Table of Contents
1 Purpose
In this page you can find a short bullet list that you need to read before giving a Scientific talk.
2 Sources
3 Questions to answer
- What is this talk about?
- What is the main point of this talk?
- What are the strengths of this method?
- What are the weakness of this method?
- How could this work be applied?
- What are the main questions that author asked (i.e. find an explanation of the anomalous transport related with the stochastic behavior of the field lines)
- Why did we ask these questions?
- Were there any particular previous studies that prompted this work?
- What results did they obtain?
- How did your results update/change the understanding of the problem?
- If it is a representation of existing ideas, is this presentation better than existing texts in literature?
4 Tips
- Strong beginning and get to the point fast;
- simple language, active verbs which are clear and concise;
- use analogies, illustration and metaphors: paint pictures with words;
- present a review at the beginning of the session and a summary at the end;
- use memory tools: acronyms, visual aids and mnemonics;
- have a dramatic (but not drastic) ending, end with a story or a quote;
- Humor helps;
- Never read the slides;
- differentiate between experimental evidence and speculations;
- integrate the references inside the slides;
- Make a lot of references to existent literature in the talk;
- Do not answer to the same question repeating the same concept different times;
5 Final questions management
- Take your time to think about the question;
- try to give an answer to the question anyway;
- be gracious;
- answer briefly and to the point;
- as last resort answer: "I am not sure. I will have to give it some thought, can we talk later?"
6 Fear management
- Reharse many times;
- look calm;
- speak slow;
- focus on what you are explaining;
- find a friendly face in the audience to look at;
