giving good talks

7/31/2019 Giving Good Talks

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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

giving good talks

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