Hot answers tagged presentation
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You might be interested in Advanced Google Image Search, where you can search by copyright status. More information about the Usage rights search can be found here.
For example, here are freely useable images searching for "Mars".
And here is an example searching for "IBM".
Note: See the important remark by @jb. in the comment below
—
you should verify ...
34
I would say the two most important points are to make slides you are comfortable with and not to limit your oral presentation to reading your slides.
Furthermore, if you are presenting a research paper, i.e., where more written material is available to the audience, then the objective is usually to make people want to read your paper, instead of explaining ...
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The best way is to be highly active in your field. (Note: this will take work.) Here are my suggestions for accomplishing this, and I hope others will post more in the comments or other answers:
Do awesome work. It all starts here. As a PhD student, this typically requires being in an awesome lab under an awesome professor, but it is possible to achieve ...
32
From less esoteric to more (I've seen all these things happen):
Make sure you know how to "send the image to a projector". Not all laptops do this automatically, and I'm surprised at how many people don't know how to do it. I've also seen people be confused by the mirroring feature on Macs.
Verify that there's a power outlet or some place to plug in your ...
28
This really depends on your audience.
At a department colloquium, I assume very little background, probably an undergrad degree in math, but not even an undergrad class in my research area. Here the audience will often be smart, but ignorant of the relevant background.
At a research seminar with lots of undergrad and/or masters students, I still don't ...
27
According to proper etiquette you may use Master as a title (as in “Master Segovia”) if and only if you are:
the heir apparent of a Scottish viscount or baron
a boy not old enough to be called “Mr.”
The New Oxford American Dictionary (which gives the above information) also lists the archaic use as a “title for a man of high rank or learning”, but (a) ...
26
A good-looking report will put me in the mindset that you took the assignment seriously, and aimed to turn in quality work. I think that counts for something, not nothing.
That said, if a report is just that – good looking, with little substance behind it – I will see through the façade very quickly, and all those superficial niceties might even count ...
25
One minor point to add to eykanal's awesome answer: One of your advisor's jobs is to help you publicize your work. Take every possible advantage of their existing research network. Ask them to introduce you to people at conferences, workshops, and other meetings; ask them for help arranging invitations at other departments/labs. (Ideally, you shouldn't ...
24
A slide being self-explanatory? Why would you be presenting then? What's the purpose of YOU being there?
IMHO the slides should enhance your presentation not be the presentation. YOU are the presenter and the slides should help you convey your message better. Having self explanatory slides takes away the attention from you which is a nonstarter for a good ...
23
Matt Might, a rather young professor, has an interesting style, encompassing the minimalistic approach. Have a peek at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaPsYmOmgcI
He also provides some useful guidelines for preparing a presentation: one of the most important is considering your audience: http://matt.might.net/articles/academic-presentation-tips/.
...
22
First of all: note that there is a difference between an academic CV and a resume.
An academic CV typically lists everything you've done related to academia; every talk, every conference paper, every award, every grant, every mentored postdoc, grad, and possibly undergrad.
A resume is a two-page document that summarizes your work/academic experience.
...
21
The PhD students I remember the most are the ones who came up to me and made meaningful comments or suggestions regarding my work. They get extra bonus points if in the middle of the night the next week they offer more meaningful comments or suggestions. This can happen in the context of a faculty visit, a conference, or even online. The most powerful ...
18
Reputable journals will waive publication charges for authors who cannot pay them, so you should ask about that. If everything goes well, then that will simply solve your financial problems. I see only two ways you can get stuck:
(1) The journal insists you can pay, perhaps because your advisor has plenty of grant money, but your advisor refuses. In ...
18
Find an interesting image.
Check for licensing conditions. If license has generous terms (like Creative Commons license) allowing free reuse of the image, or reuse under conditions that you meet (like attribution or absence of modifications), use the image.
If you think your use is covered by fair use: use the image.
Otherwise, contact the copyright holder ...
17
I think a script is actually more harmful than good. It tends to produce very rigid talks, and it often forces you to concentrate on the script instead of the content and audience. Usually, you know what you are talking about well enough to not need a script, and just pointers. Below are the tricks I use for different kinds of talks.
