1. WS2004/2005 How to give a Seminar Talk Daniel Kroening ETH Zürich

2. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 2 Why? So your Professor does not get embarrassed! It’s 50% of the grade!

3. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 3 Outline Organization of a talk Common pitfalls  Fonts, Colors, Diagrams  Number of slides?  How to talk About this seminar  Contents  Topics  Administrative stuff

4. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 4 Content Goal: present research results Think of the audience!  Knows foundations of computer science  Does not know specific research Focus on concepts, not details! Point out advantages/disadvantages

5. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 5 Organization of a Talk

6. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 6 Giving the Talk Allow at least two minutes per slide  Not enough time? Cut it! Keep introduction and motivation short Use less than a minute on outline Use time for complex topics instead  Repeat if really important  Use examples

7. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 7 Slide Layout Keep it simple! Use Diagrams Try to keep it in one line  Many topics cannot be explained fully with a few bullets. In such situations, one is frequently tempted to write a full definition of the problem, usually in a very small font, which is read aloud while looking at the slide when giving the talk. Instead of this, a diagram together with a few key words would always be more suited to showing the context, which can then be elaborated on in more detail orally, in the talk.

8. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 8 Feathers  Stubby  Brown Told to leave town Low self esteem Does as is told Ugly Duckling Syndrome Diagrams TOO FANCY TOO ANNOYING

9. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 9 Diagrams Think about the people in the back row!

10. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 10 Structural Figures Better than long text

11. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 11 Formulas Use only when needed Use descriptive variable names Powerpoint equation editor is bad  Consider Latex + Acrobat Reader  Consider Texpoint

12. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 12 Colors Avoid too many colors LCD ≠ Projector Background colors: Yellow, orange, green, light blue Text colors: Blue, magenta, red, dark green Avoid distracting bitmap backgrounds

13. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 13 About this Seminar Topics:  Power consumption  Timing  Verification 40-45 Minutes for each talk English

14. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 14 About this Seminar Papers:  We have a selection  You will pick next week (see webpage ~Wednesday)  But feel free to suggest one

15. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 15 Administrative Things We will give you plenty of time to prepare You MUST email draft of slides to assistant one week before talk You should meet with me or assistant Grading:  We consider difficulty level of paper  Presentation (slides, talk)

16. 26.8.2004 Daniel Kroening 16 Presentation Skills Presentation skills will be graded Thus, must attend Bertrand Meyer’s class on how to give technical talks Mark your calendars: 28 November, 15:15-16:30 Room will be announced