How to Give a
Good Presentation?
Cliff C. Zou
CAP6135
01/2011
1
Outline
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How to Read a Research Paper
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Prepare Presentation Slides
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Give a Presentation
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Follow up
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Online Resource
2
Find Good Research Paper
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Find papers in high-quality conferences
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There are too many conferences/workshops!!
Security research conferences:
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Top ranking conferences:
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Other good conferences:
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IEEE Security & Privacy, ACM CCS, Usenix Security
NDSS, RAID, ACSAC, SecureCom, AsiaCCS, DSN, ESORICS….
Conference papers are grouped into sections according to topics
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The section title will tell you the research topic
Help you quickly find papers you are interested
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Find Good Research Paper
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Good security research journals:
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Problem for journals:
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ACM Transactions on Information and System Security
IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing
IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security
They are slow in publishing, usually will be two years later than
conference papers
Good resource to find security conferences:
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http://faculty.cs.tamu.edu/guofei/sec_conf_stat.htm
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How to Read a Research Paper

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Glance through abstracts to find interesting
ones
Read introduction and one more section to
get the big picture
Understand the novel idea(s) provided by a
paper
 Read “related work” and glance over several
related papers if not familiar with the topic

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Read the whole paper if the paper is worth it
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How to Read a Research Paper

Ask questions actively when reading:
What is the novel idea(s)?
 Can I do this research, too?
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Some research are not doable by yourself

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E.g., require specific hardware, software, data
Then they are not much helpful for your own research
What can I learn from this paper on my own
research?
 What are the weaknesses of the paper?
 Which point(s) can I do further research on?

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Important to conduct your own research
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How to Read a Research Paper

Write a brief notes on each paper you just
finished reading
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Refresh your memory (important!)
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Will not forget the paper’s idea half year later
Have a better/clearer understanding of the
paper after you write down your thoughts
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How to Read a Research
Paper
Keep a record for you to quickly find the paper
later
 Better put notes into computer files

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Each file contains:
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papers of a conference, of a year
Papers of a specific research topic
Use clear file name to show the content
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Outline

How to Read a Research Paper

Prepare Presentation Slides

Give a Presentation

Follow up

Online Resource
9
Prepare Presentation Slides
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Create examples/figures/animations to
explain
May not in paper, create by yourself
 Animations or step-by-step figures are best in
explaining a system, architecture, algorithm
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Not in paper, must be done by yourself
Do not only put words in slides
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Boring, too abstract
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Prepare Presentation Slides
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Be focused
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Success if you pass ONE single central idea of a paper
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Audience cannot understand everything in 30 minutes!
If you cannot explain a point clearly, skip it
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Some ideas/algorithms are complicated to explain
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Only use a sentence to say the name, and results
In most case, a complicated idea is not the novel point of a paper
Not too colorful Powerpoint template
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Readable text: big font, clear color
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e.g., no green/yellow text on white background
Readable figures
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A project usually has fewer color, smaller resolution than a
computer screen!
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Prepare Presentation Slides
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Concise, self-explanation text
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Not too abstract, contain concrete information
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No need for complete sentences
Some people prefer to read slides than listen!
Good acknowledgement
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For others’ papers, put author names, publication place,
time in the first page
Then, “presented by: your name”
Copying others’ slides must have acknowledgement
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Outline

How to Read a Research Paper

Prepare Presentation Slides

Give a Presentation

Follow up

Online Resource
13
Give a Presentation
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Dry run before presentation
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Test timing
Get familiar (bad impression if you do not know what you talk!!)
Remember important words to say, be concise
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But do not recite every word in speech!
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Especially important to non-English speaker
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Monotone, no personal attachment to what you say
Less grammar error, fluent, clear and concise
Intense dry run for important presentation
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Write down talk notes for each page and remember them
Video tape yourself: body language, wasted words (tag)
Ask friends to listen your dry run, get feedback
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Give a Presentation
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Speak loud
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Force you to speak slow, looks confident
Force you to remove murmur, be clear & concise
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Emphasize
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Most murmur are wasted words, not confident words
Audience cannot hear your murmur
Pause after an important point
Even slower, louder on important point
Do not read slides
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Slides are for audience to read
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Give a Presentation
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Figures
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Need to explain X/Y-axis; Don’t rush
Timing
Pay attention to time (put a clear clock in front)
 Prepare to jump slides for timing
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Don’t be frustrated for questions or your
mistakes
Be friendly to audience, show confidence
 Your mood affects audience’s mood!
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Outline

How to Read a Research Paper

Prepare Presentation Slides

Give a Presentation

Follow up

Online Resource
17
Follow Up

In job interview, always send “thank-you”
notes to interviewers
A brief email is good
 Online tutorial: google “thank-you notes”
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Thank, acknowledgement
Explain unanswered questions
Provide paper, reference information promised by
you
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Follow Up
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For this class, send your ppt file to me!
I will collect comment on presentation from
online students and publish the collected
comments on course webpage
Everyone should read the comments
 You will benefit even if you are not the presenter
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Remember, giving a good, clear talk is
important to your career!
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Online Resource
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How To Give A Great Presentation
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Presentation Skills
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http://www.editorsplus.com/members.html
For copyediting your thesis, paper
Best writing guideline book:
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http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mleone/web/how-to.html
Western New England Editorial Freelancers' Network
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http://lorien.ncl.ac.uk/ming/dept/Tips/present/present.htm
Advice on Research and Writing
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http://www.to-done.com/2005/07/how-to-give-a-great-presentation/
The Elements of Style by William Strunk
Google: “resume”, “job hunting”, “give presentation”, …
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You can find tutorials, samples for any topics through web search
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