How to give good talks
CC-BY
Fabian M. Suchanek
62
When do you give talks?
2
As a person in industry:
• when presenting an idea for a start-up to investors
• when summarizing a project to your boss
• when invited to a conference, event, or university
As a student:
• to defend your master’s thesis
• to present a student project
• when applying for a job
• (in the Softskills seminar)
As a PhD student or scientist:
• to present an idea to colleagues
• to present a scientific contribution at a conference
• to present your work at an institution
This lecture: academic talks
(although much of it applies
elsewhere, too)
Why should you care?
3
• boring talks are a key annoyance in the scientific culture and elsewhere
• good talks will keep the audience receptive, and thus
make them understand your point better
• good talks will inspire feedback and questions, which is helpful for you
• good talks will add to your positive reputation, and
open the way for citations, collaborations, and invitations
[picture by Ville Säävuori]
Disclaimer
4
A talk that does not follow these recommendations is not necessarily “bad”.
A talk that does follow these recommendations is not necessarily good.
(The recommendations are still evaluation criteria for the Softskills Seminar.)
The following are my own recommendations for what I consider “good talks”.
Other people may have other opinions.
How to give good talks
5
•
Structure
•
Style
•
Slides
•
Speech & Body Language
•
Preparing the talk
•
Giving the talk
•
Being in the audience
Common Structures for Talks
6
Scientific talks:
1) Motivation
2) Optional: Related work
3) Approach
4) Experiments
5) Conclusion and future work
There are many different good ways to structure talks!
Here are common ones (but there are others)!
This is what we will focus on
Application talks:
1)
Curriculum vitæ
2)
Main scientific results/projects
3)
Target‐specific achievements
(teaching, organization, etc.)
4)
Integration into the target-team
(Why I’m your best choice)
Lecture:
1) Repetition of the big picture
2) Motivation for the specific topic
3) Prerequisites and basics
4) Different approaches
5) Summary
Presenting a scientific paper
7
A scientific publication (also: article, paper) is a document of usually 4-30 pages
that explains a novel solution to a problem.
Presenting a scientific paper: Context
8
A scientific publication (also: article, paper) is a document of usually 4-30 pages
that explains a novel solution to a problem.
Consider giving a bit of context:
- who are the authors of the paper?
- when and where was it published?
- what type of conference is it?
- what is the impact and significance of the paper?
1) Motivation
9
The motivational part of the talk should make clear
• what is the background
• what is the problem
• why the problem is important
• why the problem is hard
Introduce the domain of interest and the key concepts
What is the given input?
What is the desired output?
This is a key issue!
If the audience does not understand this,
they will not understand anything!
What would be possible
if the problem were solved?
What is the complicating factor?
2) Related work
10
A discussion of related work shows that you know about the domain.
However, the related work is not the focus of your work.
Better focus on the following key questions:
• Don’t we already have an existing solution for this problem?
• Why does a trivial solution not work?
Abstractly name a few methods, say why they do not work.
How would you solve the problem naïvely?
Why does it not work?
Many people in the audience will follow your talk only until here.
So make sure they understood at least the problem and the difficulty.
3) Approach
11
Explain the main approach
•
first the main idea
•
then the approach
Examples:
Anis Harfourche
,
Issa Memari
If you can, show a demo!
The unsurpassed way of presenting an approach
is to simulate it with an example!
The safest way to make sure you understood
what you say is to use your own example!
3) Approach: Technical details
12
Definitions:
• Introduce them only if they are strictly necessary
• Introduce them right before they’re used
• Illustrate them with an example wherever possible
Venn Diagrams are great
for illustrating sets
[Jonathan Lajus]
3) Approach: Technical details
13
Formulas and theorems:
•
Introduce them only if they are strictly necessary or a main contribution
•
Introduce them only if you can (and will) explain them
•
Give the intuition of the formula/theorem
algorithm
output
ground truth
output that is in ground truth
as proportion of output
4) Experiments
14
The experiments are always the same: some diagram where your curve is the highest.
Be precise, but don’t bore the audience with details.
