1. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Preparing speaker’s notes and practicing your talk Jane E. Miller, PhD

2. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Overview Review of slide design considerations Speaker’s notes Practicing a talk

3. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Preparing your talk Even if you are a confident extemporaneous speaker, you must prepare. – Visual materials Prepare slides (see podcast on designing slides). – Oral explanation of visual materials Prepare notes to coordinate with slides. – Delivery Practice timing. – Too long? Too short? Check clarity with a guinea pig audience.

4. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Review: Design considerations Average of about 1 slide per minute of allotted time for your talk – Fewer slides if they are Complicated charts or tables Involve anecdotes or quotations Succinct text Simple, clear charts or tables

5. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Reasons to use speaker’s notes Flesh out material on the slides: – Remind you of full sentences – Provide illustrative anecdotes Prompt about aspects of tables or charts to emphasize. Keep you on time. Remind you not to just read the slides .

6. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Where to put speaker’s notes In PowerPoint, can type them into the “notes page” Either view them on split screen (if technology supports it). OR print notes out hardcopy to use as you present the slides. – Print notes out with large type (~14 point), so you can read them!

7. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Screen shot of speaker’s notes view Here is the “notes view” for one of the slides earlier in this presentation. – Top panel shows the slide as it will be projected onto the room screen. – Bottom panel shows the text box you will be able to see on the computer screen.

8. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Contents of speaker’s notes Introductory sentence for slide. Either: – Paraphrase title, – Restate title as a rhetorical question. “Vanna White” if needed to: – Describe a chart or table. – Coordinate with handouts. Summary sentence if slide covered a lot of info Transition sentence to next slide – Explain where slide fits in the overall analysis.

9. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Speaker’s notes: Length If your notes are longer than will fit with 14 point type, you are probably trying to say too much about that one slide! Split material across more slides Or cut some of what you were going to say

10. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Wording of speaker’s notes Paraphrase information on your slide into complete sentences. Write in the first person. E.g., if your slide shows – 1988–1994 – US – Sample of infants (N=9,813) You could say: – “We study a random sample of about 98 hundred infants born in the United States between 1988 and 1994.”

11. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Rehearsal First, practice talk alone, using your slides and speaker’s notes. – Check timing, especially for short talks. – Check sequencing of topics. – Evaluate slide layout and contents. – Evaluate speaker’s notes. – Practice coordinating “Vanna White” motions and script. Make adjustments to slides and notes. Practice again.

12. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Rehearsal with test audience Enlist a guinea pig audience if you will be presenting – To a new type of audience for you Interdisciplinary audience Applied or lay audience – About a method you haven’t explained before Your test audience should ideally have training and interests similar to those in your intended audience

13. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Points to evaluate Logical story line Vocabulary and metaphors Types of charts and tables Relative depth and emphasis of different sections Whether questions you ask and answer fit that audience’s interests: – Implications of study for Policy Practice Research Should be familiar to audience.

14. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Summary Prepare speaker’s notes to: – Coordinate with your slides, – Cover the needed content, – Explain layout of diagrams, – Help you stay within allotted time. Practice presenting, check – Time, – Order of material, – Clarity of definitions, examples.

15. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Suggested resources Chapter 12 in Miller, J. E. 2015. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2nd Edition.

16. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Suggested online materials Podcasts on – Designing effective slides – Explaining a chart or table live: The “Vanna White technique” – Comparison of paper, speech, and poster

17. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Suggested practice exercises Study guide to The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2nd Edition. – Questions #2 and 4 in the problem set for chapter 12 – Suggested course extensions for chapter 12 “Reviewing” exercises 1 parts g, i, j, and m “Writing” exercises #4 and 5 “Revising” exercise #4

18. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers, 2 nd edition. Contact information Jane E. Miller, PhD jmiller@ifh.rutgers.edu Online materials available at http://press.uchicago.edu/books/miller/numbers/index.html