How to give a good scientific oral presentation

transcript

skills

@JoshDNeufeld October 22, 2014

compassion

enthusiasm clarity preparation examples

presentation

Introduction

What is a scientific seminar?

A forum for verbally communicating scientific

information with the use of visual aids

What is a scientific seminar?

A forum for verbally communicating scientific

information with the use of visual aids in person.

introduction

details

summary

Tell them what you are going to tell them

Tell them

Summarize what you have told them

Seminar structure

What makes a good seminar?

What breaks a good seminar?

Compassion

Compassion in a scientific seminar

Make sure they understand.

Do not go over your time.

Golden Rules

• How much background to include? • What level of expertise to expect? • How big is the audience? • Who is speaking before you? • Does the audience know you?

Know your audience

“Screens of sediment off the coast of Namibia revealed large unicellular organisms. Initially, the

identities were unknown.”

Know your audience

Expert

Informed

Non-specialist

Know your audience

Which audience is this statement suitable for?

Expert

Informed

Non-specialist

Know your audience

We used allele-specific PCR-based molecular

markers for genotyping.

Expert

Informed

Non-specialist

We used allele-specific PCR-based molecular

markers for genotyping.

Know your audience

Expert

Informed

Non-specialist

We used DNA fingerprinting methods.

Know your audience

Expert

Informed

Non-specialist

Know your audience

We used DNA fingerprinting methods.

Clarity

1.  Being heard 2.  Pacing the delivery 3.  Avoiding jargon 4.  Using clear pronunciations 5.  Use inflections 6.  Adding movement

Seminar clarity

1.  Being heard (use microphone) 2.  Pacing the delivery (slow down!) 3.  Avoiding jargon (define it) 4.  Using clear pronunciations

(use your slides!) 5.  Use inflections 6.  Adding movement (eye contact)

Seminar clarity

“Power corrupts and Powerpoint corrupts absolutely” - Edward Tufte

Outline

• Introduction • Objectives • Materials and Methods • Results • Discussion • Conclusion

skills

@JoshDNeufeld October 22, 2014

compassion

enthusiasm clarity preparation examples

presentation

intro objectives methods results discussion

Outline

Title of some sort

Some key statement about the data

Data visual of some sort

Outline • Bullet text • Short comment

• Key points only • Not full

sentences

• Talk to audience

Data visual of some sort

Reference to your paper 2011

h"p://www.presenta.onzen.com/

http://usableworld.com.au/2009/03/16/you-look-where-they-look/

Animations and images

• Animations (fade is the only one) • Transitions (fade is the only one) • Use animations sparingly to pace

information “roll out”, building understanding gradually on a slide

• Graphics (please crop; save as png)

Blah, blah, blah

• Animations (fade is the only one) • Transitions (fade is the only one) • Use animations sparingly to pace

information “roll out”, building understanding gradually on a slide

• Graphics (please crop; save as png) • Become friends with Illustrator,

Photoshop, GIMP (OA), Inkscape (OA)

Enthusiasm

1.  Passion and motivation. 2.  Expertise and immersing oneself wholly in their field. 3.  Listening, questioning and respecting others. 4.  Experimentation and adaptation. 5.  Style, entertainment and dynamism. 6.  Humour and the ability to make jokes at your own

expense. 7.  Being available, caring and nurturing. 8.  Strength and leadership. 9.  Teamwork, training and mentoring between senior

and junior faculty. 10. Fun and pleasure.

Good Teaching: The Top 10 Requirements

York University’s Dr. Richard Leblanc

• Communicate your excitement! • If you look or sound bored, the audience will be bored.

• A presentation should be self-contained and informative (make your audience feel good about how smart they are)

• Do not read the text on your slides!

Enthusiasm

• Communicate your excitement! • If you look or sound bored, the audience will be bored.

• A presentation should be self-contained and informative (make your audience feel good about how smart they are)

• Do not read the text on your slides!

Enthusiasm

The secret: Someone is always going to be falling

asleep during your seminar!

Enthusiasm (reality)

The secret: You will always have “friends” in the

audience. Find them.

The truth: Everyone is going to fall asleep

(or worse) if you drone on! Stick to your allotted time

Have you stimulated interest? Good questions often follow a good seminar.

(see “Preparation” section)

Preparation

What makes a speaker effective?

Practice

1.  Gain experience giving seminars 2.  Start by doing so in front of a

friendly audience 3.  Get feedback from your peers

and your mentors 4.  Learn (steal ideas) from others

Other tools you can use

What was good?

What was bad?

What was ugly?

Watch other seminars and be critical

Own the podium (clicker, lights, windows, doors, microphone, potted plants)

Preparation

• Be prepared. Be very prepared. • Look cool, calm, smile, welcoming. • Use feedback from peers/mentors to help identify likely questions

• Acknowledge weaknesses in data • Important: repeat the question (or else) • Consider ninja slides

Question time

Add a little humor. (but only if you feel comfortable doing so)

Try not to “put on a show”, even if it means breaking

the rules

Enthusiasm (be yourself)

• Don’t use comic sans or a serif font • Do use Gotham, Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana (pick one!)

• Do give your presentation a common look-and-feel (e.g. last slide was iffy)

• Don’t read the text on your slides • Do not pack too much into your talk (1

slide per minute is a good rule) • Do not go over time!

• Do practice beforehand

Miscellaneous (laundry list)

• Do not stand behind your computer • Do not stand behind the podium

• Do not rock back and forth • Do not put your hands in your pockets

• Do smile when introduced and for questions

• Do make eye contact • Do look around, even to the back

• Do not face your slides (back to audience) • Do use humour if you can

• Do speak loudly • Do interact with audience/bring prop?

• Do not say “I don’t need a microphone” • Do explain all axis labels

• Don’t include enough text on the slides that it could be read

• Do include “ninja” slides for extra material

• Do not pack too much into your talk (1 slide per minute)

• Do not go over time!

•  Do not say “This is here to remind me”

•  Do not say “You won’t be able to see this…”

•  Do not say “How much time do I have left?”

•  Do not say “Thank you. I’ll take questions”

•  When finished, say “Thank you for your attention.” That’s it.

•  Do not moderate your own question period unless invited to do so. Look to chair.

•  Do keep your answers short and sweet.

•  Do not have a “Questions?” slide.

•  Do not bs

• For a <15 minute talk, do not talk about your acknowledgement slide (just show it)

• For a >30 minute talk, give a talk outline at the beginning: what stories will you tell?

• For a <30 minute talk, consider an abridged outline: what story will you tell?

• Do not use an outdated University logo

• Write: University of Waterloo (e.g. not Waterloo University)

• Good luck on your title slide – hard to do, but important…

• Do not use screen captures

• Do cite any image source

• Do use the snapshot tool in Adobe to grab pdf images, but increase size on screen to 300%+ to ctrl-c and ctrl-v into your presentation

•  Include a figure or image on every slide

• Do not use ellipses at end of sentences… especially with more than three dots……

• Align everything.

• Do make your talk personal (show picture)

•  Show your hands

• No Richard III poses

• Gesture

•  Smile

• Be thankful and humble

•  Practice (at least) three times beforehand

Example presentation

http://tinyurl.com/m3k6txa

How to give a good scientific oral presentation

Science