0.9 Technical presentations

High impact presenters

• Size up the situation
• Organize an argument
• Convey confidence
• Integrate visuals
• Handle questions

Analyze audience

• Who is your audience?
  • Why are they interested?
  • How much do they know?
  • What criteria do they use to make decisions?
  • How will they benefit?
  • What are their concerns?

Tailor message to audience

Mixed audience strategy

• Define key terms
• Signal section headings
• Support points with specific examples
• Use analogies
• Mention in-depth points periodically
• Reiterate your main points as you proceed
• Avoid jargon
• End with a general summary

Academic job talk

1. What problem are you investigating?
2. Why is it important?
3. How does your work fit into the context of your field?
4. What’s your approach?
5. What did you find that was significant?
6. What are the implications of your findings?
7. How is your work novel?

Typical but difficult

• Chronological narratives
• Inductive organization

Inductive example

Deductive example

The challenge

Start strong

Introduction

• Motivate interest
• State key point(s)
• Preview topics
• Establish credibility
• Memorize opening

__________________

• No apologies
• No reintroduction
• No “Today I’m gonna talk about . . . ”

Wolfe’s strong start

Directional hypercomplex wavelets for multi-dimensional signal anlysis and processing

Directional hypercomplex wavelets for multi-dimensional signal analysis and processing

Candidate’s name

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sept. 20, 2010

Outline

• Introduction
• Methods and applications
• Results
• Conclusions

Outline

• Diagnosis of air quality priorities
• Primary and secondary pollutants
• High-order direct sensitivity analysis: Methods and applications
• Uncertainty analysis
• Optimization
• Integrated air quality management: Experiences in Georgia
  • Challenges, priorities, planning
• Vision for future research

Outline

• Diagnosis of air quality priorities
• High-order direct sensitivity analysis: Methods and applications
• Integrated air quality management: Experiences in Georgia
• Vision for future research

End strong

Conclusion

• Memorize
• Send cue
• Restate&summarize
• Spell out implications

________________________

• No “That’s it.”
• No exaggerating
• No ?s slide

Questions????

Conclusion

• The network is capable of identifying the behavior of the family curve.
• The amplitude and frequency values obtained with the ANN are close to those obtained by means of the 2-DOF model.
• The accuracy in the results obtained can be improved if a greater number of samples is used.
• Other combination of network parameters could allow getting better results.
• The reduction in computation time is drastically reduced when using the ANN.
• Identifies behavior of the family curve
• Closely approximates amplitude and frequency of 2-DOF model
• Drastically reduces computation time

Transitions

• Create coherence
• Make intuitive connections explicit
• Weak verbal cues
  • “And another thing”
  • “So”
  • “Next”
• Strong verbal cues
  • Sequence
    • “First”
  • Contrast
    • “However”
    • “On the other hand”
  • Causality
    • “Therefore”
    • “Consequently

Sample transitions

1. “So let’s jump into parts I thought were interesting.”
2. “Next I’m gonna talk about Microsoft.
3. “In contrast to Apple’s focus on ordinary consumers, Microsoft targets business users.”

Presenting data

• Relevant results that support key points
• BIG picture little picture
• 4-step explanation:
  • Question
  • Describe
  • Report result
  • Interpret result

Leadership presence

• Enter with authority
• Focus your energy
• Pause before starting
• Establish eye contact
• Limit movement
• Speak confidently

Convey confidence

• Stance
• Gestures
• Eye contact
• Voice quality

Stance and posture

Stance and posture

• Worst Practices
  • Block screen
  • Stomp feet
  • Cross feet
  • Rock, sway, pace
  • Slouch
  • Lean
• Best Practices
  • Chin up
  • Feet under hips
  • Shoulders relaxed
  • Weight distributed
  • Knees slightly bent

Gestures to avoid

• Fidgeting
  • Fingers
  • Pen or laser pointer
  • Pockets
  • Hair
• Hands on hips
• Crossing arms
• Gripping podium
• Clasping hands
  • Fig leaf
  • Behind back

Effective gestures

• Power gestures
• Concept gestures
• Process gestures
• Position
• Scale

Practice gestures

• “An atom consists of a dense, central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of electrons. ”
• “A low pH indicates a high concentration of hydronium ions.”
• “The particles must be dispersed evenly in the fluid.”
• “It’s about the size of a quarter .”
• That is unacceptable !

Eye contact

• Worst practices
  • Stare at screen
  • Glance at floor or ceiling
  • Read slides or notes

• Best practices
  • Direct
  • Sustained
  • Distributed

Voice quality

• Volume
• Pacing
• Inflection
• Articulation
• Fillers

Handling questions

Summary

References

Image references

• Eric Schmidt

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• Steve Jobs

(External Link)

• Bill Gates (Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images)

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