Information Technology Reference
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Time the talk and note what stage you expect to reach at 5min, 10min, and so on,
to help you finish on time. An effective exercise is to rehearse in front of a mirror
or onto tape. Rehearse while standing, because that is how you will deliver. Think
about possible questions. Familiarize yourself with equipment: for example, find out
how to start up the computer, connect it to the projector, and run the presentation
software. Last, get someone to give you feedback, and make use of it. If one person
dislikes something it is likely that others will too.
Delivery
Assembly of the content is one aspect of a successful talk. Another aspect is cre-
ation of a cohesive sequence of slides, as discussed later. The third main aspect is
presentation: speaking well, making good use of slides, and relating to the audience.
An obvious point is that you must speak clearly: develop sufficient volume and
project your voice without shouting. Use a natural tone of voice. Breathe deeply, by
inhaling slowly to the bottom of your chest. Speak a little slower than you would
in normal conversation; around 300-400 words per 3min is right for most people.
Slightly overemphasize consonants, a habit that is particularly helpful to the 10%
or so of your audience who are at least a little deaf. Avoid chilled drinks, which can
tighten the throat. Keep your head up, to helpmaintain volume. And face the audience.
Consider your style of speech. Avoid monotony, both in pace and tone. Pause
occasionally, particularly when you have given the audience something to think
about, and pause in preference to filling gaps with noise such as “um” or “I mean”.
Pause to collect your thoughts before speaking rather than pausing mid-sentence.
Never read your slides to the audience—they can read faster than you can speak.
This is perhaps the commonest mistake made by inexperienced speakers, and it is
certainly one of the most irritating. The text on your slides should, at most, be a
reminder to you of the concepts you wanted to mention. 2 As you prepare your talk,
you should be developing a set of messages you want to say to accompany each slide
(or is the slide accompanying you?); these messages, not the written text, are the core
of your talk.
2 I've noticed that different disciplines have their own conventions for slides, and in particular that
in biomedicine slide decks often consist almost entirely of images and tables. In such cases, the
talk proceeds by explaining each slide in turn. It helps that biomedicine has research topics that are
so visual! Common images include devices, places, activities, genomes, cells, organisms—from
bacteria and viruses to trees and whales—and representations of statistical data. Also, intriguingly,
biomedical slide decks often include photographs of members of the research team, and of historical
figures, a practice that is rare in computing.
At the other extreme, some disciplines still have the convention of the speaker reading from a
written script, with no slides at all. While it is rare that such talks are engaging, in what I remember
as the best talk I have ever attended the speaker used a single slide, which consisted of a complex
Venn diagram showing the relationship between government, politics, industry, and media. The
theme of the talk was the impact of these bodies on researchers and funding at different stages of
their careers. Admittedly, this was opinion rather than science.
 
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