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Giving Good Talks I snt
as Hard as it Looks
Juan Meza
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
http://www.nersc.gov/~meza
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What is a t alk?
A t alk
is r eally not hing mor e t han a
story
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Caveat s
?This t alk may not make you agif t ed speaker
?None of t he r ules t hat I give youare iron clad
?You will need t o modif y t hese rulest o suit your personal speaking st yle
Your mileage may var y!
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Some reasons f or shar pening yourcommunicat ion skills
?Pr obably t he single most impor t ant aspectin j ob hunt ing is your int er view t alk. Theint er view t alk can make or br eak t heint er view
?Giving t alks is expect ed in many j obs andcan be a cr it ical f act or in j ob success
?I f your e heading int o academia t henyoull be giving t alks almost every day!
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What t ypes of t alks ar e t her e?
?J ob int er view
?Pr esent a new r esult , e. g. at aconf er ence
?St at us r epor t f or a pr oj ect
?Ar gue f or / against somet hing
Each of t hese t alks will be dif f er entbut t he basic st r uct ur e will be t he
same !
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Ther e ar e t hree key element s
?What is your message?
?Whos t he audience??How are t he pieces connect ed?
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The Message
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Ever yt hing in your t alk shouldsuppor t your message
?St ar t wit h t he message and wor kbackwards in developing your t alk
?I t s incr edibly easy t o f all int o t het r ap of t hinking t hat?____ is j ust t oo int er est ing t o let t he
audience miss
?
I f your e not sur e, ask your selfonce again What s your point ?
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The Audience
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Whos t he audience ?
?Would you give a t alk in Spanish t oan English speaking audience?
?Would you give a t alk on QCD t okids in element ary school?
?Would you give a t alk on t hewonder s of opt imizat ion t heor y t o
engineers?
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You need t o t une t he t alk t ot he audience
?Need t o be able t o answer t hequest ion Why should I car e?
?Find out t he demogr aphics of anaudience and why t hey ar e t her e
?Emphasize or de- emphasize par t sof your argument
Second most common mist ake is usingt he same t alk f or all audiences
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Put t ing it t oget her
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How t o st r uct ur e your t alk
?I t s not enough t o lay out t he keyelement s you need t o show howt hey f it t oget her
?Walk t he audience t hrough your keypoint s
?Most t alks suf f er f r om t oo much
det ail and not enough overview
Thir d most common mist ake is t o givedet ails rat her t han showing t he connect ions
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Fit t ing t he pieces t oget her Sample 30 minut e t alk
?Set t he st age (5- 10 minut es)?Tell t he audience what t he main issues are
?Lay out your pr oblem/ issue
?Descr ibe why it s impor t ant !?What happened (10- 15 minut es)?How was t he pr oblem r esolved
?Only need t he key ideas here
?
Dont necessar ily need chronological or der?Summar ize (5 minut es)
?Quest ions?
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Some Tips and Tricks
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Tr y t o keep your point s simple
?Use at most 3 point s at any givent ime
?Most people/ societ ies/ cult ur eshave a har d t ime dealing wit hmor e t han 3 t hings at one t ime
?Remember t hat f or a lar ge par t
of your audience t he mat er ial isnew
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Give specif ic exampleswherever possible
?Examples can be used t o clar if y a
given point?Examples can be used t o creat e a
big impact
?Most audiences r elat e t o visualexamples bet t er t han t o wr it t enexamples
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Model- based Saf et y Assessment s CanBe Used t o Simulat e Accident
Scenarios (Take 1)
?The goal is t o det er mine t he wor st - caser esponse in an accident
?
This problem is described by a coupled setof nonlinear par t ial dif f er ent ial equat ionst hat include Navier - St okes, t her mal, andst r uct ur al dynamics equat ions
?The simulat ion of coupled sub- syst ems
r equir es new met hods?The geomet r ies and complex physics
r equir ed make t his a ver y dif f icultproblem
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Model- based Saf et y Assessment s CanBe Used t o Simulat e Accident
Scenarios (Take 2)?Goal is t o
det er mine t hewor st - case
r esponse?Simulat ion of
coupled sub-syst ems r equir esnew met hods
?Complex physicsand 3D geomet r iesmake t his adif f icult pr oblem
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Drug design is an energyminimizat ion pr oblem
? A single new dr ug maycost over $200 million t odevelop and t he designpr ocess t ypically t akesover 10 years
? There can be t housandsof par amet ers and
const r aint s? There ar e t housands of
local minimaHIV-1 Protease Complexed with
Vertex drug VX-478
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Some essent ial element s t hat shouldbe included in a seminar t alk
?Why is t his pr oblem impor t ant ?
?Why should I car e?
?What was t he out come/ pr oduct / .?I s t her e a t angible r esult ?
?What was your cont r ibut ion?
?Use words like, This is my mainr esult
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Handling quest ions
?Make sur e you underst and t hequest ion
?
Pr epar e f or t he obvious quest ions?Tr y t o answer all quest ions, but
some quest ions can/ should bedef er r ed
Dont Panic !
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Top 10
1) Have a clear message you want t o deliver
2) Pr epare f or your audience
3) Tie t he pieces t oget her int o a st or y
4) Only use mat er ial t hat suppor t s your message
5) Avoid unnecessary det ails
6) Use (visual) examples t o clar if y your point s
7) Out line t he impor t ance of your pr oblem
8) Pr esent your cont r ibut ion
9) Pr epar e f or quest ions
10)Pr act ice
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Some ref er ences
? J. Asher , Even a Geek Can Speak
?N. Higham, Handbook of Wr it ing f or t heMat hemat ical Sciences, SI AM.
? T. Kolda, How t o Give a Talk,ht t p: / / csmr . ca.sandia. gov/ ~tgkolda/ abst ract s/ giving- a- t alk- snl- 2001.ht ml
?G. Spence, How t o Ar gue and Win Ever yt ime
? J . Wet her be and B. Wet her be, So, What s YourPoint ?
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The End
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