Precision
size of training dataset
Their system
Our system
5) Conclusion
15
Also mention the weaknesses
of your approach,
potentially combined with an
outlook about future work,
and end on a positive note:
your achievements.
This will prevent the most awkward questions!
But avoid giving the impression that the
current work is incomplete!
The talk should have made clear two things:
1) What is the problem?
2) What is the solution?
How to give good talks
16
•
Structure
•
Style
•
Slides
•
Speech & Body Language
•
Preparing the talk
•
Giving the talk
•
Being in the audience
A good talk is like a chocolate bar
17
Picture by
Bodo
. No link with the Lion brand. Idea inspired by
Rainer Gemülla
.
The first thing you notice is the packaging.
It is designed to arouse your curiosity.
You need something similar for a talk:
something that arouses curiosity.
Capturing the audience
18
[Thomas Rebele]
In scientific talks, the “packaging” can be
•
an intriguing story (even if fictional)
•
a fun fact
•
a crazy claim
•
a link to the audience
•
a joke (watch out for culture‐dependent sensibilities)
Fast internet access is a legal right in Finland!
We do not need databases actually.
Remember how difficult it was to find an apartment in Paris?
A running example
19
In the ideal case, the capturing item gives rise to a running example:
an example that illustrates the motivation, the difficulties, and the solution to the problem.
Example: the search for appartments can serve as a running example for a talk about
collaborative filtering, Web search, databases, or instance matching.
...or a chocolate bar can
serve as a running example
to discuss scientific talks.
The talk is like the chocolate itself
20
•
keep it joyful and interesting
•
tell a story from the beginning to the end,
let the audience know what to expect,
and then fulfill the expectations
You want the audience to enjoy the talk!
[stevepb]
...but there are nuts in the chocolate
21
Make sure there is also one in‐depth part in your talk!
•
to give the details to those who understand
•
to show that you understood
•
to show that the problem is non‐trivial
A talk without a “nut” will be considered shallow!
[stevepb]
Make sure that your talk has
•
an algorithm
•
an insight
•
facts
•
an argument
Non‐technical papers
22
Avoid the empty package
also for non‐technical papers
such as
surveys, opinion pieces, or papers from the social sciences.
• convey interesting key messages, provide your own synthesis
• juxtapose different approaches, or bring material from other sources
• add your own opinion
>isTeaser
Evaluation critera are different for non‐technical presentations!
The talk is a teaser for the paper
23
It’s OK if the talk does not cover each and every detail.
The talk serves only as an invitation to read the paper.
It is an art to highlight what is most relevant.
Do not say “This paper is too long to be presented in 20 minutes”.
Compressing the paper into 20 minutes is the very purpose of your talk!
[Mars chocolate bar; US FDA]
How to give good talks
24
•
Structure
•
Style
•
Slides
•
Speech & Body Language
•
Preparing the talk
•
Giving the talk
•
Being in the audience
What is a good slide?
25
It has a title
It has a slide number
It uses a
readable
font size.
It does not just consist
of bullet points,
but has, e.g.,
some illustration.
It does not have
too much boiler‐
plate content.
It uses clearly visible colors, such as
blue
or
red
,
and not colors that are difficult to see on the
the background, such as
yellow
on white.
What is a good slide?
26
•
Avoid too much text
•
The slides should be self‐contained, but concise
•
Avoid copy/pasting from the paper
[Marie-Christine Rousset et al: Datalog revisited for reasoning in Linked Data]
Great in a paper,
inadmissible in a slide of a scientific talk
What is a good illustration?
First, it’s not some unreadable
screenshot from the paper...
Rather, it has
• a good resolution
• legible font size
• clear colors
• a legend
• units at the axes
...with undefined labels
27
[Boduo et al: Supporting Scalable Analytics with Latency Constraints]
Using other people’s material
28
You can use other people’s material in your slides, if you respect
• the rights of the creator of that material
• the rights of the depicted people (if any)
• the rights of the audience.
Make sure the creator is OK with your use.
Not everything on the Web is free to use.
See the license of the material!
Legislation varies, but you should not use
other people’s image or name without their consent.
