Feature Paper: Alon U (2009) How to give a good talk. Molecular Cell, 36:165-167. DOI 10.1016/j.molcel.2009.10.007
Author Abstract: We depend on talks to communicate our work, and we spendmuch of our time as audience members in talks. However, few scientists are taught the well-established principles of giving good talks. Here, I describe how to prepare, present, and answer questions in a scientific talk. We will see how a talk prepared with a single premise and delivered with good eye contact is clear and enjoyable.
Note to Readers: Follow links above for author email, full article text, or the publishing scientific journal. Author notes in my review are in quotes.
Review: The way I see it, if there are any people reading regularly this Science Corner, we've gone through a semester's worth of scientific papers, with more than half about coral reefs. Essentially, we've covered a seminar in marine biology with a few primers on topics aimed at making students eventual professionals and other interested readers in gaining knowledge similar to a graduate-level marine biology seminar series. Sorry I can't give university credits out ;)
So this week we will look at a paper on giving a public talk, since most seminars involve a final presentation at the end. Also, I read somewhere that public speaking is the greatest fear of Americans and I am guessing it is a similar fear in other cultures and countries. I have over 300 hours of public speaking experience to various groups: school children (grade school through high school), university settings, the public, at scientific conferences, to journalists (newspaper, magazine, radio, television), for an educational promotional environmental documentary, etc., so hopefully I can put in some tips after reviewing this week's paper.
The three main stages of a talk that Alon discusses are: 1) Prepare; 2) Presentation; 3) Questions
Within the preparation stage, Alon mentions that you should "choose a premise for the entire talk and title each slide with its own premise."
Alon states that each slide should be titled with a complete sentence rather than fragments or questions. The sentence should "convey the idea you want to get across."
Within the presentation stage, Alon points out that it is key to "make eye contact with audience."
Alon states that it is important to avoid a lot of experimental data within a talk so that the audience does not think you are trying to impress them with the amount of work you completed. Remember, the greatest speakers and teachers can take complex ideas and present them clearly and in layman's terms so that anyone can understand what they are talking about. Think about a great nature documentary. You don't see the months of waiting and the hours of unused footage. You see the end product and you are still impressed. The purpose of a talk is not to convey how much work you did but rather to convey an idea or concept that you discovered through your research.
One great piece of advice I was given was that for presentations involving slides or powerpoint, only have a maximum of one slide for every 3 minutes of speaking, including your introductory slide and your closing side (with an upper maximum of about 15 slides). Also, make sure those slides don't have a lot of writing on them. You don't want your audience reading every little detail on your slides. You want to convey information so that you can talk people through your slide, which could be a complex image, rather than essentially reading your slide out loud. Alon states that you should plan for a slide every 90 - 120 seconds, but I think that shorter is better. However, Alon also states that you should plan for a talk by preparing a third shorter than your allotted timeframe, so in actuality, he advocates a slide every 2 - 3 minutes, which is about in-line with what I was taught as well. The main point is that you want to avoid a rapid succession of slides or slides without substance.
Now, you may have seen a talk that impressed you that breaks the above rules, but also remember that it is good to learn the "rules" of public speaking and get comfortable before you start breaking convention. You should understand why you want to break a certain rule and the impact that your rule-breaking will have on your talk.
But always remember, you should know your slides but be speaking to the audience when they are on the screen. The only exception that I was taught was that if you have a graph, you should highlight (say with a laser pointer) the axes and describe them, though you can do the same by stating to the audience, "On the X axis we have..." or something similar.
For the questions stage, be sure to "listen and repeat the question and answer its content, not its tone."
By repeating the question you ensure that for those audience members who didn't hear the question, that you can give background for your answer. I can concur with Alon that there is little more frustrating as an audience member to listen to a great talk but then have someone ask a question that you couldn't hear, only to become confused by the answer rather than enlightened.
Alon also points out that for complex questions or areas where you truly don't understand, it is better to admit that you don't know or that you'd like to discuss the question further with the audience member after the talk.
Also, to deal with "aggressive questions, separate between the dramatic action -- the music of the question, and the text -- the content of the question." Be sure not to get defensive during questions. It is better to respond with "that is a very important criticism" rather than lose your cool.
And while I believe that practice helps with getting better at public speaking, Alon also gives this advice for those with stage fright: "One of the best ways to overcome stage fright is to tell yourself an empowering store: instead of coming before a pack of wolves, you are a shepherd leading the audience, holding each member's hand through a fascinating story." Despite the religious overtones of that advice, it is an apt analogy. You are there to tell a story, so keep that story simple with fewer slides than you think you need so that you do not get more stressed during your talk by having to end in the middle because you are rambling on and then quickly parading through dozens of superfluous slides to try and finish your main conclusions in time. And if you are really worried about reaching your conclusions, then give them first. Tell the audience what you discovered and then use the rest of the talk as a vehicle for taking the audience on a journey with you as you describe how you came to your conclusions.
But most importantly, good luck!
