Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
a new degree utilizing existing subjects from several faculties would require 200
years. But in no circumstances should you try to tell a funny story unless you are an
experienced speaker and are
certain
it will be funny.
All talks need a few words of preamble and warm-up. A surprisingly frequent
omission is that speakers forget to say who they are! Begin with the topic of the talk,
your name, the names of any co-authors, and your affiliation. If there are several
authors, make sure the audience knows which one is you.
The Conclusion
End the talk cleanly; don't let it just fade away.
“So the output of the algorithm is always positive. Yes, that's about all I
wanted to say, except that there is an implementation but it's not currently
working. That's all.”
Clearly signal the end. Use the last few moments to revise the main points and ideas
you want the audience to remember, and you may also want to outline future work
or work in progress. Consider saying something emphatic—predict something, or
recommend a change of practice, or make a judgement. Such statements should of
course be a logical consequence of the talk.
Preparation
As a research student I was advised that the best way to prepare for a talk was to
write it out in full so that (supposedly) if I froze I could just start reading from my
notes. This was terrible advice. The writing of text that is fluid when spoken aloud
is an art few people master. Written English sounds stilted, most speakers cannot
scan far enough ahead to predict the right intonation and emphasis, and the act of
reading prevents you from looking at the audience. Even the vocabulary of written
and spoken English differ; for example, written English has “do not”, “will”, and
“that” where spoken English has “don't”, “shall”, and “which”.
Supporting notes can be helpful, if they are treated as prompts for issues to discuss
rather than a script. Write notes as points of a few words each, in a large print that is
easy to read while you are standing at a podium and doing things such as operating
a computer.
Rehearse the talk often enough and the right words will come at the right time.
You want to appear spontaneous, but this takes practice. A casual style is
not
the
product of casual preparation. You will only be relaxed and deliver well if you have
prepared thoroughly and are confident that you have prepared thoroughly. However,
don't memorize your talk as a speech; decide what you want to say but not every
word of how you will say it. Recitation sounds as stilted as reading and you are likely
to freeze when trying to remember an exact phrasing.
