talk.pdf

Physics 596

Dr. Herbst

THE ART OF GIVING TALKS

1. NERVOUSNESS

Try not to get nervous. Avoid showing signs of nervousness, such as wringing

hands, pacing too much, fidgeting, and jangling keys. If you are nervous, take a few deep breaths and

grip the desk.

2. BLACKBOARD USE

a) Make sure that your writing is large enough to be seen from the back of the room.

b) If your handwriting is poor, print!

c) Try to speak as you are writing. Otherwise, the audience may lose interest.

3. INTERACTIONS WITH AUDIENCE

a) Don’t stand near the overhead or LCD projector; you’ll probably block the

view.

b) Don’t ignore your audience by staring out into space, at the floor, at your shoes,

etc. Instead, make occasional eye contact with audience members. Eye contact can

help gauge whether or not they’re understanding you. Nods are a good sign,

quizzical expressions a bad sign. Sleeping audience members may not be your

fault.

4. SPEAKING CLEARLY

a) Do NOT speak in too soft a voice. I’d rather have you shout although there

should be a golden mean.

b) Do NOT speak too quickly.

c) Do NOT recite a memorized speech; a memorized initial sentence is O. K. to

get you off on the right track.

5. TIME LIMIT

a) Don’t exceed the time limit. People will begin to fidget and lose interest unless

you’re spellbinding. By the way, scientific speakers are rarely spellbinding.

b) Suppose, after practicing, you still have twenty minutes of material to squeeze

into 10 minutes. You must redesign your presentation, NOT double your rate of

delivery.

6. TRANSPARENCIES AND POWER POINT SLIDES

Everybody uses overhead projectors these days (except for people who prefer Power

Point presentations); in fact, people abuse them by throwing up too many transparencies/slides.

Transparencies are convenient; they can be made using color pens or laser printers, and can be

changed during a presentation (“Whoops, I meant.....”). THEY ALSO AID ORGANIZATION!

Many speakers use transparencies like note cards. It is harder to do this with Power Point slides, but

the color is normally better. On Power Point slides, be careful that you do not use too small a font, since the

projector may not give out a very large image.

A) What to put on them:

a) a small number of equations you don’t wish to write on the blackboard,

b) important results you don’t wish to write down on the blackboard, but you don’t

wish just to state verbally. A viewgraph of results can cement understanding.,

c) factual information ,

d) pieces of apparatus .

Remember to discuss all items on your viewgraphs/slides, even equations.

Otherwise, you will confuse your audience.

B) What to avoid:

a) too much information per viewgraph,

b) too many equations (audience will groan),

c) too little information (“bullets” in federal jargon; example: NASA HELPS

YOU!!),

d) too many viewgraphs. I would say that in a ten-minute talk, 3-6 viewgraphs are

appropriate, while in a twenty-minute talk, 6-12 would be fine. Of course, the

number depends to a great extent on how much information is in your viewgraphs.

You can usually get by with more Power Point slides, since there is typically less

information on them than on viewgraphs.

7. GAUGING THE AUDIENCE

a) Do not talk only to experts. The other members of the audience will lose respect

for you.

b) Do not talk at too low a level. Everyone will be bored.

c) The best solution is to divide your talk into two parts.

i) first 1/2 - 2/3 of talk: give general information, starting with an

introduction that states the topic, significance of topic, related work, hypotheses,

etc.

It is entirely appropriate to start with “I’m here to discuss.....”

ii) remainder of talk: include technical material.

8. LEVEL OF DETAIL

a) KISS - keep it simple, stupid - is a good, general principle, but avoid giving a talk

that only contains generalities as in a State of the Union address.

9. ENGLISH

a) use conversational style. Avoid colloquialisms such as “Yeah man, I’m here to

rap about...” as well as too formal language such as “The abstruse theory

indicates that the phenomenological equations developed here are not totally

germane.”

10. PRACTICING

a must!! Even I do it before every important scientific talk.

a) Make notes, not full sentences. DON’T read your notes.

b) Use your notes and viewgraphs and speak aloud, either to an empty room or

to a friend or friends. If you have a Power Point presentation, you might still wish

to practice with transparencies.

c) Watch for timing and organization.

11. QUESTIONS

After each talk, we will allow a few minutes of scientific questioning. Don’t be tense

about answering questions. You know more about your subject than most questioners. Be polite

even if the questions are stupid and betray the fact that the questioners haven’t understood a word

of what you were saying. Also:

a) let the questioner finish the question,

b) be prepared to rephrase the question to make it meaningful and audible to the

audience at large,

c) keep your answers as short as possible. DON’T DIGRESS!

d) deflect hostility. The words “I’m sorry, but we totally disagree. Let’s discuss

it afterwards,” have carried me through several tense situations.

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