Elements of a Good Technical Talk

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Elements of a Good Technical Talk

• Presented by
• NHGS Science Staff

Revised 2001
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The following slides can help you prepare to give
your Mentorship oral presentation in May or help
you do your Internet Presentation Project.
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Sections of a Technical Talk

• Essential Sections
• Introduction
• Results and Analysis
• Conclusions

• Optional Sections
• Method of Attack
• Future Work

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Timeline of Your Talk
5 minutes for questions
15 - 20 minutes
2 - 3 min. Intro
14 - 16 min. Body of Talk
2 - 3 min. Conclusion
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Let's look at each section of your talk
Hint This is an example of a transition Slide
which is a roadmap for the Audience.
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Your Talk Introduction Section

• 2 - 3 minutes long - hook your audience
• What is the subject?
• Consider your Audience
• Why was your research done?
• What is the nature of the result(s)?
• What are the implications of your research?
• - future applications?

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The Body of your Talk Results

• Level of detail is determined by
• time available
• assessment of your audience
• Who is my audience in May?
• Iteration is desirable
• Analogy is an important tool

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Conclusion Section of your Talk

• Only one slide necessary
• Mention only important points
• Keywords is preferable style
• - formal English not required

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Organizing Your Material

• Review your selected visuals
• Do they follow your goals?
• Do they tell your story?
• Will they be readable from the back row ?

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Organizing your Talk

• Lets Review
• Design to time allotted
• Set goals for most important objectives
• Introduction Is it adequate?
• Method Dont overdo the detail
• Results Interpretation is important
• Conclusions Should iterate main points

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What is a good slide?overhead transparency or
PowerPoint slide(s)

• Remember that slides are not the text of your
  talk. They are aids to your audience to
  reinforce your words.
• If they cannot be kept short, they are a
  detraction rather than an aid. Complete
  sentences are not necessary.
• Word charts can be an important glue to tie
  together data and illustrations, but only if the
  audience does not have to spend a lot of time
  reading text.
• What did you hear me say while you read this?
• THIS SLIDE IS A BAD CLUTTERED SLIDE!

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What is a good font size?(overhead transparency
or PowerPoint)
Mary had a little lamb had a little pork chop 32 Fhysiks is Phun - font size 28 Environmental Sci. is a clean
class size 18 I usually type my papers with this font
size.

Use a font size of 36 or larger during your talk!
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Delivery Speaking Style
Distracting title style ?!

• Confidence
• Sincerity
• Modesty
• Persuade with facts, not with emotion

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DeliveryBody Language

• Dont slouch
• Avoid excessive gestures
• Make eye contact

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Are you talking to the figure?
Where am I ?
Blood drag coefficient ? v da membrane
flow thermal Q fudge factor

• Or to the audience?

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Delivery
Some things to avoid

• Insider language
• Frequent use of 1st person
• Apologies (I was too busy)
• Rushing
• Giving a Sales pitch

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Summary

• Plan by setting goals
• What do I want them to retain?
• Introduction - most common pitfall
• What must they know first to be with me?
• Use roadmaps or cues throughout your talk
• Rehearse for timing, flow and style