2. Kentaro Toyama Summer School on Computing for Socio-Economic Development MSR India / Indian Institute of Science June 25, 2010

3. Explain how to give a good oral presntation, which is exciting and fun………………. Good presentations are Difficult because there are many factors to consider, such as Content, format, font Size,,Posture,,volume, length,,audience, storyline, etc. If you know how to put the factors together correctly,,it can lead to a good presentation. Otherwise, the presenttion will not be half as good as it can be. The Goal: In this talk, the focus is on All of the Above except for the content…… PowerPoint is a Great tool for giving presentations: 6 million PPTs everyday are given The advantages of using Powerpoint will be reviewed. Here is a summary: Easy to use Animations Bullets can be used by anyone, even people who dont understand parallel structure You may have realized that this slide is a parody. If so, please raise your left hand! The attention span equation (McClay, Renie, Sales Training Solutions, Kaplan Publishing, 2006) will also be discussed, for anyone who still hasnt caught on: 2 of 98 March 23, 1998 – Jim Gray Workshop Series

4. Just kidding!

5. Explain how to give a good oral presntation, which is exciting and fun………………. Good presentations are Difficult because there are many factors to consider, such as Content, format, font Size,,Posture,,volume, length,,audience, storyline, etc. If you know how to put the factors together correctly,,it can lead to a good presentation. Otherwise, the presenttion will not be half as good as it can be. The Goal: In this talk, the focus is on All of the Above except for the content…… PowerPoint is a Great tool for giving presentations: 6 million PPTs everyday are given The advantages of using Powerpoint will be reviewed. Here is a summary: Easy to use Animations Bullets can be used by anyone, even people who dont understand parallel structure You may have realized that this slide is a parody. If so, please raise your left hand! The attention span equation (McClay, Renie, Sales Training Solutions, Kaplan Publishing, 2006) will also be discussed, for anyone who still hasnt caught on: 2 of 98 March 23, 1998 – Jim Gray Workshop Series

6. Boring is the enemy.

7. Make It Memorable ! A Presentation on Presentations Kentaro Toyama Summer School on Computing for Socio-Economic Development MSR India / Indian Institute of Science June 25, 2010

8. The Goal? The audience should… understand, remember, and be impressed with your message.

9. Outline Audience Brevity Structure Story Emotion Miscellaneous Tips Preparation

10. Outline Audience Brevity Structure Story Emotion Miscellaneous Tips Preparation

11. One Problem I have no idea what hes talking about! Slide 22 and so far, its all review of stuff we all know! Wheres the new stuff? I just dont get these Japanese jokes. Or, maybe theyre not even jokes? I wonder if theyll have pakoras for lunch.

12. Boring is the enemy – tailor content for the audience.

13. Another Problem Source: Niemansverdriet, J. W. http://www.catalysis.nl/links/presentations/presentation.phphttp://www.catalysis.nl/links/presentations/presentation.php Caveat: original source of the graph could not be traced; might be an urban myth. 15 min30 min45 min Reported degree of attention during a talk.

14. Boring is their enemy.

15. Outline Audience Brevity Structure Story Emotion Miscellaneous Tips Preparation

17. Boring, monotonous, too long, and overly-detailed-in- a-way- that-nobody-could-possibly-grasp-or-remember is the enemy. Oh, and just because you have 60 minutes to speak doesnt mean that you have to fill all 60 minutes. Of course, too short while missing content is no good, either. As Einstein said, Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler. In addition, Shakespeare also wrote, Brevity is the soul of wit. And, in a quotation attributed to Mark Twain, but more likely to have been written by Blaise Pascal, theres this comment, which is telling: I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didnt have the time. Conciseness takes time, effort, and intelligence!

19. Outline Audience Brevity Structure Story Emotion Miscellaneous Tips Preparation

20. Chunking Source: Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two:The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97. …the span of immediate memory impose[s] severe limitations on the amount of information that we are able to receive, process, and remember. By organizing the stimulus input simultaneously into several dimensions and successively into a sequence or chunks, we manage to break (or at least stretch) this informational bottleneck.

21. A C A C H E S O R T I N F O R M E D I R I S

22. I N F O D R T R H O M A I C A C I E S R E S

23. LabialCoronalDorsalRadical NasalMN PlosiveT, DCC FricativeFSSH LiquidRRR AA CC D EE F H III M N OO RRR SS T 1 instance: D F H M N T 2 instances:AA CC EE OO SS 3 instances:III RRR AA EE III OO NoneVerticalHorizontalRotationalAll F, RRRAA, M, TCC, D, EEN, SSH, III, OO 22 letters, 13 unique letters, 41% vowels, nothing after U Alphabetical Aggregate Occurrence Symmetry Phonetic

24. I SACRIFICED RAT HORMONES Thanks to the Internet Anagram Server: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/http://wordsmith.org/anagram/ ACACHESORTINFORMEDIRIS ACACHESORTINFORMEDIRIS ACACHESORTINFORMEDIRIS

25. Boring and unstructured is the enemy.

26. Outline Audience Brevity Structure Story Emotion Miscellaneous Tips Preparation

28. Typical Movie Plot Outline Introduction Problem Statement Related Work Proposed Solution Results / Proof / Analysis Future Work Set up Conflict False climax Rising action Climax Denouement The typical talk outline actually makes a pretty good story! Boy meets girl. Girl ignores boy. Boys friends console. Boy plots to get girl. The plot works! Happiness ever after.

