Conference Presentations
Dr. Steve Wallace
Introduction
• Teach at NCTU, NTHU and ITRI technical
writing teacher and editor- Watched
rejection
• Written 13 textbooks used in 28
universities
• 華樂絲學術英文編修
The person who presents the research gets
the credit
• Paul Chu: first superconductor with a boiling
point above liquid nitrogen
• Maw-Kuen Wu and Jim Ashburn declined to
speak and are not remembered
The presenter gets the credit
• Zhengzhi Sheng, a postdoctoral researcher at
the University of Arkansas, discovered another
superconductor at an even higher
temperature.
• Because Sheng was not a good speaker, the
department chair, Allen Hermann, spoke at
the press conference. Although Hermann
repeatedly acknowledged the contribution of
Sheng, Hermann was the one who received
most of the credit.
Bad conference presentations
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You’ve seen poor conference presentations
The speaker:
Sits
Reads
Speaks in a dead, low voice
Uses sentences which are long and complex
Uses technical words and phrases.
Emphasizes complicated details
Runs out of time
• An effective talk must do two things:
1. Persuade you audience with evidence
2. Be interesting and entertaining.
Principles of effective conference presentations
Talk, instead to reading
Stand up
Move around
Make eye contact with your audience
Don’t only look at one side of the room
Imitate excellent speakers
Why do smart people give poor talks?
• Poor speaking is a reaction to fear.
• Presentations are not journal articles. They're a
completely different communication, and they
require different skills.
Bohr vs. Nusslein-Volhard
Bohr:
“Whereas Einstein tried to grasp a hidden essence by
disregarding anything he thought irrelevant, Bohr
insisted that nothing be left out.” – Edward
MacKinnon
“Bohr was much worse. His failing was that he used too
many words to express any idea, wandering about as
he spoke, often inaudibly.” – Sir Mark Oliphant
Nusslein-Volhard:
Scope moves from simple to specific
Simple short sentences
Bohr’s Nobel prize acceptance
speech
• “Today, as a consequence of the great honor the
Swedish Academy of Sciences has done me in
awarding me this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics for
my work on the structure of the atom, it is my duty to
give an account of the results of this work, and I think
that I shall be acting in accordance with the traditions
of the Nobel Foundation if I give this report in the
form of a survey of the development which has taken
place in the last few years within the field of physics
to which this work belongs.”
Nies Bohr: Nobel prize acceptance
• “The present state of atomic theory is characterized
by the fact that we not only believe the existence of
atoms to be proved beyond a doubt, but also we
even believe that we have an intimate knowledge of
the constituents of the individual atoms. I cannot on
this occasion give a survey of the scientific
developments that have led to this result—I will only
recall the discovery of the electron toward the close
of the last century, which furnished the direct
verification and led to the conclusive formulation of
the conception of the atomic nature of electricity
which had evolved since the discovery by Faraday of
the fundamental laws of electrochemical theory, and
its greatest triumph in the electrolytic dissociation
theory of Arrhenius.”
Einstein on Bohr
• Bohr stated “his opinions like one perpetually
groping and never like one who believes
himself to be in possession of definite truth.”
Christine Nusslein-Volhard
• In the life of animals, complex forms alternate with
simple ones. An individual develops from a simple
one-celled egg that bears no resemblance on the
complex structure and pattern displayed in the
juvenile and adult form. The process of embryonic
development with its highly ordered increase in
complexity accompanied by perfect reproducibitiy, is
controlled by a subset of the animal genes. Animals
have a large number of genes. The exact number is
not known for any multicellular organism, nor is it
known how many and which are required for the
development of complexity, pattern, and shape
during embryogenesis. To identify these genes and to
understand their functions is a major issue in
biological research.
Scientific presenters
• Successful scientific presenters
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Ludwig Boltzmann
Albert Einstein
Richard Feynman
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Linus Pauling
• Became strong presenters later in their careers
– Heinrich Hertz,
– J. Robert Oppenheimer
– Chien-Shiung Wu
• Rise above those obstacles to make successful
presentations
– Marie Curie
Michael Faraday on presenting
• “[Lectures] depend entirely for their value on
the manner in which they are given. It is not
the matter, not the subject, so much as the
man.”
