Giving presentations

Talks at a conference

• Keynote speech• Tutorial• Luncheon Talk• Paper talk• Poster• Birds-of-Feather (BOF)– informal gatherings of people who are interested

in talking over issues on the same topic

Making presentations

• Only practice can turn a nervous researcher into an accomplished public speaker

• but with the right preparation even a first talk can be successful.

• The purpose of a talk is to introduce a research program and persuade the audience that the work is significant and interesting.

The Attention Curve

Almost everyone listens in the beginningdivide your presentation in several parts, each ended by an intermediate conclusion

Content• What and how much to select depends not

only on the time available also on the expertise of the audience.

• a diverse audience may be unfamiliar with even the area of your research, so it may be necessary to introduce basic concepts before proceeding to the results

• A workshop attended by specialists

constructing a talk

Choosing the single main goal• the particular idea or result the audience should

learn. • Then work out what information is required before

the result can be understood• Often this information is a tree whose branches are

chains of concepts leading to the result at the root. • Much of the hard work of assembling the talk is

pruning the tree

constructing a talk

• In the second phase, assemble the talk by critically selecting the important

• points and ordering them into sequence. During the second phase you should

• judge harshly because otherwise the talk will contain too much material

A talk should be straightforward

• Context can be as important as the ideas. why a problem is important

where it arises why previous approaches are unsatisfactory.• Complex issues should be presented slowly

and in stages• avoid detail that the audience is unlikely to

follow.

Organization• A crucial difference between a talk and a

paper is that talks are inherently linear• Broadly, the structure might be:– the topic of the talk– any necessary background– the experiments or results– the conclusions and implications of the results

The introduction

• Define the Problem• Motivate the Audience• Introduce Terminology• Discuss Previous Work• Emphasize the Contributions of your paper• Provide a Road-map

The introduction

X This talk is about new graph data structures. I’ll begin by explaining graph theory and show some data structures for representing graphs. Then I’ll talk about existing algorithms for graphs, then I’ll show my new algorithms. I’ll show experimental results on our cluster machine and then show why the algorithms are useful for some practical graph traversal problems."

A better introduction

• √"My talk today is about new graph data structures. There are many practical problems that can be solved by graph methods, such as the travelling salesman problem, where good solutions can be found with reasonable complexity so long as an optimal solution isn't needed. But even these solutions are slow if the wrong data structures are used. I‘ll begin by explaining approximate solutions to the salesman problem and showing why existing data structures aren't ideal, then I‘ll explain my

introduced with a tale or anecdote

• a talk on automatic generation of acceptable timetables began with an account of the timetabling problems at a certain large University

• the speaker made a good story of the estimate that, without computer support ， the timetabling of a new degree utilizing existing subjects from several faculties would require 200 years.

The Body

• Abstract the Major Results• Explain the Significance of the Results• Sketch a Proof of the Crucial Results• …..

The conclusion

• X "So the output of the algorithm is always positive. Yes, that's about all I wanted to say, except that there is an implementation but it's not currently working. That's all.“

• Clearly signal the end. Use the last few moments to revise the main points and ideas you want the audience to remember

Preparation

• Rehearse the talk often enough and the right words will come at the right time.

• You want to appear spontaneous, but this takes practice

• Time the talk and note what stage you expect to reach at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and so on, to help you finish on time.

Delivery

• speaking well• making good use of slides, • and relating to the audience• Use a natural tone of voice. • Breathe deeply, not by gulping air like a

swimmer but by inhaling slowly to the bottom of your chest.

Delivery

• Speak a little slower than you would in normal conversation;

• around 400-500 words per three minutes is right for most people

• Beware of irritating habits• Be modest. Don't talk down to the audience or

make aggrieved statements such as "people all said it couldn't work, but my work proves them wrong".

