tips for a good talk

A. J. Weinberger

Tips for a Good TalkAlycia J. Weinberger

28 October 2011, updated 2013 and 2014

A. J. WeinbergerA. J. Weinberger

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

A. J. Weinberger



Know your audience

Practice, Practice, PracticeBe comfortable and confident with your materialUse pointers judiciouslyDon’t use phrases that undermine your credibility

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



Know your audience

Practice, Practice, Practice

Know your venue

Engage your audienceMake eye contactReact and adjust

Dress nicely


Don’t Undermine Your Own Credibility

What You Do Say What You SHOULD Say

I believe this figure shows… This figure shows…

I think this figure shows… I demonstrate/show/present

This figure sort of shows This figure shows…

This figure just shows This figure shows…

There are other, I guess, examples

There are other examples

Uh, um X

A. J. Weinberger

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









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

A. J. Weinberger


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

A. J. Weinberger

Preparing Figures for Papers/Talks

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

A. J. Weinberger

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

A. J. Weinberger

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%


Nice!(transparent)


Acrobat Snapshot of PDF at 150%


Ugly and hard to read


Acrobat Snapshot of PDF at 557%


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

A. J. Weinberger

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

tips for a good talk

Documents

x axis

y axisoploterr

deleuil bouret

infrared flux

job talk

good way

unique10 micron flux

good scientist