Scientists who used analogies,
examples, and stories
• Otto Frisch when describing the size of a nucleus: “If
an atom were enlarged to the size of a bus, the
nucleus would be like the dot on this i.”
• Einstein used the analogy of “shooting sparrows in
the dark”7 to describe the likelihood of producing
nuclear energy with alpha particles striking nitrogen
nuclei.
• Fred Soechting when describing his work with
turbine blades in gas turbine engines: “The amount
of power produced by a single gas turbine blade
equals that of a Masarati sports car.”8
Issac Asimov on Linus Pauling
• “On March 21, 1949, I attended a lecture given
by Linus Pauling.... That talk was the best talk
by anyone on any subject that I had ever
heard…. The talk was more than a talk to me.
It filled me with a desire of my own to become
a speaker.”
James Watson on Pauling’s presentations
• “Pauling’s talk was made with his usual dramatic
flair. The words came out as if he had been in show
business all his life. A curtain kept his model hidden
until near the end of his lecture, when he proudly
unveiled his latest creation. Then, with his eyes
twinkling, Linus explained the specific characteristics
that made his model—the α-helix—uniquely
beautiful…. Even if he were to say nonsense, his
mesmerized students would never know because of
his unquenchable self-confidence.”
David L. Goodstein on Robert Feynman
• “[Feynman] absolutely riveted the attention of
everyone in the room for the entire time he was there.
His need to do that helps explain some of the racy
stories he liked to tell about himself, but it also lies
close to the core of what made him a great teacher.
For Feynman, the lecture hall was a theater, and the
lecturer a performer, responsible for providing drama
and fireworks as well as facts and figures. This was
true regardless of his audience, whether he was
talking to undergraduates or graduate students, to his
colleagues or the general public.”
Professor David Goodstein on Robert
Feynman
“But even when he thought he was explaining things
lucidly to freshmen or sophomores, it was not always
really they who benefited most from what he was
doing. It was more often us, scientists, physicists,
professors, who would be the main beneficiaries of
his magnificent achievement, which was nothing less
than to see all of physics with fresh new eyes.”
Oppenheimer’s early lectures
• Consider J. Robert Oppenheimer’s early
lectures given at California-Berkeley in 1929.
Only twenty-five years old, but already well
known for his work on the quantum theory,
Oppenheimer began his teaching that first
semester with a class full of eager graduate
students.
• Halfway through the semester, though, the
number of students registered for his course
had dropped to one.
Daniel J. Kelves on Robert Oppenheimer
• “Desperately eager to reach his students, his
sensitivities sharpened by his own past difficulties,
Oppenheimer made it a point to pay as much attention
to the troubles of his charges as to the intricacies of
his subject. His language evolved into an oddly
eloquent mixture of erudite phrases and pithy slang,
and he learned to exploit the extraordinary talent for
elucidating complex technical matters.”
Result of Oppenheimer’s
practice
• Later students found him to be “the most
stimulating lecturer they had experienced.”
Nobel Prize winner Hans Bethe about
Oppenheimer
• “Probably the most important ingredient
Oppenheimer brought to his teaching was his
exquisite taste. He always knew what were the
important problems, as shown by his choice of
subjects. He truly lived with those problems,
struggling for a solution, and he
communicated his concern to the group.”
Lise Meitner on Ludwig Boltzmann
(the developer of the statistical treatment of atoms)
“Boltzmann had no inhibitions whatsoever about
showing his enthusiasm when he spoke, and this
naturally carried his listeners along. He was fond of
introducing remarks of an entirely personal character
into his lectures.”
Lise Meitner on Ludwig Bolzmann
• “[The lecturing of Boltzmann] was the most
beautiful and stimulating thing I have ever
heard.... He was so enthusiastic about
everything he taught us that one left every
lecture with the feeling that a completely new
and wonderful world had been revealed.”