Research talks
For ...
17
How can I balance the details of research without losing the audience on key points?
From my perspective, the key to giving a 15 minute talk is to omit all of the details. Many audience members don't care, the few who do can read your paper, and in any case it's impossible to convey any serious details clearly and correctly in such a short time. If ...
16
I used to take the point of view you refer to, but I don't believe in it any more. In my current way of thinking, slides for a talk are a dynamic accompaniment to the story that you're telling - they're visual aids for what you're saying.
Unlike TED talks or the Apple talks, a technical presentation necessarily has more content on slides, because even a ...
16
I would add to the end of your conclusion a simple statement:
By the way, I'm looking for a postdoc position.
I've seen it done before, and I don't think people minded.
A T-shirt could be a fun way of broaching the topic when talking to people.
15
In addition to Suresh comprehensive answer, and understanding you are referring primarily to the technology, would add the following which concerns the presentation:
Do not include media (video, sound etc) in your presentations unless absolutely necessary. If you do, make sure in advance (before the conference or some time before your talk that everything ...
14
This would raise a red flag for me generally - I've never published in a journal that had publication fees just for publishing the papers themselves. Color charges, sure, and if I had submitted to an open access journal they have fees, but nearly every one of them has a mechanism for waiving the fee in the case that the author can't pay. My four suggestions ...
14
Don't be shy about advertising. As you and Dave suggest, place it at the end, but you don't need to be very subtle about it. I've seen a number of talks where people advertise the fact that they're on the market, and everyone understands the need to do this. Presumably you're worried about it seeming desperate, but it isn't.
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In addition to ekaynal's answer, you can also run a conference or workshop. But be careful that this doesn't detract from the quality of your research! Running department seminars can help too because you will get to invite & host speakers who will therefore learn your name.
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I typically post my slides on my website as pdfs. On the title page of my slides, I have started adding a line that says something like "slides available on my preprint page", and sometimes I'll mention this at the start of my talk. On my website, I have a page for all my slides and I also link to the relevant slides on my preprints page. Personally, I ...
12
Script only the introduction
I can only echo what Artem said about the disadvantages of a script.
That said, I often advise to write out the introduction of the talk beforehand in full detail. This way, you have a backup. So far, I have never ended up using the prepared introduction, I’ve always had at least slight variations. But if – for whatever reason ...
12
I think the most important factor to keep in mind is the personal comfort level of the speaker with respect to giving presentations. For some people—particularly people working in a non-native language—having a prepared script allows them to relax sufficiently and be able to get through the talk. For other people, having a prepared script acts more as an ...
12
I've found that the secret is (1) good tools to create equations, plus (2) liberal use of arrows and text, plus (3) animations linking the two.
I've found the following two programs to be indispensable for writing talks:
LateXiT for the Mac
KLaTeXFormula for a number of OSs, similar to latexit but less functional
The goal is to make the math (1) ...
12
While 15 minutes is on the longer side for what I'm about to suggest, I think it's still useful.
In a 15 minute presentation you don't have time to think of things to say on the fly. It's important that you have a story nailed down fairly tight. While you don't need a full script for what you're going to say, you should have a fairly detailed plan of what ...
12
When you do a research presentation, what is usually the focus that you take.
Talks are advertisements for papers and (more generally) for research agendas. They are not substitutes for papers. The primary aim of a research talk is to provide the audience with the intuition and motivation to get involved in the described research, at a minimum by ...
11
If you're on OS X, then a great solution is to use the LaTeXiT package, which allows you to create graphics files for individual LaTeX equations, which can then be copy-and-pasted into your favorite presentations program (Keynote, LibreOffice, Powerpoint, or even LaTeX Beamer if you have a suitable penchant for irony).
For other systems, options include ...
11
Good question, and actually the source of much debate when preparing or discussing a presentation...
As Charles Morisset mentioned, you should feel comfortable with your own slides. Different people have different presenting styles, and will rely on different types of slides. It also depends, to a certain extent, on what you are presenting, i.e. if it ...
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