Some Thoughts on Academic Presentations

March 26, 2014

Dan QuintUniversity of Wisconsin

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IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail

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Introduction

Presenting well matters

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Introduction

Preparing a good talk takes much longer than you think

“Hofstadter’s Law: it always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.” – Douglas Hofstadter

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Introduction

Giving a good talk is hard…

…and you’ll screw it up

Your first presentation will probably go worse than you expect… even when you take this into account.

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IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail

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Preparation

“Own your paper”

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Preparation

Think about who your audience is

Assume we’re smart, but haven’t read your paper, or the paper you’re extending

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Preparation

Think about the best way to teach them your paper

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Preparation

Start with a puzzle, or a story

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Preparation

You want us to understand, quickly:

What the question is What you found Why we should care

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Preparation

Your lit review is terrible

Show you know the literature you’re supposed to Put your paper in context and clarify its contribution

easy

hard

good place to take advice from advisors, etc.

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Preparation

You don’t have to present the most complicated case in your paper

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Preparation

Plan where you want to spend your time

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Preparation

Plan where you want to spend your time

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Preparation

PLAN WHERE YOU WANT TO SPEND YOUR TIME

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Preparation

Get to your model FAST!

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Preparation

Define things rigorously

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Preparation

Have examples in mind

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Preparation

Highlight the things you want us to notice

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Preparation

Don’t drown us in equations

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Preparation

Tables

source: A. Sengupta and S. Wiggins (2014), “Airline Pricing, Price Dispersion, and Ticket Characteristics On and Off the Internet,” AEJ: Economic Policy 6(1)

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Preparation

Visuals good!

source: T. Piketty, E. Saez and S. Stantcheva (2014), “Optimal Taxation of Top Labor Incomes: A Tale of Three Elasticities,” AEJ: Economic Policy 6(1)

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Preparation

Ask for advice –

and follow it

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Preparation

Practice!

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IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail

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Delivery

Face the audience,

and don’t laser-point every slide

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Delivery

Go slow,

except for the technical parts –

then, go really slow

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Delivery

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Slowness especially important for equations

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Delivery

I like dot points to appear one by one

Guides people through each point I make

Reinforces each point

(Means I can’t present without a clicker)

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Delivery

But don’t “foreshadow” dot points

You may think it looks cute

But it makes people read ahead while you’re talking

Which means they aren’t paying attention

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Delivery

But don’t “foreshadow” dot points

You may think it looks cute

But it makes people read ahead while you’re talking

Which means they aren’t paying attention

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Delivery

But don’t “foreshadow” dot points

You may think it looks cute

But it makes people read ahead while you’re talking

Which means they aren’t paying attention

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Delivery

But don’t “foreshadow” dot points

You may think it looks cute

But it makes people read ahead while you’re talking

Which means they aren’t paying attention

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Delivery

Also, don’t put everything you want to say on your slide

If you do, then all you can do is read your slides

And that isn’t a very compelling way to present

Better to leave some things off your slide and just talk about them

And use your slides as an outline of the major points you want to cover…

…not every detail

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Delivery

Don’t be limited by your slides

Control pace, adjust accordingly Use white board as needed

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IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail

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Answering questions

Anticipate likely questions

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Answering questions

Don’t take it personally

Don’t get defensive Don’t be a dick

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Answering questions

Don’t interrupt someone asking a question

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Answering questions

Don’t interrupt someone asking a question

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Answering questions

Make sure you understand the question before you start to answer

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Answering questions

Don’t defer questions more than necessary

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Answering questions

But don’t lose control of the seminar

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Answering questions

Don’t be a bullshitter

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Answering questions

But also, don’t undersell your work

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IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail

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Almost freakish attention to detail

Minimize typos, incorrect notation, etc.

But don’t freak out if you catch one during your talk

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Almost freakish attention to detail

If your dot points appear one by one,

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Almost freakish attention to detail

If your dot points appear one by one,

Make sure you do it properly,

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Almost freakish attention to detail

If your dot points appear one by one,

Make sure you do it properly,

Because if they don’t line up right,

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Almost freakish attention to detail

If your dot points appear one by one,

Make sure you do it properly,

Because if they don’t line up right,

It makes me want to kill you!

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Almost freakish attention to detail

Plug in your fucking computer

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Almost freakish attention to detail

(Also: don’t use the word “fuck” in a presentation until you have tenure)

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Thanks for listening,and good luck!