Eve Curie on her mother Marie
Curie
• “On Monday and Wednesday, my mother was nervous and
agitated from the time she got up. At five o’clock on these
days she lectured. After lunch she shut herself into her study in
the Quai de Béthune, prepared the lesson, and wrote the heads
of chapters of her lecture on a piece of white paper. Towards
half-past four she would go to the laboratory and isolate
herself in a little rest room. She was tense, anxious,
unapproachable. Marie had been teaching for twenty-five
years; yet every time she had to appear in the little
amphitheater before twenty or thirty pupils who rose in unison
at her entrance she unquestionably had “stage fright.”
10 tips to develop confidence in conference
presentations
1. Expect to be nervous
2. Prepare
3. Practice
4. Breathe
5. Rehearse
6. Focus on your audience
7. Simplify
8. Picture success
9. Connect with your audience
10. Pretend to be confident
Voice quality
• You should vary your voice, so it can be more interesting for
your audience. You can vary your voice in at least three ways:
– speed: Speak at a normal speed, faster, more slowly, and you can stop
completely! You can also pause to get your audience's attention.
– tone: Change the pitch of your voice. Speak in a high tone or speak in
a low tone.
– volume: you can speak at a normal volume, loudly and you can speak
quietly. Lowering your voice and speaking quietly can attract your
audience's interest.
• The important point is not to speak in the same, flat voice throughout
your presentation. This will put your audience to sleep.
Think about your audience
• Most audiences should be targeted in layers:
– some are experts in your specific area,
– some are experts in the general area
– others know little or nothing.
• Who is most important to you? Can you still leave others with
something? For example, target the body to experts, but
make the prediction and summary to everybody.
Timeline showing presenter reaching multiple
audiences by beginning at surface of the topic, diving
into a subject, and then surfacing to gather entire
audience.
Have a timing device
• Use a watch or cell phone with a timing function.
• PowerPoint’s “Presenter Tools” has a stopwatch. The
problem is remembering to start the stopwatch at the
beginning of your talk.
• Develop your sense of timing by always using the same slide
format.
• Decide in advance which slides you can skip
• As a beginning speaker, don’t leave your outline
– Don’t try to do something unplanned during a talk.
– Practice telling a joke or a story and make your audience
think you just thought of it
A short conference talk outline
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Title/author/university (1 slide)
Abstract (1 slide) -Give the basic problem and answer.
Outline (1 slide) -Give the talk structure.
Motivation and Problem Statement (1-2 slides) -Why does
anyone care?
Related Work (0-1 slides) -Talk briefly about this, or you can
eliminate this section and refer people to your paper.
Methods (1 slide) -Cover quickly in short talks and refer
people to your paper.
Results (4-6 slides) -Present key results with implications. This
is the main body of the talk. Do not cover all the results. Cover
the key result well.
Summary (1 slide)
Future Work (0-1 slides)
Backup Slides (0-3 slides)
Using quotes in your speech
• If you quote another source, pause and indicate the quote by saying
"quote . . . . . end quote."
• Don't use long quotes or quote too much material. Your audience
wants your ideas, not what you have found from others.
• If it is necessary to include long quotes, give the audience a
handout
• Read the speech out loud as you revise.
• Be careful criticizing other scholars.
Using PowerPoint at
Conferences
Slides Should be Short
• Slides help you, and your audience, follow the flow of
the talk.
• Not too full: 6 lines of text per slide is enough; 9 lines is
a lot; 12 lines is unreadable.
• Bullet points should be a few words, not complete
sentences.
• If you need more space, use more slides.
Use Big Type
• Change the font size in the Preferences of
the browser, when using a web
presentation.
Determining Font Size
• Your audience may be look at the screen from
70 feet away.
• Fonts should be 24 points or larger
Choosing a Font
• From a distance, you’ll notice that the serif (Times)
font and the ‘narrow’ or condensed font are more
difficult to read. Don’t sacrifice readability for style.
Your job is to communicate.
• Choosing a color
– Yellow with black letters is considered the most readable.
