Talking Tips: Resources for scientific presentations recommended by DIALOG and DISCCRS participants
Background. If DIALOG and DISCCRS graduates are any indication,
Ph.D. students are not getting as much advice on preparing oral presentations
as they would like during their student years. To address this need, on July
16, 2003 I sent out a request for resources on how to give an effective oral
presentation. I received many responses, including links to webpages, journal
citations, books, and "hard copies".Indeed, so many that I closed
the call for requests three days after it went out. I have compiled the responses
received during those three days.below. Advice ranges from tips to undergrads
presenting at scientific meetings for the first time to pleas directed at senior
presenters. There is also some advice on presenting posters. I was pleased to
see that resources have been developed through many professional societies.
The resources below are in no particular order.
Biogeek.com has compiled a nice, short, to-the-point list.
Robert R.H. Anholt's 2001 book, Dazzle 'Em With Style: An Introduction
to the Art of Oral Scientific Presentation was the most frequently cited
resource. (Freeman, W. H. and Company, 2001. ISBN: 0716725835 , $11.95). Anhold
has very kindly made a summary available on the web under the name Dazzle 'em With Style.
The University of Southern California's Wrigley Institute for
Environmental Studies and the Annenberg School for Communication has put together
a video called "Talking Science: The Elusive Art of the Scientific Talk".
It currently costs $39.95 and may be ordered by contacting [email protected].
Association for Women in Science's magazine has published Tips for a Terrific Talk.
American Society of Limnology and Oceanography has put togethe some useful guidelines on their website.
The Oceanography Society has
some notes from their Fourth Scientific Meeting.
International
Seed Testing Association has put together some good resources.
Foote, A.L. 2002., How we present
our science:Tips for students. Society of Wetland Scientists Bulletin 19(3):
13-16, has some great pointers for students presenting at SWS meetiings, based
on his experience as a judge for the SWS student awards. The advice is quite
universal.
Union
of Concerned Scientists has put together some tips for communicating with
the public about climate change.
Neumann, A. Conrad. Marine
Semineering: The Art of Giving A Seminar is geared for marine scientists..
Methods
for use in Freshwater Ecology is a compilation of tips for both written
and oral presentations.
Dorothy
Carnegie has put together The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking.
This is a summary of her 1962 book, based on Dale Carnegie's Public Speaking
and Influencing Men in Business from 1931. Still good advice after all these
years.
Henry H. Fisher, 2003, put together a presentation on How
to Give a Speech for the 40th AIGP meeting.
I. Lee has compiled a Research Guide for Students with a chapter on Presentation Tips
for Public Speaking.
Dennison, W.C., A. Jones and T. Saxby have put together The
art of scientific communication: Using Power Point Effectively. It is designed
for REU students at teh University of Maryland, but applicable to anyone. There
is even some nuts-and-bolts information on importing, scanning, etc. Unfortunately,
it takes a long time to load so be prepared to wait if you try to open it..
Jeff
Radel has posted a series of on-line turorials he has presented as part
of a graduate course. He also has a 21-page Guided
Tour.
Rice On-Line Writing Lab has a page called Designing
Effective Oral Presentations.
Edward Tufte writes books and speaks on presentation and communication. Doug
Marble put together "10 tips based on Tufte's page and a web search
on 'effective speaking".. Craig
S.Kaplan wrote up some notes on a presentation Tufts gave in Seattle.
The University of Kansas has a quite detailed on-line tutorial
called the Virtual
Presentation Assistant.
A very quirky, but interesting presentation on lucidity in science
can be found at Cambridge U. Professor Michael McIntyre's web page: http://www.atm.damtp.cam.ac.uk/people/mem/
Davis, M. 1997. Scientific papers and presentations. Academic
Press. San Diego, California ISBN 0-12-206370-8
Valiela, I. 2001. Doing Science: Design, Analysis, and
Communication of Scientific Research. Oxford University Press. New York, NY.
ISBN 0-19-507962-0. This one comes recommended as having chapters on both oral
and written presentation of information, with detailed and very specific advice
on types of graphics and tables that are effective, etc.
Aisling O'Sullivan, shared
a PowerPoint presentation prepared for undergraduates in Environmental Science
while a visiting Post-Doc at the Uni of Oklahoma. It is entitled "Communicating
scientific results".
Micron Electronics Inc. has put together a resource called Giving
a Talk..
Advice from Dr. Joe Resnick:: When I give an oral presenation....I
have two policies:
1. Always start with a story...or joke..to get the audience relaxed....and then
deliver the message.
2. Walk in like you own the place...walk out...like you just 'sold' it!
These have always worked for me. Public Speaking..is all about 'mindset'...I
have learned. When you speak...you are the authority (and the speaker has to
believe this...). Otherwise...the people in the audience would be up where you
are (speaking)...and you'd be down in the gallery, listening. Another tip...just
be yourself...relax...get the message across in a cool, logical method. As your
skills/comfort levels increase...then you can develop things like, tambre, rythm,
delivery style, etc. Although, I alway focus on something in the room/auditorium
to help me "project" my speaking voice...and to keep my attention
focused and my intonation not too loud...not too soft....
How NOT to give a Talk: Several people sent in some tips
on how NOT to talk--these are fun to read, though possibly not quite so helpful
as the above.
Janzen, D. H. Plea from a symposium
goer. Daniel Janzen is one of the best scientific writers I know. He is
worth reading.
Mann, J.D. (ca. 1985) updated by K.R. Sharrock. How
Real Scientists Give Talks.
Wolcott, T.G. Mortal
sins in oral presentations or how to give a talk if you never want to talk again.
Acknowledgements: On behalf of all those who will find
this compilation useful, I thank the following individuals for submitting resources:
Michael Ahrens, Val Barber, Mary Batson, Erla Bjork, John Brawley, Al Christian,
Daniel Conde, Gary Ervin, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Elizabeth Hinchley, Gary Irvin,
Kevin Kroeger, Douglas Marble, Bea Mourifiño, Sasi Nayar, Judy O'Neil,
Erla Ornolfsdottir, Aisling O'Sullivan, John Quinlin, Joe Resnick, David Smith,
Kam Tang, Jeff Warren, Andy Zimmerman
DIALOG is made possible through U.S. National Science Foundation
(Antarctic Biology and Medicine, Arctic Natural Sciences, Biological Oceanography,
Ecology, Ecosystem Studies, and International programs) grant #9813932 to Whitman
College, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Coastal Ocean and
National Sea Grant College Programs) grant #16OP1435 to Whitman College and
Office of Naval Research (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Program) grant
#N00014-98-1-05 to Whitman College with interagency transfers from the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (Ocean Biogeochemistry and Atmospheric
Chemistry & Ecology Branch of Mission to Planet Earth Programs). Support
is also provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (Office of Science, BER) through
#DE-FG02-03ER63606 to Whitman College
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