1. Tips on Giving Effective PAA Presentations, Job Talks, and the Like
Donald J. Treiman
CCPR, 18 Oct. 2017

2. Let’s do this like a CCPR seminar: jump in without hesitating

3. Two general points
PAA presentations, job talks, and seminars are pretty much the same, with a few differences:
Job talks and seminars are longer.
Job talks need a final section on future research.
In seminars, and occasionally job talks, be prepared for interruptions, CCPR style.
At PAA, etc., posters are better than presentations, because you get better feedback, even though presentations may have more prestige.

4. Content (mainly PAA, but generalizable)
Focus on your main point and tell a simple story. At PAA, very little time (12-15 minutes).
Organization—get quickly to your results:
Research question: clear and brief. Maybe state your conclusions here (matter of taste).
Very brief statement of what others have done; the only point of this is to motivate your research.
Data and methods—at PAA usually worth about one slide. Skip equations.

5. Content (2) Organization—continued:
Results—the bulk of your presentation.
Discussion and conclusions—what you have shown and why it is important; tie back to introduction.
Limitations—only at public health conferences; otherwise skip it.

6. Slides
Put relatively little on each slide. I violate this all the time, which makes my presentations less effective.
Make sure your slides are readable.
Use large type and bold colors. Better large type and less white space.
Test whether your slides can be read from the back of a large room. Try them out here. I did this for a presentation in England a couple of weeks ago and then reformatted every slide.

7. Slides (2)
Fancy PowerPoint stuff is o.k. but unnecessary. If you know how to use PowerPoint tricks, then fine. But learning them when preparing a PAA presentation or job talk takes time from more important things—a good talk and clear slides.

8. Presentation
Talk, don’t read. People tune out when the presenter is reading, especially with non-native speakers.
Give the audience enough time to read each slide.
Speak slowly and loudly. Women, in particular, tend to speak too softly.
Avoid nervous ticks: “so,” “you know,” “like.”
If at all possible, give practice talk(s).

9. Q and A Be succinct in your responses.
If you don’t know the answer, say so: “That’s an interesting point. I’ll have to think about it.”
If necessary (this is a bit tricky), tell a questioner to be succinct. This is the job of the chair, but many chairs won’t do it.

10. Mechanics
File redundancy is wise: 2 thumb drives, a copy in an message you send to yourself, and, if your PowerPoint is simple enough, a .pdf version on the thumb drives.
Get to the venue early.
Load your slides before the session begins and make sure you know where the file is—the desk top is a good place.
Make sure you know how to turn the machine on and to move between slides.
Try your slides out, to make sure they work.
Invest in an infrared pointer, bring it, and use it.

11. Posters The issues are more-or-less the same as for presentations:
Tell a clear, easy-to-follow story.
More detail o.k., but not much more since people don’t want to spend a lot of time on each poster.
Make your posters easy to read from 6 ft. away, so that people will be drawn in when walking by.

12. Comments? questions?