Giving Talks

Seminars are important They provide a way to communicate about your research – They are a key element to getting jobs – As your career progresses, seminars help establish your reputation – As your career progresses, requests to give seminars are a signal of your accomplishment They provide a way to receive feedback on your work – It is “quick”, sometimes useful – Reach a wide variety of specialties So an ability to give good seminars is important

Some Mechanics Put together computer-based presentation slides; it is the norm now for professional presentations. – But be prepared, a few venues might not have computers or projectors. – Some people think what software you use matters, but most people don’t care. Have back-up copies, and make sure the software is on the computer – one advantage of PDF presentations – On your computer, if you are using your own – On a thumb drive – yourself a copy to an accessible account, so you can always access it Look at the audience, not the screen, computer or projector

Preparing for the seminar You should be prepared Practice on your own, and before a friendly audience – An “informal” seminar to other grad students – A “more formal” seminar for your department Don’t just practice the words Practice and adjust the organization and tempo Be ready to change the presentation from what you learn by giving it. Things that might change – Slides – Words – Style

Your slides Keep them professional – No “cute” pictures – Norm now seems to be mostly plain, black text, white background – Keep the font and content readable No unreadable tables (I’ll give some examples) Font appropriate for the size of the room and the screen. Try to use a clear font, like Calibri Have an appropriate number for the time frame Time will usually go fast, unless the seminar is going poorly – then time will go slowly

Your Slides (continued) Every bullet point on the slide should have a point – Think about what you want the audience to learn from each slide – Try to keep one idea per slide (obviously I don’t do this when teaching). Making them readable with a large font helps with this. Don’t use too fancy animations – Things “flying in” quickly becomes distracting, and (I think) is inappropriate for professional presentations – Fade in or simple animations like wipe tend to work better

Graphs MUST be readable Often graphs made for papers don’t work in presentations; you may need to redo them Use text boxes for labels Make sure axis labels are readable If you will not use the graph, and not talk about it, don’t include it. Rarely should there be more than one graph per slide as they are too hard to read Colors are important to differentiate lines (it is easier to refer to a color) but make sure they are visible. No pale yellow (yellow)

Tables Tables made for papers are rarely appropriate for presentations Redo your tables, including only what you want to talk about The font in tables should be at least 20 point (this is 28 point; this is 20 point ) Use bright colors to bring attention to key elements of a tables

Table 1: Determinants of Pr(y=1) with covariate dependant misclassification VariableTrue Value ProbitHAS1GHAS Est.Hit RateEst.Hit RateEst.Hit Rate a1=a2=0.05 Intercept beta beta beta a1=a2=0.1 Intercept Beta Beta Beta a1=a2=0.2 Intercept beta beta beta =0.1, =0.05 Intercept beta beta beta =0.2, =0.05 Intercept beta beta beta =0.2, =0.1 Intercept beta beta beta

Table 1: Determinants of Pr(y=1) with covariate dependant misclassification Variable True Value ProbitHAS1GHAS Est. Hit RateEst. Hit RateEst. Hit Rate a1=a2 =0.05 Intercept Beta Beta Beta a1=a2 =0.1 Intercept Beta Beta Beta a1=a2 =0.2 Intercept beta beta beta

During the talk Pay attention to the time – Don’t spend too much time up front, so you have to rush the conclusions and message – Leave plenty of time for questions and suggestions from the audience – For a 60 minute presentation, plan on 45 minutes Let the audience know if you want questions during the talk – Clarifying questions are always in order – But content questions, suggestions and challenges can wait to the end

During the talk (continued) Be flexible – Be prepared to skip some slides if things are progressing too slowly – Have a couple of extra to lengthen the talk if needed – End a few minutes early rather than going too long 60 minute presentations cannot be condensed to a 20 minute talk at a meeting. For short presentations, the point is to convince the audience to read your paper. For 90 minute presentations (norm for job market talks) add more detail, and present key elements of derivation, empirics or whatever to go about minutes.

During the talk (continued) Control the presentation, it is your talk If questions take it off track, move it back on Be prepared to ask people to hold questions to later Be prepared to suggest that you would like to discuss the point with the questioner after the talk

Content Long introductions are almost always a bad idea – Save the time for substance – Literature reviews are not needed, except perhaps a key citation or two for context – The focus of the introduction is your research question, why the question and answer are important, and what your answer will be Don’t be mysterious – let the audience know what you research, what you find, and why, early on in the talk Then, give the substance of how you do it.

Dos Identify your main point (finding, importance) and state it up front and succinctly. Repeat your main point, and summarize your findings, at the end. Speak clearly and loudly. Know your audience. Don’t show your back, don’t talk to the screen. Use a laser pointer if you want to refer to a specific place on a slide. Stick to your time limit. Practice several times before the presentation.

Dos (continued) Put an appropriate amount of information on a slide. Use bullet points, not full sentences. – Don’t crowd slides. – Don’t read slides (see how I violate these rules all the time). Make sure you know how to use the equipment. Get to the #1 important contribution as quickly as possible. Give people time to digest your slides. Listen carefully to questions, but think before answering. Keep presentations and answers simple.

Don’ts Make the motivation too long Have a long literature review Give extensive previews of the results Give useless context – If your paper is primarily empirical, skip the theory – Do not discuss preliminary or interim results, get to the final results Give an answer to a question if you don’t know it. Speak softly and tentatively. Go over your time limit.