• Color blindness
– Unwanted light affects color contrast by turning dark reds
and greens much lighter.
– About 10% of people have difficulty with reds and greens.
• Use contrasting colors
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A dark background with light text is easily readable
Use drop shadows
Avoid busy backgrounds
Avoid using red text
AVOID ALL CAPS!
Choose White or Light Colored
Slide Backgrounds
• Dark text on light colored slides can usually be read
with lights on.
• Avoid dark images that won’t show up well on a
screen.
• Be aware that sunlight shining directly on your
screen will make it less visible.
Presenting with Charts
• Simplify charts
– Changing the chart format
– How do you know when to use which chart? That depends
on how well you’ve stated the message.
– Your heading should always tell people what you want
them to look for on a chart.
• Choosing the chart
– Once you have an action statement as a heading, look at
the verbs in the statement to get an idea of the best chart
to use to present your data.
→ Showing Change Over Time
Line chart
• Look for a key word
– Grow
– Decline
– Trends
• Line charts are best when a variable has more than
four or five data point.
• The slope of the line quickly tells the audience the
direction of the trends.
→ Comparing Items at One Point in Time
• Look for a key word
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Ranks
Compares
Highest profit
The lowest interest rate
The most products sold
Rank variables from largest to smallest
Bar chart
• Bar charts are often the best way to compare a set of
individual items or several sets of related items.
• The bar’s length corresponds to its ranking; the bar’s label
identifies the item.
→ Comparing Parts of a Whole
• Look for key words
– Percentage
– Portion
– Share
• The number of pie slices should not be more than
five, and each slice should be easy to see and
interpret.
Pie chart
→ Comparing Data by Geographic Location
• Look for key words
– Country
– Area
Segmented bar chart
• Distinguish among regions by using different colors,
shadings, or symbols.
Don’t Get too Technical
• The more advanced the technology, the more likely
there are to be “technical problems.” Speakers often
come in at the last minute and are completely
destroyed when their equipment doesn’t work. It
creates panic for everyone. Always send a copy of
your presentation to the conference office in
advance so it can be loaded and tested.
Don’t Apologize for Errors
• Don’t apologize for poor English speaking, it wastes
time and adds no value to your talk. Don’t comment
on spelling, grammatical, or other mechanical errors
in your presentation. Most of the audience won’t
notice unless you apologize.
Buy a Laser Pointer and Wireless
Mouse
• They are inexpensive, and are extremely useful. It
is helpful to be able to change pages from across
the room and point out key graphs and charts.
The Last Thing on Your PowerPoint
• At the end of your presentation while answering
questions, leave up a contact info slide containing
your name, e-mail, address, and website URL related
to the talk if you have one.
Handling Q&A
Why Are Questions and Answers
Important?
• Questions and answers are important for several reasons:
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Get attention
Create interest
Get feedback
Make points easy to remember
Create audience interaction
Promote new thoughts
• To get comfortable with Q&A sessions and questions,
start asking questions throughout your presentations.
Before the Presentation
• Prepare for criticism by telling your ideas to a critical
friend.
• Bring a list of references when answering questions.
• Take notes of questions and suggestions.
• Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know the answer to
a particular question.
• If you are using slides, save several slides and use
them to answer expected questions.
At the End of the Presentation
• There are two endings to a presentation with a final Q&A
session.
Example:
“At this point, I want to get your opinion on this approach.
This side of the room first.”
• The second close is after the questions to summarize the
main points of your presentation.
Example:
“As you can see from the questions and comments, this topic
is confusing and we don’t have all the answers but here is
what you can do for now...”
After the Presentation
• Sometimes question time is so exciting that you can’t
answer all the questions with the time you have. Tell
people ways to contact you and when and how you
will respond. Think of ways to share these questions
and answers with all members of the audience
through an e-mail list or Web site.
12 Ways to Encourage Audience
Questions
• 1. Announce the question session in an open,
conversational way.
• 2. Design questions into your content and delivery:
– Title: Why Knowledge Management? —and Why Now?
