SCMB Postgraduate Fora 2009SCMB Postgraduate Fora 2009

How (not) to How (not) to present a talkpresent a talk

Arti SinghArti Singh

On behalf of the SCMB Postgraduate Students Committee

15th October 2009

An exampleAn example

http://subjunctive.net/klog/2007/09/chicken/

(or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_-1d9OSdk)

Doug Zongker, University of Washington

Presented at a meeting of the American Society for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), February 2007

Purpose of a talkPurpose of a talk

• give an overview of a topic

• present a summary of your work

• engage and inform/entertain your audience

• tell a story

• present information in a limited amount of time

SlidesSlides• time limit = limited number of slides

• Postgraduate Symposium: 15 min + 5 min Q&A

• guide: ~1 slide/minute; 15 min talk: 15-20 slides

• don’t have too much information on a slide

• use dot points and figures/equations/flowcharts

• if its not important, leave it out (eg. details)

• practice, practice, practice!

FontsFonts• easy to read eg. Arial, NOT Comic Sans MS (NB. Times New Roman

may not always display correctly and can be difficult to read)

• don’t use more than 1 or 2 different fonts – be consistent

• large enough to read (eg. 26 point), smaller for references (eg. 10 point)

• avoid all capital letters (= yelling; difficult to read)

• avoid title case (eg. How to present a talk, NOT How To Present A Talk)

• emphasis: use italics and bolding instead of underlining

PicturesPictures• whenever possible, use pictures, graphs, equations,

chemical structures instead of words

• don’t use ClipArt just for the sake of it

• make sure they are large enough!

• make sure they are clear – avoid ‘chart junk’ (eg. grey backgrounds, grid lines, too much axis detail)

• label graph lines directly instead of using legends

Equations

0

2500

5000

750010000

12500

15000

17500

20000

2250025000

27500

30000

32500

35000

3750040000

42500

45000

47500

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

x

y

y=3x 2̂+9

y=x 2̂+2x-13

y=24785-x 2̂

too small!

good size, but too many distractions

simpler, less distracting = more effective in a talk

Equations

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130

x

y

y = 3x2 + 9

y = x2 + 2x – 13

y = 24785 – x2

ColoursColours• use contrasting colours

• simple backgrounds are better• light background, darker writing/figures• dark background, lighter/brighter writing/figures

• don’t use too many colours on a slide – distracting• use colour to highlight/code things

• avoid using red and green together (inability to distinguish them = most common form of colourblindness)

• blue and yellowyellow can be problematic for some people (try to avoid yellow writing on bright blue background)

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

• Contrast is important!

Animation & soundAnimation & sound

• some animation can be useful – emphasis, highlighting, explaining a process or results

• too much is distracting & wastes time

• sound – useful if it is a part of your research (eg. animals, communication)

• may not always be able to play sound in your presentation room

Talking to an audienceTalking to an audience• know your audience – specialists? non-specialists?

• talk to the audience, don’t read out slides/notes

• maintain eye contact, don’t talk to the board

• laser pointer: don’t point at audience

• don’t fidget, put your hands in your pockets, shift your feet, chew gum, play with your hair etc

• pace yourself – don’t talk too fast or too slowly

• don’t be monotonous, make gestures

• make the audience care about what you have to say

Key pointsKey points• Limited amount of time to tell your story = limited number of

slides

• Summary of your work – not too many details, overall picture – what and why

• use contrasting colours for backgrounds and writing/figures, fonts that can be easily read, figures/flow charts/equations

• make your slides as simple as possible – not too much animation

• voice, gestures, don’t read slides, talk to audience, eye contact, engage audience

• make audience care about your work and what you have to say

• practice, practice, practice!