P1253037229EyGkI

1
Public Speaking for Scientists
Engineers Melissa A. Hines, Dept. of Chemistry
Why is Public Speaking Important?
2
Planning a Scientific Presentation
Tell a story, dont present a report
Why should anyone care about your work?
Plan your take-home message first
Know your audience
Never overestimate your audience (or their
attention span)
Aim your presentation at the median person,
not the expert
3
The Structure of the Talk
Title slide
4
Potential application Integrated frequency
standards filters (e.g., cell phones)
Requirement f few GHz Q 105
Problem Quality (Q) plummets with increasing f

5
The Structure of the Talk
Introduction (and title)
Outline of talk
6
The Odyssey (starring Odysseus) Homer, Poet in
Transit
Finish Trojan war
Travel for 10 years
Visit Lotus Eaters Blind the Cyclops Shack
up with Circe Pass between Scylla and
Charibdis Listen to Sirens
Return to Ithaca
Kill wifes suitors Live happily ever after
7
The Structure of the Talk
Introduction (and title)
Outline of talk
Experimental/Computational
Keep it simple!
Photos are rarely helpful
8
The Chemistry of Etching An Atomic Scale View
Use pictures of etched surface to understand
chemistry
9
The Structure of the Talk
Introduction (and title)
Experimental/Computational
Body
10
Typical Structure of the Body
11
Typical Structure of a Body Slide
Informative Title
Data
Conclusion from data or Leading question
References?
12
The Structure of the Talk
Introduction (and title)
Experimental/Computational
Body
Conclusions Acknowledgments
Keep it simple! Reiterate take-home message
Out of time Let the audience read
13
(No Transcript)
14
Handling Questions
Useful answers for awkward situations
Thats an interesting point. Ill have to think
about it.
Maybe we should discuss this off-line.
Watch out for ringers
15
The Intangibles
Practice! Practice! Practice!
16
Planning your slides
Only one concept (or experiment) per slide
17
The Nuts and Bolts
A good slide speaks for itself
Structure of a slide
Remember the lost members of the audience!
Informative title and self-contained content
Short phrases, not complete sentences
No garish or gratuitous colors
Conclusion and/or question at bottom
18
Images of Twist-Bonded Wafers
The images show that the dislocation spacing
depends sensitively on the angle. Note that the
0.4 sample is not as periodic as the 0.9 sample.
19
Small Angle Buried Dislocations imaged by TEM
Too busy! Improve with animation.
Increasing twist angle leads to decreasing spacing
20
Small Angle Buried Dislocations imaged by TEM
Increasing twist angle leads to decreasing spacing
21
Which Slide Format?
22
The Nuts and Bolts
Two choices for slide background
Dark solid color (black, dark blue, )
High contrast for gray-scale images
Problems All graphs must be redesignedor
presented on white square Difficult to match
colors between programs (except black white)
23
The Nuts and Bolts
Size matters!
Big type is important (This is Helvetica 24)
Everything on slide must be legible
24
The Nuts and Bolts
Size is important
25
Fonts are Serious Business
26
Font Color is also Important
27
The Nuts and Bolts
Large, bold san serif font
Choose colors to maximize contrast
Best Black text on white
Dark color on white OK
White text on black OK
Avoid colored text on colored background
Use contrast and size to prioritize information
28
Presenting Graphical Data
Excel sucks!
29
Improved Presentation of Data
30
Working with Graphics (Advanced)
Given half a chance, PowerPoint will screw up
your figures
gif Excellent for line drawingsPoor on
gradients/photosSupports transparent backgnds
png In principle, better than gif
jpeg Best choice for photos micrographs
Typical result of PC ? Mac conversion (or PC ? PC
conversion)
No more than 150 dpi resolution (at desired
scale) is necessary
31
Working with Graphics
GIF File
JPEG File
GIF is sharp, JPEG is blurry
32
Working with Graphics
GIF File
JPEG File
GIF is pixelated, JPEG is smooth
33
Making Annotations Stand Out
Which is easiest to read?
34
Presenting Equations
Rule 1 Dont do it!
Rule 2 There is no rule 2.
35
Some Closing Thoughts
Practice your talk out loud