How to give a talk

Although meetings and conferences are about far more than just giving public talks, they are of course a central theme. For the scientist, it’s a chance to present his information to his peers to disseminate his ideas and research, and of course triggerfeedback and new research. For the audience, it’s an opportunity to gain access to information and ideas perhaps years ahead of their formal publication, (and some will never be published) and to get access to people and branches of research far outside what they can get in their own institutions of even countries or continents if it’s a big meeting. It seems odd then that I had had to sit through a great many talks that were obtuse, dull, confusing or apparently pointless.

You will of course have an abstract sent in and accepted if you are going to be speaking at a meeting, though of course you might also have to give departmental talks, or lectures when visiting other institutions and so on, but the main thing of course is to have a clear idea of what you want to talk about and what message you want to get across. Write your talk with these things in mind – have two or three key points you want to get across and make sure they are prominent and clearly expressed. As with papers link different people write things in different ways so don’t be bothered about your style provided you produce a good set of slides and a well rehearsed talk.

Do make sure the talk is smooth and logical. Treat is somewhat like a paper, so you introduce the problem, what you wanted to test / analyse (or what you discovered that impacts on old ideas), how you analysed it, what the results were and what that means. Remember that you only have a limited amount of time and you can’t go into great detail (and it will be a technically minded audience) so keep things brief. If necessary repeat your main points as a summary to make sure they get across.

Do try to make it interesting. Of course there will probably be people there who are not at all interested in what you are saying, (sad, but true) but you must engage everyone as best you can. Cutting out the jargon or in-jokes from your field will stop you losing people. Don’t just string together a bunch of photos and talk about each one in turn, even if they are all good examples of the points you are making.

As for the slides themselves, a few simple rules can really improve the presentation of slides to make them more accessible. Use a large and simple font so everyone can read the text easily. Keep each slide clean and simple – better to use three slides for just a few seconds each to show two graphs than cram three onto a single slide where no one can see them properly. Similarly, don’t write too much, people have to read what is written and listen to you talk, put up a slide with 150 words on it while you are talking as well means people will certainly miss something. Keep the background either simple or faint, so that it does not distract from the words or images you want them to focus on. Don’t use distracting things like sound effect, or weird slide changes and wipes.

Make sure the title slide includes the names and affiliations of all the people involved (especially where limitations mean they were not listed in the abstract). Do include an acknowledgement slide for funding, other colleagues etc.

Practice your talk, especially if it’s your first. Make sure you know what you want to say, how and when and the points you want to emphasise. Ideally rehearse in front of a critical audience like a few colleagues and ask for help – they will be able to spot things you never would and improve both the talk and the presentation. When speaking, face the audience (not the computer or the board behind you, even when pointing things out on the slides), and speak slowly and clearly and if there is no microphone, loudly. Try not to move around too much or give wild and exaggerated gestures, though equally don’t stare at your feet and speak in a monotone – half of getting the audience to listen is just making eye-contact (as it were) and speaking to them, rather than at them.

Make sure that what you say matches the slides – it’s really hard to follow a talk where there are lots of words on the screen but the person is talking about something else, or there are only five bullet points, but he lists six factors etc. If you do have a list of points for example, go through them in the same order as they appear on screen. Ensure that you have enough time for each slide, both to talk about it, and the audience to absorb what is on the screen.

As for actually giving the presentation, first off make sure you have right file format for the talk. There’s nothing worse than turning up with a file the computer can’t read. If you can take along a back-up copy to your basic CD / flash stick (I e-mail myself a copy so I can access it easily at short notice in case of loss).

Prepare for questions (again rehearsals with people will help you spot the likely ones, so you can prepare your answers), and if you do get something you can’t answer or are not sure about, there is nothing wrong with saying you need to think about it, or offer to discuss it later – better that than guessing.

Finally and above all, make sure you stick to the time. Make sure you know how long you have to give your talk and that you talk lasts that long – at big meetings if you overrun, you’ll get hauled off, at small ones they’ll let you run late and you’ll be resented for making other people late and miss their coffee breaks.

Task 17. Read the text again and answer the questions below

1. Why do scientists give their talks at the conferences?

2. How to practice a talk before a conference?

3. Can you add in-jokes from your field to the talk?

4. What is better: to make few slides, but very informative, or a lot of slides, but easy to understand?

5. What kind of background is better for slides? Why?

6. You are at the conference hall, and your talk is ahead, how should you prepare for it?

7. What are the most important aspects in giving a talk?

Task 18. Find the right collocations. Translate them into Russian

to gain a clear to make main a bullet a back-up to get to be

points hauled off idea resented sure point access copy

Task 19. Translate the sentences into Russian

1. Write your talk with these things in mind – have two or three key points you want to get across and make sure they are prominent and clearly expressed.

2. Remember that you only have a limited amount of time and you can’t go into great detail (and it will be a technically minded audience) so keep things brief.

3. Don’t write too much, people have to read what is written and listen to you talk, put up a slide with 150 words on it while you are talking as well means people will certainly miss something.

4. If you do have a list of points for example, go through them in the same order as they appear on screen.

5. Make sure you know how long you have to give your talk and that you talk lasts that long – at big meetings if you overrun, you’ll get hauled off, at small ones they’ll let you run late and you’ll be resented for making other people late and miss their coffee breaks.

Task 20. Read the text, find the additional information on the topic. Translate the text into English using the words in brackets

Task 22. Before reading the text read the article about it’s author Richard M. Reis, note the positions of this person

Richard M. Reis is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing (AIM) at Stanford and Co-Executive Director of the Stanford Research Communication Program. From 1987 to 1989 he also served as the Associate Dean for Professional Development in the Stanford School of Engineering.

Dr. Reis is also a Consulting Professor in the Stanford Electrical Engineering department and a Lecturer in the Stanford Mechanical Engineering department. He teaches an introductory seminar for all incoming Electrical Engineering graduate students in the fall quarter and a graduate seminar on "Life after Stanford" in the winter quarter. In the winter and spring quarters he also teaches the Design and Manufacturing Forum in the Mechanical Engineering Department.

Prior to coming to Stanford he was the Executive Officer and editor of the astronomy magazine, Mercury, for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a Professor of science education at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Newfoundland, Canada, and a high school physics teacher in Los Angeles.

Reis holds bachelor's degrees in physical geography (honors), physics (honors) and a master's degree in science education from California State University at Los Angeles, and a master's degree in physical science (geophysics) and a PhD in science education (physics) from Stanford University.

Task 23. Match the words with their Russian equivalents

Task 24. Compose the sentences using the words and expressions from the box

Task 25. Read the text to find out what are the most important things to do at the scientific conference, before and after it

How to get the most out of scientific conferences

By Richard M. Reis

Senior scientists make a habit of attending professional conferences. As a graduate student, postdoc, or assistant professor, you should also plan to attend such events. They are an important way to begin developing your professional reputation.