A. J. Weinberger
Tips for a Good TalkAlycia J. Weinberger
28 October 2011, updated 2013 and 2014
A. J. WeinbergerA. J. Weinberger
You MUST Have an OutlineIntroduction:
What is the problem and Why you should careYour story arc
The ProteinSomething to nourish every member of audience
The ConclusionsWhat we have learned about what you care aboutWhere we will go next
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General PointsYou must have an outline
Know your audience
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Know your AudienceFaculty in a different and/or competing field
Skeptical faculty more interested in something else
Expert in your field
1st year grad student
New faculty in related field
A. J. Weinberger
A. J. WeinbergerA. J. Weinberger
General PointsYou must have an outline
Know your audience
Practice, Practice, PracticeBe comfortable and confident with your materialUse pointers judiciouslyDon’t use phrases that undermine your credibility
Know your venue
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Screen Sizes May Not Scale with Room Size
V = (screen width / room length)
Astronomy LibraryV = 4 ft / 22 ft = 0.18
Greenwalt Seminar RoomV = 9.25 ft / 45 ft = 0.20
Marriott Wardman BallroomV = 8 ft / 90 ft = 0.09
A. J. WeinbergerA. J. Weinberger
General PointsYou must have an outline
Know your audience
Practice, Practice, Practice
Know your venue
Engage your audienceMake eye contactReact and adjust
Dress nicely
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Don’t Undermine Your Own Credibility
What You Do Say What You SHOULD Say
I believe this figure shows… This figure shows…
I think this figure shows… I demonstrate/show/present
This figure sort of shows This figure shows…
This figure just shows This figure shows…
There are other, I guess, examples
There are other examples
Uh, um X
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Tips for Preparing Good Talk Slides
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Obvious or not so obviousAlways credit plots
Make slides for your audience, not so much for youConvey something important on every slideUse slides for what just words won’t do
This slide did not have to exist, unless it helps your audience to assimilate or remember what you said
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My opinion on slide design
Let every slide make a point, and make it clear what this point is.
A title helps them understand what you’re talking about
A conclusion lets them catch up if they fall asleep
One good figure will fit on a slide and be worth 1000 words
Powerpoint clipart
Credit
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Please don’t do this
Check your font sizes: This is 8 pt!
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Let’s Talk Font Sizes
32 pt: My very exciting conclusion
28 pt: My very exciting conclusion
24 pt: My very exciting conclusion
20 pt: My very exciting conclusion
18 pt: My very exciting conclusion
16 pt: My very exciting conclusion
14 pt: My very exciting conclusion
12 pt: My very exciting conclusion
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Font Test Slide
This is a serif (Times Roman) font at 28 pt
This is a sanserif (Arial) font at 28 pt
• This is a serif font at 20 pt
• This is a sanserif font at 20 pt
Is one easier to read than the other?
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Let’s talk colorsRemember that 5-7% males find Red and
Green hard to distinguish/see
Projectors are often not very bright or high contrast
White Cyan Green Red Yellow Orange Purple Blue Magenta Banana Silver
Black Cyan Green Red Yellow Orange Purple Blue Magenta Banana Silver
Black Cyan Green Red Yellow Orange Purple Blue Magenta Banana Silver
A. J. Weinberger
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Figure Sizes and Whitespace
A Mediocre Slide
Infrared spectrum is unique
•10 micron flux is huge
•All far infrared flux arises from hot dust
A Good Slide
•10 micron flux is huge
•All far infrared flux arises from hot dust
Infrared spectrum is unique
A. J. Weinberger
Preparing Figures for Papers/Talks
You or your colleagues WILL take figures from your papers for talks
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Use large fonts & thick lines
Postscript Times-Roman Default IDL Vector font
Thick = 3
Thick = 4
xthick = 3
(16 pt equiv)
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Using your own figures well
My PS figure converted to jpeg with GraphicConverter
My PS figure converted to PDF with Preview
Interestingly, this one appeared clear, and I filled it white
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Font Size for Journal Figures
Consider line thickness too
Weinberger et al. 1999
Spatial Frequency (This label is in 11 pt! Oops!)
Spatial Frequency (This label is in 20 pt! Aaah!)
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Not so good
plot,x,y,/nodata,xtitle='X Axis',ytitle='Y Axis’ oploterr,x,y,yerr,3 oplot,x,y,psym=-4
(Examples on these slides thanks to Larry Nittler)
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Better
!p.thick=3 plot,x,y,/nodata,xtitle='X Axis',ytitle='Y Axis', charsize=1.5, xthick=3, ythick=3 oploterr,x,y,yerr,3 oplot,x,y,psym=-4
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Best
!p.thick=3 plot,x,y,/nodata,xtitle='X Axis',ytitle='Y Axis', charsize=1.5, xthick=3, ythick=3 oploterr,x,y,yerr,3 oplot,x,y,psym=sym(‘cir’,/fill), symsize=1.5
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Inserting Other Scientists’ Figures
You WILL need to show other people’s data
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“High Res” Journal Figure
Roberge, Feldman, Weinberger, Deleuil & Bouret, 2006
Not too bad
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Preview snapshot at 100%
Roberge, Feldman, Weinberger, Deleuil & Bouret, 2006
Nice!(transparent)
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Acrobat Snapshot of PDF at 150%
Roberge, Feldman, Weinberger, Deleuil & Bouret, 2006
Ugly and hard to read
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Acrobat Snapshot of PDF at 557%
Roberge, Feldman, Weinberger, Deleuil & Bouret, 2006
Fine!
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Useful reference websites:
http://cit.information.unl.edu/info0806.htm
http://jfly.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp/color/
http://homepages.rpi.edu/~newbeh/WIPcommText.htm
A. J. Weinberger
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE