Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 1 Lecture 17 Scholarship Skills Tim Sheard, PSU & Todd Leen, OHSU Material © 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 David Maier additional Material © 2001, 2006Tim Sheard, Todd Leen Presentations 2 - Delivery

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 2 Lecture 17 Before the Talk If you have not given the talk before, rehearse it out loud try it out for length, you'll probably be surprised (running through it silently doesn’t seem to give accurate estimates of time – aloud is really the only way) “regeneration” is faster than generation But don’t overfit a practice talk to a small audience. –Small audience will react differently; a more conversational tone is appropriate.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 3 Lecture 17 Before the Talk What is the real consequence of messing up? –stage fright, try to relax Wear something with a place to clip mike. Have crib notes for yourself points to emphasize words to say in difficult parts where to slow down if you rushed in practice

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 4 Lecture 17 At last break before talk Check AV equipment. Talk to session chair Confirm time expectations Confirm time for questions will (s)he signal you when time is about up Provide file for computer-based projection Just before speaking—load your buffers Think about what points you will make on the first few slides.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 5 Lecture 17 Time to Start Take your time to get set up mike on, cord untangled projector cord out of way pointer have a clock in sight (better bring a watch) Know where the time prompter is seated Water – if 1 hr talk Lights Is screen washed out by outside light or overhead light? AV person or session chair is responsible, but you may have to remind them. Beware of total darkness – Is overhead projector tilted, or is there a wind from ventilation — will slides slide off? Tape, chewing gum …

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 6 Lecture 17 Starting Try to set the tone of a conversation with the audience. Try to make audience contact on title slide Try to say something intriguing in first two minutes (and in last minute) personal anecdote—how work or interest came about (takes time) prior negative work appropriate joke question to audience interesting statistic or relevant prop

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 7 Lecture 17 Delivery Don’t stand rooted to one spot. (Unless you’re talking to 500 people in a completely darkened room.) Talk to, and look as far as the back row. I've NEVER heard a talk where the speaker was too loud. Regulate your rate of speaking – use crib notes to remind yourself to slow down Avoid “upspeak”. where everything you say is a question If you tend to fidget, hold a pen (but not in front of the slide if using a transparency). If you point with a pen on a transparency, set it down, tremor is distracting Make eye contact, find some responsive faces (imaginary if necessary). Need to notice questions when they happen.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 8 Lecture 17 Directing Attention Verbally – “Notice that the curve has two bumps …” Gesturing If screen is low, point there Some people detest covering with paper (when I was at IBM I saw a third- level manager shred a young engineer for this!)

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 9 Lecture 17 Using Notes Can be okay, but make sure they are notes, rather than full text. (Don’t READ your talk.) –3x5 cards –or if using transparency, the backing sheets are a great place for notes. As backup if you lose the thread when switching slides, consider just one line on each backing sheet (or cards) with the first thing to say.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 10 Lecture 17 Timing Have time targets for certain slides. Have slides to omit If someone tells you “5 minutes left”, maybe the best thing to do is stop and think -- How can I recover what should I omit whats the best use of the time left Don’t refer to lack of time— it makes you look unprepared.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 11 Lecture 17 Timing If showing an external video, 35mm slides, demo—keep number of switch- overs low Equipment failure? You probably won't get the time back Perhaps take questions early

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 12 Lecture 17 Questions “I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said I didn’t know.” Mark Twain Be sure you understand the question. (LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE QUESTION – don’t do lazy evaluation) Restate if necessary (better than answering a different question.) Ask if you’ve answer the question adequately, but don’t engage in a dialog (“perhaps we can discuss this further after the session”)

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 13 Lecture 17 Questions Questioner may be speaking to show off knowledge (still convincing their 3 rd grade teacher they’re the smartest in the class). Take a little time to think, if needed. Question may be off the mark—does it reveal a misperception? Did the audience hear the question? (May have to routinely repeat for audience – watch what’s done in session previous to yours)

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 14 Lecture 17 Questions Have a blank slide handy for sketches. If using electronic projection, have ancillary slides to answer obvious questions. Can you give a truthful but partial answer? Or move to a topic you know more about? I haven’t seen them used in manufacturing, but I do know of applications in control systems. Try not to let questions during talk digress. (Usually ground rules prevent this.) If it’s your thesis defense, and there ensues a conversation between two people, neither of whom is you…, rejoice!

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 15 Lecture 17 Questions What about a vicious or hostile question? Avoid getting defensive, but if you’re quick on your feet, you can be snide. Attempt to restate questioner’s position. Pretend the question is directed at an idea, not at you I have no answer to that. If you pose questions to the audience, silence is okay. Don’t jump in instantly and answer yourself.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 16 Lecture 17 Resources on the web giving-a-talk by Bruce Randall Donald, Professor, Dartmouth University Some Lecturing Heuristics by Patrick H. Winston Conference Presentations by The Mammal Society Oral Presentation Advice by Mark D. Hill, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-MadisonMark D. Hill How to Give a Talk by Mark Claypool, WPI

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 17 Lecture 17 The 10 Commandments for giving a bad talk This one was so good I thought I'd share it with you. How to Give a Bad Talk by David A. Patterson Computer Science Division University of California-Berkeley Circa 1983 (with annotations gleaned from Patterson's talk by Mark D. Hill):

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 18 Lecture 17 I.Thou shalt not be neat. Why waste research time preparing slides? Ignore spelling, grammar and legibility. Who cares what 50 people think? II. Thou shalt not waste space. Transparencies are expensive. If you can save five slides in each of four talks per year, you save $7.00/year! III. Thou shalt not covet brevity. Do you want to continue the stereotype that engineers can't write? Always use complete sentences, never just key words. If possible, use whole paragraphs and read every word.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 19 Lecture 17 IV. Thou shalt cover thy naked slides You need the suspense! Overlays are too flashy. V. Thou shalt not write large. Be humble -- use a small font. Important people sit in front. Who cares about the riff-raff? VI. Thou shalt not use color. Flagrant use of color indicates uncareful research. It's also unfair to emphasize some words over others.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 20 Lecture 17 VII. Thou shalt not illustrate. Confucius says `` A picture = 10K words,'' but Dijkstra says `` Pictures are for weak minds. '' Who are you going to believe? Wisdom from the ages or the person who first counted goto's? VIII. Thou shalt not make eye contact. You should avert eyes to show respect. Blocking screen can also add mystery. IX. Thou shalt not skip slides in a long talk. You prepared the slides; people came for your whole talk; so just talk faster. Skip your summary and conclusions if necessary.

Scholarship Skills Dave Maier & Todd Leen 21 Lecture 17 X. Thou shalt not practice. Why waste research time practicing a talk? It could take several hours out of your two years of research. How can you appear spontaneous if you practice? If you do practice, argue with any suggestions you get and make sure your talk is longer than the time you have to present it. Commandment X is most important. Even if you break the other nine, this one can save you.