– Opening: What is the biggest problem facing
researchers today?
– Content: “My presentation is about four key questions.”
– Ending: Considering these facts, how can you not act?
• 3. Ask a question, pause and then give the answer
yourself.
• 4. Bring up questions you have been asked by other
audience.
• 5. Let the audience know in the beginning there is a
Q&A session, and “when” it is and “how long” it is.
• 6. Provide a seating arrangement where the audience
can see each other.
• 7. List questions in the presentation announcement or
brochure.
• 8. Provide a white board for the audience to write a
question at any time. Start your Q&A session by
answering these questions.
• 9. Pass out paper for the audience to submit their
questions. They may forget what they were
going to ask earlier. This is often used at public
meetings and when the audience is large.
• 10. Don’t ask for feedback and then start to pack up
your laptop or your notes. This sends the clear
signal that you are done and ready to go.
• 11. Arrange for someone in the audience to ask the
first question to start the process.
• 12. Ask yourself what questions you hope no one asks
and then prepare to answer them.
Why Do People Ask Questions?
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Because they want to know the answer
Because they want to make a point
To impress the audience
To see if you know the answer
To see how you handle questions and the stress
To attack your methodology
To make you look bad (for example, if they are
competing with you for a job)
– Some ask questions that are in fact a personal attack
(but not often)
3 Step Template for Answering
Questions
1. Listen to the entire question before you
answer
2. Thank each person for asking the question.
3. Then follow the template below.
Repeat→Respond→Review
What If You Don’t Know the
Answer?
– Suggest someone in the audience more qualified answer
the question. “Professor M. has studied this extensively.”
– Delay, “That’s a good question...”
– Ask a question: “Can you clarify what you mean?”
– Admit you don’t know but will research it for them.
– Repeat the question in a different way: “Is this what you
are asking?” [Then say a question you can answer]
– If you don’t have a good answer after these delaying tactics,
say: “Let’s talk about that after my talk.”
What If You Don’t Understand the
Question Because of the Speaker’s Poor
English?
• If you don’t understand the English, ask the speaker
to repeat the question.
• If the questioner still asks and you still don’t
understand, say, “Great question, but it quite specific
to your field and does not concern everyone here,
see me after the talk and we can go into more detail
about it.”
• Quickly move to another question or conclude your
session.
What If Someone Keeps
Interrupting You While You Are
Talking?
• If it’s just a clarifying question and it’s short,
answer it and keep speaking.
• If somebody keeps making long, loud comments,
or begins to argue with you in the middle of your
talk. This can be very stressful, especially if you are
a grad student or new professor.
Remain After Your Presentation
Session
• Be available to answer additional questions if you
can.
• Make notes about the questions, suggestions, new
thoughts you can use these comments to improve a
paper for publication and your reviewers may be in
the audience.
Notes
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Isaac Asimov, Foreword to Linus Pauling: A Man and His Science, Anthony Serafini (San
Jose: to Excel, 2000), p. xiv.
Michael White and John Gribbin, Einstein: A Life in Science (New York: Penguin, 1995), pp.
164–165.
Ruth Sime, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996),
pp. 96–97.
D.H. Frisch, private communication to Abraham Pais, “Reminiscences from the Postwar
Years,” Niels Bohr: A Centenary Volume, ed. by A.P. French and P.J. Kennedy (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), p. 247.
Richard P. Feynman, “Surely, You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” (New York: Norton & Company,
1985), p. 166.
Michael Faraday, letter to Benjamin Abbott on 11 June 1813, The Selected Correspondence of
Michael Faraday, ed. by L.P. Williams, R. Fitzgerald, and O. Stallybrass (Cambridge:
Cambridge, 1971), pp. 60–61.
Lise Meitner, “Looking Back,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 20 (November 1964),
pp. 2–7.
David L. Goodstein, “Richard P. Feynman, Teacher,” “Most of the Good Stuff”: Memories of
Richard Feynman, ed. by Laurie M. Brown and John S. Rigden (New York: American
Institute of Physics, 1993), p. 123.
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