1 Perception, Illusion and VR HNRS 299, Spring 2008 Lecture 21 How to Present The VEN lab VR and Human Behavior

2 Upcoming Events Honors Seminar events: Friday, April 18--Field trip to VEN lab, Brown University Meet bus back of Hogan at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 22--Film screening of "Pan's Labyrinth" p.m., Stein 102* Wednesday, April 23--Plenary session, Stein 208* Friday, April Project presentations Project due dates: Friday, April 18--Project outline due Friday, April 25--Project presentations Monday, April 28--Project papers due at Noon

3 Why speak in public? Public speaking is an important skill for anyone, no matter what your profession. Business and industry constantly require presentations. So do non-profit corporations, government, and many others. A good presentation makes you and your project look good. A bad presentation can make even the best project look bad.

4 Practice Makes it Easier Many people are uncomfortable speaking in public. One study said 40% of people said they were more afraid of speaking in public than of dying! The way to gain confidence in speaking is to practice! Pretend to be confident: Socrates said "Seem what you would be"

5 How you will be graded You will be graded on the following: Content Presentation Style Structure

6 Content You have some latitude as to what you present for your project, but you must include the following: Introduction -- What is your topic/question? Why did you choose it? Background -- Describe the problem you are addressing. What are the important questions about this problem that need to be addressed? What is the basic theory underlying the problem? Main result -- Describe the main experiments or theories that you researched. What is the scientific data that supports the theories? How do the results relate to the main problem? Conclusion -- What can we conclude about the problem?

7 Presentation Style How you present is at least (if not more) important than what you present. You need to focus on: Making eye contact with the audience Speaking clearly and audibly Keeping a calm demeanor (at least appear to be calm) Pacing the talk well Giving the talk while standing (Don't sit!)

8 Eye Contact What not to do: Read from a prepared text without looking at the audience Read from a prepared text with furtive glances at the audience. Talk to the screen/computer/blackboard What to do: Make eye contact with the audience Look at people, move your eyes around the room (but not rapidly) Direct the audience's attention with your eyes. When you want them to look at the screen, look at the screen. When you want them to look at you, look at them.

9 Speaking Clearly The following tips will help you come across clearly to your audience: Speak slowly and enunciate. Don't rush. Take full breaths. Speak loudly so that people in the back can easily hear you. Support your voice with your abdomen: Project to the back. Don't say "um", "ah", "like". Use pauses instead of fillers.

10 Presenting a calm demeanor Even if you feel nervous, you can appear calm by controlling some "nervous" habits: Don't fiddle with the mouse/chalk/computer Try to stand in a stable position, but don't lock your knees Think about what to do with your hands. Ask a friend if it appears natural. Avoid verbal mannerisms (e.g. "like") Avoid apologizing. You want to project confidence!

11 Pace A little rehearsing goes a long way: Time your talk beforehand. A talk that is too long is unfair to other speakers and may annoy the audience. A talk that is too short may make it seem that you don't have much to say. Try not to rush if you get behind. If possible, plan out optional material that can be skipped without being obvious about it. If you get ahead, take longer on topics. Explain in more detail. Try to make your glances at the clock unobtrusive Plan for about 6 minutes for your presentation.

12 Structure Your talk should have a clear beginning, middle and end. Beginning: Introduce yourself and your project. Prepare the audience (they don't know what your talk is about). Middle: This is the bulk of the talk. Try to make smooth transitions between topics. Ideally, tell a story. End: Wrap it up (so we know it's over). Summarize the main points (e.g. what you learned). Thank the audience. Take questions.

13 The VEN lab The Virtual Environment Navigation Laboratory: This is a lab at Brown University used to study how people navigate through the world. Principal Investigators: Bill Warren (our host) Michael Tarr Leslie Pack Kaelbling Goal: Study how people navigate using visual control strategies.

14 Navigating Through the Environment Projects in the VEN lab include: 1)Integrating learned routes--If you learn particular routes to a set of landmarks, can you develop a cognitive map so that you can find shortcuts between landmarks? 2)Path Integration--We use information about our self motion to estimate distance traveled and orientation. How does visual information (Optic flow) interact with body sense information (vestibular, proprioceptive information)? 3)Navigational strategies--Do people rely on distances and angles to navigate? Or do they use learned junctions and paths to get from one place to another? This project uses a garden maze to test how people find their way.

15 Virtual Reality and Behavior Can virtual reality change our behavior? Bailenson found: People with taller avatars bargain more aggressively than people given shorter avatars. This effect lasted into the real world, after the virtual reality session. People with good looking avatars chose more attractive people on a mock-dating website after a virtual reality session. Can the look of your avatar change your sense of yourself?

16 Avatars and Behavior Subjects who watch their avatar run on a treadmill are more active the next day. Will a person be encouraged to exercise if they see their avatar lose weight as they exercise? Will a person who sees an aged picture of themselves be more likely to save for retirement? How can people's behavior be manipulated by digital techniques (e.g. morphing a picture of a candidate with their own image)?

17 Discussion Do we interact with one another differently online (or in virtual reality) than in person? As avatars? (e.g. in role playing games, like "Runescape" or "Second life") In online social networking sites? (e.g. myspace, facebook) In or IM (instant messaging)? Do the effects of virtual reality linger--and affect our behavior in the real world? After playing video games? After playing a role playing game? After conversing through IM?