?
• Why is it important?
• What do they need to know to understand the
  system, experiments?
• What order will it be presented?
• Why should they continue listening?
• Take the time to set up the problem and the
  significance.
• Too much time is bad,
• Audience assumes you have no data,
• Get impatient

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How information is Absorbed 1 Through
taste 1.5 Through touch 3.5 Through smell 11
Through hearing 83 Through sight
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Shorten the time listeners take to read the slide
Listener shifts attention with each new slide If
the slide is difficult to read, then listener
becomes distracted Need to quickly orientate the
listener Title Clear font Clear Graphics Not too
crowded
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Guidelines for slide headlines

• Include a sentence headline that states the
  slides purpose.
• Identifies the topic
• Gives the perspective
• Helps audience with transitions (can catch back
  up if fell asleep in last slide)
• Forces presenter to come to grips with the
  purpose of the slide
• Should be in upper left hand corner
• Left justified is easier to read than center
  justified
• No more than two lines

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Hst1 and Sir2 sequence similarity
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Hst1 and Sir2 share strong sequence similarity
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Presentation Hints

• Space information so that it is readable
• Try to have visuals on every slide, but do not be
  distracting.
• Avoid too many slides
• Avoid trying to pack in too much information
• Do they need to know every fact?

Less is More!!!
21
Slide Layout

• Avoid large blocks of text (no more than 2
  lines/bullet)
• Avoid too many details
• Avoid long lists (more than 4 items)
• Maintain white space
• Limit data in tables

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Font Styles

• Choose a font to enhance reading speed and
  understanding
• This is an example of a very very bad font choice
  (12 pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a better font choice (32
  pt Garramond)
• This is a better choice (32 pt Arial)
• This is far better (32 pt Arial Bold)
• PowerPoint default is New Times Roman and
  non-bold

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Good Font Styles

• Arial Bold 24 pt
• Arial Narrow in bold 24 pt
• Helvetica 24 pt bold
• Geneva 24 pt bold
• Comic Sans MS 24 pt (less formal)
• Keep the font consistent within a slide and
  throughout the talk
• Bold is better. It can be read at a distance

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Good Font Sizes (gt28 pt for title)

• 24 pt for the main body of the text, and main
  points
• 18 pt for secondary points
• 14 pt for references and logos.
• These are unlikely to be read on the screen but
  may be in the handouts.
• Do not want to distract from the main point of
  the slide.
• Choose the proper font size for the room
• For a smaller room decrease the size
• (24 pt title, 18 pt text)
• For a larger room increase the size
• (32 pt title, 28 pt text)

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Good Font Styles

• Do not present the text in all caps
• DO NOT PRESENT THE TEXT IN ALL CAPS
• All caps slows the reading down (harder to see
  letters)
• Takes too much space (35 more)
• Make sure that what looks good on the computer
  screen also looks good when projected

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Slide Background Styles

• This is an example of a very bad color choice
  combination
• This is an example of a bad color choice
• The color combination that is the most readable
  is black text on a yellow background
• Used in Caution signs
• The next best color combination is black text on
  a white background
• The worst choice is red text on a black
  background
• Blue and green are soothing colors
• Red and orange are hot and can unsettle an
  audience. Too much yellow can have the same
  effect

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This slide background style is too busy and bright

• This is an example of a very very bad font choice
  (12 pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a bad font choice (32 pt
  Garraomond)
• Block shadows are very difficult to read
• Even in Arial bold at 32pt the font is difficult
  to read

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More bad slide background styles

• This is an example of a very very bad font choice
  (12 pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garramond)
• This is an example of a better font choice (28
  pt Garramond)
• The beach ball has no purpose and crowds the
  slide
• This is contrast is far better (28 pt Arial Bold)

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More bad slide background styles

• This is an example of a very bad font color
  choice (24 pt Garraomond)
• This is a far better choice (24 pt Arial Bold)
• The balloons leave very little space for the text
• The title font is almost unreadable

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Slide Background Styles

• This is an example of a very bad font color
  choice (12 pt)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (12
  pt)
• This is a better choice (Comic Sans 24 pt)
• This slide is too cute and has too many
  distracting features

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Award for the worst slide background style

• This is an example of a very very bad font choice
  (12 pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a better font choice (32
  pt Garraomond)
• This is a better choice (32 pt Arial)
• This is far worse (32 pt Arial Bold)

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This is a better and commonly used background
style

• Make sure the font is bigger that this
• Never use red letters on dark background
• Avoid fonts with serifs
• This is a better choice (24 pt Arial)
• This is an even better choice (24 pt Arial Bold)

