Jane E. Miller, PhD
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Review of slide design considerations
• Speaker’s notes
• Practicing a talk
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Even if you are a confident extemporaneous speaker, you must prepare.
– Visual materials
• Prepare slides (see podcast on designing slides).
– Oral explanation of visual materials
• Prepare notes to coordinate with slides.
– Delivery
• Practice timing.
– Too long? Too short?
• Check clarity with a guinea pig audience.
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Average of about 1 slide per minute of allotted time for your talk
– Fewer slides if they are
• Complicated charts or tables
• Involve anecdotes or quotations
• Succinct text
• Simple, clear charts or tables
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Flesh out material on the slides:
– Remind you of full sentences
– Provide illustrative anecdotes
• Prompt about aspects of tables or charts to emphasize.
• Keep you on time.
• Remind you not to just read the slides  .
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• In PowerPoint, can type them into the “notes page”
• Either view them on split screen (if technology supports it).
• OR print notes out hardcopy to use as you present the slides.
– Print notes out with large type (~14 point), so you can read them!
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

Screen shot of speaker’s notes view
• Here is the “notes view” for one of the slides earlier in this presentation.
– Top panel shows the slide as it will be projected onto the room screen.
– Bottom panel shows the text box you will be able to see on the computer screen.
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Introductory sentence for slide. Either:
– Paraphrase title,
– Restate title as a rhetorical question.
• “Vanna White” if needed to:
– Describe a chart or table.
– Coordinate with handouts.
• Summary sentence if slide covered a lot of info
• Transition sentence to next slide
– Explain where slide fits in the overall analysis.
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• If your notes are longer than will fit with 14 point type, you are probably trying to say too much about that one slide!
• Split material across more slides
• Or cut some of what you were going to say
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Paraphrase information on your slide into complete sentences.
• Write in the first person.
• E.g., if your slide shows
– 1988–1994
– US
– Sample of infants (N=9,813)
• You could say:
– “We study a random sample of about 98 hundred infants born in the United States between 1988 and 1994.”
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• First, practice talk alone, using your slides and speaker’s notes.
– Check timing, especially for short talks .
– Check sequencing of topics.
– Evaluate slide layout and contents.
– Evaluate speaker’s notes.
– Practice coordinating “Vanna White” motions and script.
• Make adjustments to slides and notes.
• Practice again.
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Enlist a guinea pig audience if you will be presenting
– To a new type of audience for you
• Interdisciplinary audience
• Applied or lay audience
– About a method you haven’t explained before
• Your test audience should ideally have training and interests similar to those in your intended audience
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Logical story line
• Vocabulary and metaphors Should be familiar to
• Types of charts and tables audience.
• Relative depth and emphasis of different sections
• Whether questions you ask and answer fit that audience’s interests:
– Implications of study for
• Policy
• Practice
• Research
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Prepare speaker’s notes to:
– Coordinate with your slides,
– Cover the needed content,
– Explain layout of diagrams,
– Help you stay within allotted time.
• Practice presenting, check
– Time,
– Order of material,
– Clarity of definitions, examples.
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Chapter 12 in Miller, J. E. 2004. The Chicago
Guide to Writing about Numbers
OR
• Chapter 19 in Miller, J. E. 2013. The Chicago
Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis,
2nd Edition.
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Podcasts on
– Designing effective slides
– Explaining a chart or table live: The “Vanna White technique”
– Comparison of paper, speech, and poster
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

• Study guide to The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2nd Edition.
– Questions #2 and 6 in the problem set for chapter 19
– Suggested course extensions for chapter 19
• “Writing” exercises #3 and 4
• “Revising” exercise #2
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.

Jane E. Miller, PhD jmiller@ifh.rutgers.edu
Online materials available at http://press.uchicago.edu/books/miller/multivariate/index.html
The Chicago Guide to Writing about Multivariate Analysis, 2 nd edition.