The audience assumes that all presented work is yours.
Tell them if it’s not.
[Creative Commons]
Except if they’re unrecognizeable, dead, or delivering a public presentation.
>animation
Animation
29
Use animation sparingly! It’s a pain to watch, especially when
flipping through the slides!
Simple animations are great to explain processes, though!
1) Understand the problem
2) Structure the talk
3) Prepare the slides
4) Rehearse speech and body language
Animation
30
Use animation sparingly! It’s a pain to watch, especially when
flipping through the slides!
Simple animations are great to explain processes, though!
1) Understand the problem
2) Structure the talk
3) Prepare the slides
4) Rehearse speech and body language
>slidedeck
Your slide deck
31
• Structure
• Style
• Slides
• Speech
• Organization
•
Consider using an overview slide,
but only if it’s necessary and if
it appears several times
(otherwise people will forget)
•
It is a great idea to have backup slides
to explain details after the main slides.
•
You should have some way of going to a
specific slide without going one by one
The last slide
32
[Blue Diamond Gallery]
[Thomas Rebele]
Any questions ???
Many people in the audience will wake up only with the final clapping.
Make sure they see what you want them to remember!
compare:
Software
33
Mainstream choices:
• PowerPoint (PPTX)
• Open Document Presentations (ODP)
• LaTeX
• Keynote
• Google presentation
Less mainstream choices:
• PowerLine, Prezi
Often exported to PDF
Top dog, proprietary file format
Open format, not as established as PPTX
An art to write anything except bulleted lists.
Apple’s proprietary system
Very common; make sure it does not look primitive
How to give good talks
34
•
Structure
•
Style
•
Slides
•
Speech & Body Language
•
Preparing the talk
•
Giving the talk
•
Being in the audience
Words
Words that are often pronounced wrongly are:
-
“pronunciation”
-
“determine”
-
“idea”
-
“analysis”
-
“linked”
-
“guarantee”
- what is the plural of
“criteria”
?
35
Asian speakers:
- watch out not to omit the final consonant!
- watch out to pronounce the vowels correctly!
“algorithm”
Top 1 wrongly pronounced word!
Note down all words that are specific to your talk, look up their pronunciation!
“Dijkstra algorithm”
“search engine”
Sentences
• Speak in full sentences. Use short sentences.
• Produce a logical flow
• Introduce important words explicitly, make a short pause
before and after the important word
• Avoid filler words or sounds
• Speak clearly, slowly, and loudly. Don’t mumble!
36
“This algorithm is the fastest known algorithm for this problem.”
“Therefore, it has become the state of the art in the area”
“The algorithm is called — Dijkstra’s algorithm — .”
“er”, “kinda”, “you know what I mean”, ...
Reading the Slides
•
Do not read the slides out!
•
You have to know what’s on the slides, and you have to be able
to say it in your own words! You should have formulated each
sentence at least once in your head before the talk.
•
Talk about everything that’s in the slides, don’t skip content
37
(With permission)
Opening and closing sentences
You should know the following sentences by heart:
• Opening sentence
• Closing sentence
38
“Hello, my name is X,
and I will talk about Y.
This is joint work with Z.”
You know your name
=> no need to look into the slides!
Consider using a short version of the title
[Sihem Amer-Yahia]
“[And with this, I would like to]
thank you for your attention!”
The audience will not wake up
without this magic phrase!
>more
Blackboard
39
In certain contexts (lecture, Softskills seminar, seminar),
it is possible and even desirable to use the blackboard.
[Leonid Bessonov]
•
write in clear and large letters
•
do not stand in front of your writing
•
do not disappear completely
in the blackboard
>more
Posture
40
•
stand tall, take your place
•
“beam out” to the audience
•
move your hands
•
walk around
•
point onto the projection
[
Blake Patterson
]
>more
Stress
41
You will probably be stressed. Don’t worry about it: Stress helps you give your best!
What to do:
• Breathe
• talk slowly
• talk in low voice
(With permission)
>more
Look at the audience
• look not into the slides, or onto the projection, but to the audience!
