Presenting Research

Facts Most people are intimidated in front of and audience. – Often more intimidating than flying, poisonous snakes, death… Most people prepare way to much material for the time allotted – Actual presentations go slower There are strategies to combat fear and overpreparation

Strategies Who – Audience What – Content and Organization How – Presentation strategies When – Time

Who Most often academics/peers They want to hear what you have to say They have some background – be aware of it and speak to it. They don’t have time to waste – make your contribution clear and get to the point quickly Expect to have an engaged audience

Some things to remember Listening is not like reading – less involved – do things to get them involved Use your head and your heart – cool head – warm heart

What Be organized Identify key points and make them clear – This is what people take home with them – 3 is often a magic number Repetition – Tell them what you are going to tell them Not a talk map – your contribution – Tell them Be careful of too much detail – Tell them what you told them Remind them of your contribution and the take-home

Content Much like a written paper Introduction – brief – catch the audience’s attention – clearly identify the topic and your contribution Body – clearly describes the thesis & supporting information – informs, persuades, and/or entertains carefully Conclusion – no new material – reinforce the main points – remind them of your contribution

Some things to remember What are your main 3 points That is all they will remember What are your main 3 points That is all they will remember Be clear and positive about your contribution but do not overstate it or embellish the facts Be clear and positive about your contribution but do not overstate it or embellish the facts Be organized Brief Intro Well developed body with appropriate detail Conclusion that reinforces main points Be organized Brief Intro Well developed body with appropriate detail Conclusion that reinforces main points

How Define your role – You are the authority but be humble – Bold, but not overbearing Don’t just read your slides – Your slides are there to aid audience understanding not do the talking. – Why are you there?

Figures and Graphics Should be intuitively understandable Should prove your point clearly Label everything – they may not hear you well but they will see your figures – anomalies – make sure your contribution is clear

Phylogenetics A B C A B C A B C A B D D D C 1*3*5*7...=O(n!!) * Superexponential * Combinatoric Terminals Number of Trees 102 x x x x ,0002 x 10 2,860 10,0008 x 10 38, ,000 1 x ,663 1,000,0001 x 10 5,866,723 10,000,0005 x 10 68,667,340

Figures and Graphics What is this figure trying to tell us?

Better Parallel Phylogenetic Analysis Scalability on 2 data sets

Chart types Line graph – Show trends Pie chart – Good for percentages Bar chart – Good for comparing a few things Tables – Good when exact numbers are important – Don’t put too many numbers on the screen

Bad table

What is wrong?

Slide Content Don’t overuse different fonts – No more than 3 Minimum amount of text – Emphasis on your main points and supporting information Simple format Use color to emphasize important points, but avoid the excessive use of color

When Time is important – especially the audiences time You never have time to say everything – Pick your main points carefully No more than 1 slide per minute Practice your timing Don’t waste time on the introduction if your audience is knowledgeable – but give the necessary background Make sure you have time to emphasize your main points.

How to give a bad talk 1.Thou shalt not be neat 2.Thou shalt not waste space 3.Thou shalt not covet brevity 4.Thou shalt cover thy naked slides 5.Thou shalt not write large 6.Thou shalt not use color 7.Thou shalt not illustrate 8.Thou shalt not make eye contact 9.Thou shalt not skip slides in a long talk 10.Thou shalt not practice

Finally Give enough detail to get your main points across and to show you have solved the problems but not enough to lose the audience. They want to hear what you did that was cool and why they should care – Preferably, they’ll hear this at the beginning of the talk, over the course of the talk, and at the end of the talk If they’re intrigued, they’ll ask questions or read your paper Whatever you do, don’t just read your slides!