Delivery

• Expect to be nervous -- give a preparatory talk or two, so if possible practice before a friendly (but critical) audience

• Control your time

Getting through to the Audience

• Use Repetition• Remind, don’t assume• Don’t Over-run• Maintain Eye Contact• Control Your Voice• Control your motion• Take care with your appearance

Question time

• Question time at the end of a talk is used to clarify ， misunderstandings and to amplify any points that listeners want discussed in more detail

• Five or ten minutes is too brief for serious discussion:

• keep answers short and avoid debating with an audience member

Question time

• Involve the audience in question time.• Repeat the question in your own words and

talk to the whole audience, not just the questioner

• Never try to bluff when you don’t know• Never be rude to audience members or

dismissive of their questions

Slides• Slides are a point of focus for the attentionof the audience• A typical slide consists either of text or of a

figure with a few words of explanation• What you are saying, rather than the sketchy

content of a slide, should be the centre of attention

• Don't use slides as a way of avoiding contact with the audience

Slide tools

• Slide layout– Light fonts on dark background do not display as

well as dark fonts on white.• Animation• Don 't add music or noises to individual slides.

Text slides• Text slides provide structure and context• The audience will expect you to discuss every

point listed on each slide• Each point should be a topic to discuss, notnecessarily a complete statement in itself

Text slides

• Some speakers use a kind of pidgin-English for their slides.

• X Coding technique log-based, integer codes.Be brief, but not meaningless .• √ The coding technique is logarithmic but

yields integer codes.

Figures

• An illustration from a paper may not be appropriate for a talk.

• Figures in slides, as in papers, should focus on the technical content.

• Distracting elements should be removed

A slide example

The font is too small. There is too much text; There is also too much detail.The equation numbers aren't valuable

A revised version

Some detail has been removed andthe terminology has been made more accessible.

Another example

Too cryptic; it gives so little support to the speaker that it is almost irrelevant.The text is difficult to parse because the form of the sentences is toofar removed from that of ordinary text.

A revised version

The statements have been fleshed outinto complete sentences and a little information has been added. This isabout the maximum amount of text that is reasonable for a slide.The single bullet adds emphasis, identifying the key conclusion the audienceshould be aware of.

Conference presentations

• Excellent to get noticed• Learn to use Powerpoint effectively (keep it simple)• Don’t try to cram too much in 20 mins talk, make sure

there is some time left for discussion)• Be clear, don’t speak too quickly (don’t read text!!!)• Try and make the audience laugh• Welcome all suggestions, acknowledge limitations of

study, refer to future work• Never pretend to know it all (nobody does)

A presentations checklist

• What is the key thing the audience should remember?

• Is there enough background material for the intended audience?

• Is any material unnecessary?• Could some of the material be left for people

to read about later?

A presentations checklist

• Is the talk self-contained?• Does the talk have a motivating preamble?• Have complex issues been explained in gentle

stages?• Are the results explained?• Are the numbers necessary?• Are more diagrams needed?• Are the slides simple? Do they have unnecessary

ornamentation or distracting use of color?

Conference Poster

scientific posters

• The purpose is to present work to an audience who is walking through a hallway or exhibit.

• In poster presentations at conferences, the presenter usually stands next to the poster, thus allowing for passers-by to engage in one-on-one discussions with the presenter.

• In other situations such as the hallways of laboratories, universities, and corporations, posters are stand-alone presentations for passers-by.

•

Don’t tack your paper onto your poster board directly

• For a poster to communicate the work, the poster first has to orient an audience that is not seated, but that is standing.

• Often the audience has distractions of noise and movement from other people.

• Given those distractions, a journal article tacked onto a board fails as an effective poster because the audience cannot concentrate for a time long enough to read through the paper.

• In fact, given the distractions that the audience faces, many in the audience will not even bother trying to read a journal article tacked onto a board.

Poster sections

• a title banner• the abstract• Introduction• Method• Results• Discussion and conclusions– Technical details of poster production include

decisions on what materials and methods to use

A poster layout

Guidelines

• the title of an effective poster should quickly orient the audience

• the poster should quickly orient the audience to the subject and purpose

• the specific sections such as the results should be easy to locate on the poster

• you should design the individual sections of a poster so that they can be quickly read