• cover all areas of the audience with your gaze
• find supportive people in the audience, look them in the eyes
• if you can’t look into people’s eyes, look over their heads
• observe the audience
42
Smile!
You are the center of attention!
How to give good talks
43
•
Structure
•
Style
•
Slides
•
Speech & Body Language
•
Preparing the talk
•
Giving the talk
•
Being in the audience
->rehearse
Title
44
Sometimes the title of your talk is given by the paper you present. If it’s not, consider a title that
(1) gives the audience an idea of what you talk about and (2) still sounds intriguing.
Guess Who’s Not Coming to Dinner? Evaluating Online
Restaurant Reservations for Disease Surveillance.
A “Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose”, but Exactly
What Is a Gastric Adenocarcinoma?
You Probably Think This Paper’s About You: Narcissists’
Perceptions of Their Personality and Reputation.
Should Trees Have Standing? — Law, Morality, and the Environment
The Reference Class Problem is Your Problem Too
Announcing the talk
A talk usually comes with
•
an abstract
If you have a single paper, the abstract of the paper will do.
Otherwise, write a small text (10-20 lines) that contains all
important keywords.
•
a biography
List (in text form) where you studied/did your PhD, and what you work on.
•
a picture of yourself
45
Timing
You usually know
•
the time of your talk
•
the expected duration
•
the duration of questions
from the audience
Common formats:
• 1min talk, no questions
• 10min talk + 2min questions
• 15min talk + 5min questions
• 20min talk + 10min questions
• 30min talk + 15min questions
• 45min talk + 15min questions
• 1h talk + open duration
• 1.5h lecture with questions
46
Your talk should not trespass the time — you risk being cut off!
Example schedule ERC grants
Each talk is 20+10 —
and determines a grant of 1.5m €
Rehearse!
You should give the talk you yourself:
•
measure the time
•
don’t just speak in your head — whisper (= more reliable timing)
•
imagine the audience, look at them
•
imagine the screen, rehearse all the body language and pointing
•
if you can, have people listen to your talk and give you feedback
•
do this several times
(around 5-10 times for important talks, such as PhD defenses,
grant applications, or job application talks)
The audience can very easily tell whether the talk has been practiced or not!
47
How to give good talks
48
•
Structure
•
Style
•
Slides
•
Speech & Body Language
•
Preparing the talk
•
Giving the talk
•
Being in the audience
Outfit
49
•
Scientific talks are usually given in casual or moderately dressed‐up outfit
(Exceptions: PhD defenses, honorary occasions, etc.)
•
Wear what you’re comfortable in
But:
•
Make sure you are well‐groomed
(good‐looking people attract more positive attention)
(With permission)
[Anxhelo Lushka]
(with permission)
Not a good moment
to try out a new outfit!
Be prepared
By default, the slides are on your laptop
•
have the laptop ready with the slides
•
check which adaptor the room has (VGA, HDMI, USB C, etc.)
•
have the slides also on a USB key, in case there is a problem
•
make sure you know how to open the slides in full screen mode
•
make sure you know how to show the presentation on the beamer
•
if there is no talk before, be 10 min in advance and set up the laptop
VGA
HDMI
50
->feedback
->audience
Two things that modern computer science has not yet achieved
are projectors that work and video conferences that work.
Your
computer
(?)
[Pixabay]
Be prepared
Sometimes you are asked to use the laptop of the host
•
make sure you know the expected file format (PDF is the safest)
•
have the slides ready the day before, to send them by email
to your host
•
have the slides on a USB key
-> your host will take care of the rest :‐)
51
In any case:
•
Make sure the Internet connection works if you need it
•
Wipe the whiteboard (if any), make sure there are markers
•
Test the microphone
•
Try out where you want to stand
•
See whether you can move to the next slide
->feedback
->audience
Tricks for Timing
Make sure you can see a clock during the talk:
• locate one in the room
• put your watch on the table
• use your smartphone as a stop watch
52
Avoid leering at the watch too
conspicuously during the talk!