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This is one of the cleaner PP slide background
styles

• This is an example of a very very bad font choice
  (12 pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a very bad font choice (24
  pt Garraomond)
• This is an example of a better font choice (24
  pt Garramond)
• This is a better choice (24 pt Arial)
• This is far better (24 pt Arial Bold)

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Use pictures instead of words

• MSEs are sites that regulate mid-sporulation
  genes
• Sum1 binds to MSEs
• Sum1 interacts with Rfm1
• Rfm1 recruits Hst1
• Hst1 modifies nucleosomes to repress transcription

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Use diagrams to show complicated processes
Chromatin-immunoprecipitation Assay (ChIP)
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Life cycle of the budding yeast S. cerevisiae
Proliferation of haploid and diploid cells in
good nutritional environment
Meiosis in poor nutritional environment (nitrogen
and carbon starvation)
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Use animation sparingly to show an action
Ac
Ac
Ac
Ac
MSE
Ac
Ac
Ac
Ac
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If it is necessary to show a lot of data, try to
focus on the important result
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If it is necessary to show a lot of data, try to
focus on the important result
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Focus on important comparative data
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Hints (cont.)

• Use color sparingly and to make an emphasis
• Number slides (helps audience ask questions)
• Check for typos
• Add references
• Timing roughly one slide per minute
• Break the talk into sections
• Avoid cute transitions

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Avoid sounds in the transition
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Check out the room

• Projector
• Pointer
• Microphone
• Timing
• Lighting

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Just Before the Talk

• Normal to be nervous
• Turn this nervous energy into constructive
  enthusiasm
• Never speak down to your audience

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Start the talk

• First slide is title slide, with name.
• Have the first few minutes well memorized.
• Explain the significance of the work in the first
  few minutes.
• Do not read from the slide, paraphrase points.
• Avoid jargon unless well defined.

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Vocal

• Be aware of loudness
• Inflection
• Change cadence in talk.
• Good for transitions
• Wakes people up

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Body Language

• Sound excited, alert, convey enthusiasm
• Do not put hands in pockets
• Make eye contact, give presentation to
  individuals
• Posture
• Never turn you back on the audience
• Do not block the screen

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Relate the talk to the audience

• Occasionally drop names, especially if they are
  in the audience
• Relate to previous talks, As we just heard from
  
• Relate to current events findings
• Make it personal (anecdote)

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How to bring back an audience

• Change the cadence of your voice
• Move across stage, but avoid pacing and fiddling
• Go to the front of the stage
• Pause, then ask a question
• Give an anecdote

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Closing

• Present a model/summary/conclusion slide
• Present acknowledgements
• Note Do not say In closing or In summary
  unless you are at the end
• Thank the audience, host.
• Ask for questions

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Questions

• Repeat if a large audience (also stalls)
• Do not interrupt questioner
• Do not ramble
• Use slides (if easy to get to)
• Try to gage if you answered the question
• Okay to say
• Lets discuss this later
• Ill get back to you on that one
• We are in the process of designing experiments to
  test that model

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• Introduction Be sure to include the following
  introductory information
• A. Total number of clones sequenced
• B. Total number of sequences good enough to send
  through the database
• C. Total number of real matches, what are they?
• D. Names and numbers of real matches
• This introduction should be about 1 minute in
  length! The written summary statement should also
  include this information.

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2. Results The seminar topic may include the
following information A. Identify the clone B.
Show original match data-scores, similarity,
length of match, etc. C. Indicate if your
sequence spans an intron. Is the position of the
intron conserved? D. Present protein sequence
analysis E. Can you show a CLUSTALW alignment of
several homologous sequences? F. Does it have a
conserved domain? What is its function and
structure? G. What is the role of the protein
in the cell and in the organism? What is its
activity? H. When, where, and under what
conditions is it expressed? I. What is the
known or expected effect of a mutation in the
gene? J. What other proteins may it interact
with? Do they have similar mutant phenotypes? K.
What is not known or unclear about the protein?
How would you answer this question?
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Time Presentations should be about 8-10
minutes--no more! You will loose credit by
rambling or running overtime, so practice for
length. Tues., Dec. 4 and 11, 1200-500
Waksman, Room 1001 Power point files of the
presentations and Word files of the summary are
due to Prof. Vershon by e-mail, CD or USB jump
drives by 1000 AM on 12/4. Materials handed in
late will affect the final grade. Attendance
both days is required and absences will
significantly affect your grade.
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