29. Alternate storylines can work, too!

30. Boring is the enemy, and good stories arent boring.

31. Outline Audience Brevity Structure Story Emotion Miscellaneous Tips Preparation

32. Memory and Emotion From psychology research… –Emotions help memory Eysenk (1976) Cahill & McGaugh (1995) Nielson et al. (2002) –Humor helps memory Kaplan & Pascoe (1977) Schmidt (1994) –Caveat: Cartoons can distract from main content, if used without care Sagaria & Derks (1985)

33. Funny can be your friend.

34. Outline Audience Brevity Structure Story Emotion Miscellaneous Tips Preparation

35. Miscellaneous Tips Make text legible –Use sans-serif fonts ( not serif fonts ) –Keep background simple –Contrast text color with background –Use large font sizes (this is probably too small!) –Minimize amount of text on each slide – use keywords, not long sentences Dont present everything Project confidence and respect –Stand, dont sit –Avoid leaning –Avoid slouching –Dont put hands in pockets –Speak loudly enough Stick to your rhetorical goal –Everything you say and show should contribute to the case you want to make Apply variation to minimize boredom –Use multimedia – photos, video, animation –Speak louder or softer, to make a point –Switch between walking and standing Use a teaser slide at the beginning –Be interactive – ask the audience questions –Create a reason for people to pay attention until the end Look up design suggestions Practice, practice, practice –Practice with a live audience; get feedback –At home, practice out loud –Memorize your slides, so you dont have to look at them for cues Break rules, as necessary – these are just guidelines!

36. Miscellaneous Tips (Take 2) Books Atkinson, C. (2006) Beyond Bullet Points http://www.beyondbullets.com http://www.beyondbullets.com General advice for computer-science talks Hill, M. D. (1992) Oral presentation advice http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html Patterson, D. (1983) How to give a bad talk http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html (scroll to bottom) http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html Hanselman, S. (2008) 11 top tips for a successful technical presentation http://www.hanselman.com/blog/11TopTipsForASuccessfulTechnicalPresentation.aspx http://www.hanselman.com/blog/11TopTipsForASuccessfulTechnicalPresentation.aspx On design Tufte, E. (1983) The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Tufte, E. (2006) Beautiful Evidence.

37. Boring is the enemy. (Some things, the audience can go read in the paper.)

38. Outline Audience Brevity Structure Story Emotion Miscellaneous Tips Preparation

39. TED Presentations Lawrence Lessig on law and creativity http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html Robert Lang on mathematics of origami http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html Ron Eglash on fractals in Africa http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ron_eglash_on_african_fractals.html Hans Rosling on world poverty http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

40. Boring is the enemy. Learn from excellent presentations.

41. Summary Keep the audience in mind. Less is more. Think and re-think structure. Tell a good story. Engage emotions. Omit some content. Nothing beats good preparation.

42. Summary Keep the audience in mind. Less is more. Think and re-think structure. Tell a good story. Engage emotions. Omit some content. Nothing beats good preparation. Bollywood references for mostly Indian audience. Microsoft iPod video and Zune for Microsoft audience. Math and CS talks for CS audience. Tried to keep slides simple. Didnt discuss font-size, etc. Didnt talk about specific CS talks Used typical CS talk outline. Structure of seven points took some time. Story co-evolved with structure. Tried to insert intentional boredom (first slide) and humor. Used links for miscellaneous tips. Could have practiced some more! Gave talk aloud at least twice. Each section linked to next by some logic. Research results for mostly researcher audience. Slides took roughly two hours a day for a week. Not sure I really needed to do the animated text, but it was fun

43. Boring is the enemy! Boring is the enemy! Thank you very much.

44. Back-Up Slides

45. What I tried to do in this presentation… Illustrated the ideas in the presentation with the presentation itself: –Tailored the content for an audience of mostly Indian computer-science researchers at Microsoft: Microsoft references Bollywood references Computer-science references References to scientific research Logical, deductive arguments –Tried to keep slides and sections short and to the point; whole talk in <30 min –Spent a couple of hours each day over a week to settle on structure and content –Told a story: Unusual opening directly raises the problem Conceptual links tie each section to the next –Incorporated some fun and humor –Avoided covering everything; pointed people to other references for more Illustrated some other ideas that I didnt mention explicitly: –Stuck to a legible, coherent look and feel that Ive developed over time –Asked a lot of questions to make the presentation interactive –Guided the audience to construct main points using questions (but, illustrated with novel examples) –Applied some PowerPoint animation, but not too much –Used different kinds of multimedia: text, cartoons, photographs, video, puzzles –Repeated the key message (with variations), for emphasis –Anticipated what about technical presentations? question Needs improvement: –Allocated insufficient time for practice: only practiced out loud 2-3 times Note: This slide is not particularly exciting, but as a back-up slide, I didnt spend as much time on it. I also know that anyone who sees it is necessarily curious. Since this is a case where the audience brings with them their own strong motivation and reason to remember, I dont have to work as hard to motivate or entertain.