Advanced trick: some presentation programs allow skipping slides “secretly”
•
find out how you can skip slides
•
make sure the talk can flow well with
and without the hidden slides
•
during the talk, skip the slides if necessary
In PowerPoint, the feature is called “hidden slides”.
Avoid
•
skipping slides visibly
•
saying that you don’t have time
=> bad preparation
->feedback
->audience
Dealing with Questions
There are different types of questions:
• Understanding (“Could you explain again...”)
• Related work (“Why did you not compare with the (=my) work on...”)
• Proposals (“You could use the (=my) work on...”)
• Criticism (“I do not see why...”)
53
Go to the slide or use the blackboard, explain again.
(Could indicate that you did not explain it well)
Either explain why, or say that this is a good idea and you will
consider the work. Take note.
Thank the person for the idea, take note, offer to meet offline.
Explain if you can. Otherwise thank the person for the idea, say you will take it into account.
->feedback
->audience
Generalities about Questions
Questions can be nasty, but remember:
•
the work you presented has most likely no fundamental flaw
•
you have the microphone
•
everyone has an interest in moving on,
so you can go to the next question
54
Be polite:
1)
rephrase the question so that
- you prove that you understood
- the audience can hear it
2)
if it’s a non‐trivial question, say it’s a good question/thank the person
3)
make your point without implying that the person is stupid
4)
ask whether your reply answered the question.
If not, offer to meet offline.
->feedback
->audience
How to give good talks
55
•
Structure
•
Style
•
Slides
•
Speech & Body Language
•
Preparing the talk
•
Giving the talk
•
Being in the audience
->feedback
Listening
56
Giving a talk is a difficult thing, so be supportive:
• look at the speaker, become one of her/his “gaze targets”
• play the game: answer when the speaker asks
• show when you are enjoying the talk
• avoid explicit signs of disinterest (yawning)
It is extremely disturbing for the speaker if you talk with your neighbor (even whispering),
if your phone rings, or if you make other non‐punctual noises.
>audience
->feedback
Asking Questions
57
•
It is a sign of appreciation of the talk if you ask a question.
•
A question exposes not just the speaker, but also yourself
(avoid stupid, aggressive, or ego‐centric questions)
•
Do not insist — rather catch the speaker after the talk
•
Formulate the question in your mind before asking
•
Use some introductory formula to make people notice that
you are asking a question
“Thanks for the talk!...”
“I was wondering actually: ...”
“Hey! I’m Ｘ from Ｙ . I was thinking...”
Be polite! Think that everyone has the common goal of understanding things better!
>feedback
Giving Feedback
58
Sometimes, you are asked to give feedback about a talk
(e.g., when a colleague prepares a presentation).
•
Be polite and kind (you may be in the same situation one day)
•
Be constructive, make proposals
•
Be precise
“I was wondering whether you could...”
“Maybe it would be good to...”
“One idea would be to...”
“Maybe you could...”
Take notes, write down the slide number.
>chair
Being a chair
59
The chair is responsible for
•
making sure the speaker is there on time
•
setting up the speaker (see
before
)
•
introducing the speaker
(learn a few facts from the biography by heart, say them;
ask the speaker beforehand how to pronounce their name)
•
announcing the title of the talk
(be sure to read it once to yourself beforehand)
•
listening actively and delivering the expected reactions
•
indicating 5, 2, and 1 minutes before the end to the speaker
•
invite the audience for questions
•
ask a question if noone has one
•
say the magic words
“Let’s thank the speaker again”
-> applause, end
Think about a question
during the talk!
Giving good talks
60
•
Structure
•
Style
•
Slides
•
Speech & Body Language
•
Preparing the talk
•
Giving the talk
•
Being in the audience
Motivation, Related Work, Approach, Experiments, Conclusion
Use a running example, be fun but deep
Make them clear and readable
Stand tall, pronounce clearly and slowly
Rehearse the talk in a realistic setting
Look at the audience!
Be kind with the speaker — you will be one, too! :‐)
Backup Slides
61
Example Talks
62
•
Jeanine Harb
(
Keynote
)
•
Anis Harfourche
•
Issa Memari