Tips for a Good TalkAlycia J. Weinberger

28 October 2011

You MUST Have an OutlineIntroduction:

What is the problem and Why you should careYour story arc

The ProteinSomething to nourish every member of audience

The ConclusionsWhat we have learned about what you care aboutWhere we will go next

General PointsYou must have an outline

Know your audience

Know your AudienceFaculty in a different and/or competing field

Skeptical faculty more interested in something else

Expert in your field

1st year grad student

New faculty in related field

General PointsYou must have an outline

Know your audience

Practice, Practice, PracticeBe comfortable and confident with your materialUse pointers judiciously

Know your venue

Screen Sizes May Not Scale with Room Size

V = (screen width / room length)

Astronomy LibraryV = 4 ft / 22 ft = 0.18

Greenwalt Seminar RoomV = 9.25 ft / 45 ft = 0.20

Marriott Wardman BallroomV = 8 ft / 90 ft = 0.09

General PointsYou must have an outline

Know your audience

Practice, Practice, Practice

Know your venue

Engage your audienceMake eye contactReact and adjust

Dress nicely

Tips for Preparing Good Talk Slides

Obvious or not so obviousAlways credit plots

Make slides for your audience, not so much for youConvey something important on every slideUse slides for what just words won’t do

This slide did not have to exist, unless it helps your audience to assimilate or remember what you said

My opinion on slide design

Let every slide make a point, and make it clear what this point is.

A title helps them understand what you’re talking about

A conclusion lets them catch up if they fall asleep

One good figure will fit on a slide and be worth 1000 words

Powerpoint clipart

Credit

Please don’t do this

Check your font sizes: This is 8 pt!

Let’s Talk Font Sizes

32 pt: My very exciting conclusion

28 pt: My very exciting conclusion

24 pt: My very exciting conclusion

20 pt: My very exciting conclusion

18 pt: My very exciting conclusion

16 pt: My very exciting conclusion

14 pt: My very exciting conclusion

12 pt: My very exciting conclusion

Font Test Slide

This is a serif (Times Roman) font at 28 pt

This is a sanserif (Arial) font at 28 pt

• This is a serif font at 20 pt

• This is a sanserif font at 20 pt

Is one easier to read than the other?

Let’s talk colorsRemember that 5-7% males find Red and

Green hard to distinguish/see

Projectors are often not very bright or high contrast

White Cyan Green Red Yellow Orange Purple Blue Magenta Banana Silver

Black Cyan Green Red Yellow Orange Purple Blue Magenta Banana Silver

Black Cyan Green Red Yellow Orange Purple Blue Magenta Banana Silver

Figure Sizes and Whitespace

A Mediocre Slide

Infrared spectrum is unique

•10 micron flux is huge

•All far infrared flux arises from hot dust

A Good Slide

•10 micron flux is huge

•All far infrared flux arises from hot dust

Infrared spectrum is unique

Preparing Figures for Papers/Talks

You or your colleagues WILL take figures from your papers for talks

Use large fonts & thick lines

Postscript Times-Roman Default IDL Vector font

Thick = 3

Thick = 4

xthick = 3

(16 pt equiv)

Using your own figures well

My PS figure converted to jpeg with GraphicConverter

My PS figure converted to PDF with Preview

Interestingly, this one appeared clear, and I filled it white

Font Size for Journal Figures

Consider line thickness too

Weinberger et al. 1999

Spatial Frequency (This label is in 11 pt! Oops!)

Spatial Frequency (This label is in 20 pt! Aaah!)

Not so good

plot,x,y,/nodata,xtitle='X Axis',ytitle='Y Axis’

oploterr,x,y,yerr,3

oplot,x,y,psym=-4

(Examples on these slides thanks to Larry Nittler)

Better

!p.thick=3

plot,x,y,/nodata,xtitle='X Axis',ytitle='Y Axis', charsize=1.5, xthick=3, ythick=3

oploterr,x,y,yerr,3

oplot,x,y,psym=-4

Best

!p.thick=3

plot,x,y,/nodata,xtitle='X Axis',ytitle='Y Axis', charsize=1.5, xthick=3, ythick=3

oploterr,x,y,yerr,3

oplot,x,y,psym=sym(‘cir’,/fill), symsize=1.5

Inserting Other Scientists’ Figures

You WILL need to show other people’s data

“High Res” Journal Figure

Roberge, Feldman, Weinberger, Deleuil & Bouret, 2006

Not too bad

Preview snapshot at 100%

Roberge, Feldman, Weinberger, Deleuil & Bouret, 2006

Nice!(transparent)

Acrobat Snapshot of PDF at 150%

Roberge, Feldman, Weinberger, Deleuil & Bouret, 2006

Ugly and hard to read

Acrobat Snapshot of PDF at 557%

Roberge, Feldman, Weinberger, Deleuil & Bouret, 2006

Fine!

Useful reference websites:

http://cit.information.unl.edu/info0806.htm

http://jfly.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp/color/

http://homepages.rpi.edu/~newbeh/WIPcommText.htm

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE