Giving a Great Science Talk

Garrett Apuzen-ItoDept. of Geology & Geophysics, SOEST, University of Hawaii

Effective speaking is important for anyone who has gained knowledge & formed an opinion and wants others to know about it

Speaking is crucial in many professions outside of academia

In SCIENCE speaking--like publishing--is part of the process. Science is about making discoveries and telling the world about it.

I. Vital Elements

II. Mechanics of the Presentation

III. Speaker Performance

Giving a Great Science Talk

I. Vitals Elements

I. Vitals Elements

If your audience walks away understanding your main points, gains new appreciation for (or is convinced of) them, and remembers them, then you’ve done your job.

FIRST AND FOREMOST: Your purpose is to… Communicate, Convince, and Teach

Now here’sthe main point

No matter how you do it (almost).

WMDs!

It is essential that YOU know your main points. You should have 1-3 main

points and no more.

How Many Points Should You Make?

Elements of a formal science talk:

I. Motivate & Introduce the Scientific Questions, Problem, or Hypothesis, and Outline Your talk

II. Strategy, Methods &/or Data

III. Results and Interpretations

IV. Conclusions

Tell ‘em what your gonna tell ‘em

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Tell them.}Tell ‘em whatyou told ‘em}

}This format represents a system of logical reasoning. An

underlying thread along which your story progresses.

I. Motivate & Introduce Science Questions, Problem, or Hypothesis & Outline Talk

II. Strategy/Methods/Data

III. Results/Interpretations

IV. Conclusions

More generally … a “science-related” talk is organized as:

I. Motivate and Introduce the Topic/Goal

II. Define Strategy and Concepts

III. Explain New Information, Ideas, Evidence

IV. What “You” Learned (1-3 main points)

Tell ‘em what your gonna tell ‘em

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Tell them.}Tell ‘em whatyou told ‘em}

1st Your audience needs to know WHY your talk is work listening to.

“Tides are important because…”

2nd Your audience needs to know the goals (question, problem, or hypothesis your addressing)

3rd Outline your talk. i.e., tell you’re audience what your going to tell them. “The problem I’d like to address is…”

I. Motivate & Introduce the Goals, Question, Problem, Hypothesis & Outline your talk

II. Strategy, Methods &/or Data

The strategy had better be appropriate for addressing your goal/question/problem/hypothesis

“I will measure the level of high tide each day”

I. Motivate & Introduce the Goals, Question, Problem, Hypothesis & Outline your talk

III. New Information, Results , Interpretations

New Info or Results. Graphs show trends of data. Objective outcomes of analyses are presented.

Judgements made about the significance of the results

“Monday the tide covered the rockTuesday it reached the treeTomorrow…. Uhm, can you swim?”

II. Strategy, Methods, &/or Data

I. Motivate & Introduce the Question, Problem, or Hypothesis, & Outline your talk

III. New Information, Results, Interpretations

Recap and clearly state your 1-3 points.

“Got it??”

II. New Information, Strategy, &/or Data

I. Motivate & Introduce the Question, Problem, or Hypothesis, & Outline

IV. What “You” Learned, Conclusions

Build a Theme by Re-emphasizing the Goals

I. Motivate & Introduce the Goals/Hypothesis/Question

II. Strategy/Methods/Data

III. New Information/Results

IV. What you’ve learned/Conclusions

random bunch of (albeit jewels of) information

Establish the thread that ties all the pieces together

Tell a Story. Take your Audience on an Adventure• Take your audience from the starting point (A),• lead them forward step-by-step • along your journey of discovery to your

conclusions (point B)

A

BI. Motivate & Introduce the Goals/Hypothesis/Question

II. Strategy/Methods/Data

III. New Information/Results

IV. What you’ve learned/Conclusions

Tell ‘em what your gonna tell ‘em

Tell them.