After you've given a few talks you may be at the stage of writing your first scientific paper, but where should you submit? Next week's paper review may help you.
Author Abstract: We depend on talks to communicate our work, and we spendmuch of our time as audience members in talks. However, few scientists are taught the well-established principles of giving good talks. Here, I describe how to prepare, present, and answer questions in a scientific talk. We will see how a talk prepared with a single premise and delivered with good eye contact is clear and enjoyable.
Note to Readers: Follow links above for author email, full article text, or the publishing scientific journal. Author notes in my review are in quotes.
Review: The way I see it, if there are any people reading regularly this Science Corner, we've gone through a semester's worth of scientific papers, with more than half about coral reefs. Essentially, we've covered a seminar in marine biology with a few primers on topics aimed at making students eventual professionals and other interested readers in gaining knowledge similar to a graduate-level marine biology seminar series. Sorry I can't give university credits out ;)
So this week we will look at a paper on giving a public talk, since most seminars involve a final presentation at the end. Also, I read somewhere that public speaking is the greatest fear of Americans and I am guessing it is a similar fear in other cultures and countries. I have over 300 hours of public speaking experience to various groups: school children (grade school through high school), university settings, the public, at scientific conferences, to journalists (newspaper, magazine, radio, television), for an educational promotional environmental documentary, etc., so hopefully I can put in some tips after reviewing this week's paper.
The three main stages of a talk that Alon discusses are: 1) Prepare; 2) Presentation; 3) Questions
Within the preparation stage, Alon mentions that you should "choose a premise for the entire talk and title each slide with its own premise."
Alon states that each slide should be titled with a complete sentence rather than fragments or questions. The sentence should "convey the idea you want to get across."
Within the presentation stage, Alon points out that it is key to "make eye contact with audience."
Alon states that it is important to avoid a lot of experimental data within a talk so that the audience does not think you are trying to impress them with the amount of work you completed. Remember, the greatest speakers and teachers can take complex ideas and present them clearly and in layman's terms so that anyone can understand what they are talking about. Think about a great nature documentary. You don't see the months of waiting and the hours of unused footage. You see the end product and you are still impressed. The purpose of a talk is not to convey how much work you did but rather to convey an idea or concept that you discovered through your research.
One great piece of advice I was given was that for presentations involving slides or powerpoint, only have a maximum of one slide for every 3 minutes of speaking, including your introductory slide and your closing side (with an upper maximum of about 15 slides). Also, make sure those slides don't have a lot of writing on them. You don't want your audience reading every little detail on your slides. You want to convey information so that you can talk people through your slide, which could be a complex image, rather than essentially reading your slide out loud. Alon states that you should plan for a slide every 90 - 120 seconds, but I think that shorter is better. However, Alon also states that you should plan for a talk by preparing a third shorter than your allotted timeframe, so in actuality, he advocates a slide every 2 - 3 minutes, which is about in-line with what I was taught as well. The main point is that you want to avoid a rapid succession of slides or slides without substance.
Now, you may have seen a talk that impressed you that breaks the above rules, but also remember that it is good to learn the "rules" of public speaking and get comfortable before you start breaking convention. You should understand why you want to break a certain rule and the impact that your rule-breaking will have on your talk.
But always remember, you should know your slides but be speaking to the audience when they are on the screen. The only exception that I was taught was that if you have a graph, you should highlight (say with a laser pointer) the axes and describe them, though you can do the same by stating to the audience, "On the X axis we have..." or something similar.
For the questions stage, be sure to "listen and repeat the question and answer its content, not its tone."
By repeating the question you ensure that for those audience members who didn't hear the question, that you can give background for your answer. I can concur with Alon that there is little more frustrating as an audience member to listen to a great talk but then have someone ask a question that you couldn't hear, only to become confused by the answer rather than enlightened.
Alon also points out that for complex questions or areas where you truly don't understand, it is better to admit that you don't know or that you'd like to discuss the question further with the audience member after the talk.
Also, to deal with "aggressive questions, separate between the dramatic action -- the music of the question, and the text -- the content of the question." Be sure not to get defensive during questions. It is better to respond with "that is a very important criticism" rather than lose your cool.
And while I believe that practice helps with getting better at public speaking, Alon also gives this advice for those with stage fright: "One of the best ways to overcome stage fright is to tell yourself an empowering store: instead of coming before a pack of wolves, you are a shepherd leading the audience, holding each member's hand through a fascinating story." Despite the religious overtones of that advice, it is an apt analogy. You are there to tell a story, so keep that story simple with fewer slides than you think you need so that you do not get more stressed during your talk by having to end in the middle because you are rambling on and then quickly parading through dozens of superfluous slides to try and finish your main conclusions in time. And if you are really worried about reaching your conclusions, then give them first. Tell the audience what you discovered and then use the rest of the talk as a vehicle for taking the audience on a journey with you as you describe how you came to your conclusions.
But most importantly, good luck!
After you've given a few talks you may be at the stage of writing your first scientific paper, but where should you submit? Next week's paper review may help you.
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