How to Give a Seminar Contents

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How to Give a SeminarContents

• Opening
• Introduction
• Body
• Summary / Concluding Comments

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How to Give a SeminarOpening

• Introduce yourself (and your supervisor)

• Say what you are here to talk about, ie give a
  brief summary without giving the whole talk

• Tell them what you hope they get out of this talk
   

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How to Give a SeminarIntroduction

• Give some background
• You are the expertwe know nothing.
• Give the basic background
• Set yourself up for the main topic

• State the objectives and tell the importance /
  value

• Keep it brief Good rule of thumb is the 2-2-2
• Two sentences of background
• Two sentences summarizing results
• Two sentences summarizing conclusions  

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How to Give a SeminarBody

• Prefer top-down design

• Avoid too much detail

• Remember who the audience is and tell the
  specific problem being addressed

• Use figures and diagrams make sure they are
  large enough and visible enough to see

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How to Give a SeminarSummary / Concluding
Comments

• Wrap it all up / Restate the key points

• Affirm the objectives

• Restate value
• What is the take home message?

• Indicate completion
• Thank the audience

• Call for questions

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How to Give a SeminarRecommendations - 1

• Any effective talk must
• (1) communicate your arguments and ideas,
• (2) persuade your audience that they are true,
  and
• (3) be interesting and entertaining

• Your Presentation must
• (1) Give an opening statement to familiarize the
  audience with your subject matter.
• What is your key message? Can you write it down
  as a single sentence?
• (2) Speak slowly, clearly, and loud enough to be
  heard by all.
• (3) Remember the 5WH's who, what, why, when,
  where, and how.
• (4) Summarize your talk at the end in a few
  sentences.

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How to Give a SeminarRecommendations - 2

• Face the audience and try not to read, but talk

• Anticipate questions ahead of time
• Expect general questions
• Prepare things that time forced you to omit

• Maintain control of the discussion
• Stop and think
• Answer succinctly (or agree to discuss later)
• Prevent interruption

• Be honest

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Technical WritingBasics

• The 3 Cs Correct, Clear, and Concise
• The No. 1 problem the logical structure the
  logical link
• The structural principles
• Active vs. passive
• The strong verb vs. the weak verb the abstract
  noun
• Write the way you talk write (and read) with
  your ears
• Parallelism
• Conciseness
• The English grammar the tenses
• The English grammar the dangling
  modifiers/participles
• The ambiguity
• The generic vs. the specific
• What scientists said vs. what they meant
• The general components of a typical technical
  paper
• References

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Now it is your turn...