Tell ‘em whatyou told ‘em

I. Vital Elements

II. Mechanics of the Presentation

III. Speaker Performance

Giving a Great Science Talk

First Lets CoverII. Presentation Mechanics

II. Presentation Mechanics

II. Presentation Mechanics: TIMING 12-minute research (i.e., for final projects) talk

(about 1 minute per slide)

A

B

I. Motivate & Introduce the Goals/Hypothesis/Question

II. Strategy/Methods/Data

III. New Information/Results

IV. What you’ve learned/Conclusions

(1-2 minutes)

(3-5 minutes)

(3-5 minutes)

(1-2 minutes)

A

B

II. Presentation Mechanics

Image Content: How much content is appropriate for a single slide, considering that this is the 1st time your audience has

see it?

Image Content: How much content is appropriate for a single slide, considering that this is the 1st time your audience has seen it?

Enough to get 1-2 points across

Image Content: How much content is appropriate for a single slide, considering that this is the 1st time your audience has seen it?

BUT if you want to show a lot of information for comparison..

DON’T take giant steps and flood them with it all at once

But build the content with baby steps...

allow your audience to follow as you build…..

more information gradually….

Until you reach the full content.

Oh, and about showing PLOTS…Remember you are asking your audience to absorb the plot in ~1

minute. Take the time to describe each axis of the plot and point out the key trends that they are supposed to catch

Tell a Story. Take your Audience on an Adventure

A

B

Each slide

should take the audience from where you left them in the previous slide

so that successively, the talk progresses steadily along the story line

and move them forward

Image Layout: Balance the size of text and images

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Square-Root Seafloor Age (m.y.1/2)

30

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0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Is this better?

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4He

87Sr

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Square-Root Seafloor Age (m.y.1/2)

30

10

20

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Is this better?

How much text is appropriate for each slide?

About as much as they can read in ~1 minute.AND it helps to support text with images.

What about Colors? Black and White can be adequate

Use colors to distinguish, emphasize, clarify, & add a bit of life

IF they are used APPROPRIATELY!

Keep ‘em tasteful and professional

What about Powerpoint Animations and Tricks?

Use them to add a “bit” of variety, illustrate a point, &/or for emphasis. For example…..

But its better to error on the conservative so as not to cause a DISTRACTION

II. Presentation Mechanics

I. Vital Elements

II. Mechanics of the Presentation

III. Speaker Performance

Giving a Great Science Talk

Speaker PerformanceVoice

• PROJECT

• Vary pitch, vary speed

• Punctuate with pauses (avoid monotone)

Movement

• Use deliberate hand gestures

• Moving around to reach out to audience

• Minimize nervous tics

Attitude

• Be natural

• Be enthusiastic

• Smile

Occasional Humor Helps

Pointing specifies & focuses attentionPointing specifies & focuses attention

Systematic Fault Patterns on Earth

Speak accurately. 12 minutes is not timefor meaningless words/non-words…Speak accurately. 12 minutes is not timefor meaningless words/non-words…

“Like”“Like”

“Ya-know”“Ya-know”

“Uhhh”“Uhhh”

“Uhmm”“Uhmm”

3He/

4He

87Sr

/86S

r

Square-Root Seafloor Age (m.y.1/2)

30

10

20

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0.70400.70500.7060

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Remember: Describe the axes and point out key features. You MUST budget time for this.

•Repeat or summarize the question; if needed (paraphrase it to your advantage)

•Answer simple factual questions simply & factually

•Answer the question being asked

•Never bluff. If you don’t know the answer, say so… strategically.

“I’ll have to give that some more thought….”

“Good question, I hadn’t thought of it in that way before. Lets discuss this further.”

•Repeat or summarize the question; if needed (paraphrase it to your advantage)

•Answer simple factual questions simply & factually

•Answer the question being asked

•Never bluff. If you don’t know the answer, say so… strategically.

“I’ll have to give that some more thought….”

“Good question, I hadn’t thought of it in that way before. Lets discuss this further.”

Answering QuestionsAnswering Questions

LAST BUT NOT LEASTLAST BUT NOT LEAST

PRACTICEPRACTICE 1

PRACTICEPRACTICE 2

PRACTICEPRACTICE 3

A

B

Giving a Great Science Talk

Tell ‘em what your gonna tell ‘em

Tell them.

Tell ‘em whatyou told ‘em