Presentation skills development

1. Presentation skills development • This will be tailored to a ‘chemistry’ theme, but much of this material applies to any talk you give, scientific or not. • First ‘rule’ of sorts—decide what you want your audience to actually learn. • At the end of your talk what should the take home message really be?

2. Take home lesson • Once you have determined what that take home message is…remember this, tell them THREE times what that is… • Tell them what your GOING to tell them • Tell them • Tell them what you’ve TOLD them • Don’t make the mistake of hiding the focus of your talk…building to some crescendo, that doesn’t often work well (it does in some instances, but not at this stage)

3. How to organize a typical talk • This leads into HOW to organize your talk: • Right after your title slide the order of your talk should look something like this (call it an outline • Introduction/Background material • Your group’s work/previous results • Your approach (the ‘tell em what you’re gonna say) • Results (tell em) • Conclusions/Future directions (tell em what you told em • Acknowledgments (can omit here, but you’d better have this section in your talk)

4. What’s on Tap A sample “outline” • Background information • Group approach • Coordination Chemistry • Additional Directions

5. Background material • Give a general background (a WHY AM I DOING this research). This is a key element of any talk—if you don’t say WHY you’re doing this, why should they listen? • Include the work of other authors in the field, not just your own group efforts (if yours is the only group doing this type of research, the first point is ALL the more critical to address.

6. Background Continued • Make sure to cite the appropriate articles if you are discussing research from other groups (demonstrates you’ve done your homework too) • Can be noted in almost “fine print” at the bottom of a page • Make sure it’s the most up-to-date lead references • Doesn’t need to be included for group work (unless you want to include it)

7. Your Approach • Here, you need to identify where the current research is lacking (again, the focus on WHY you’re doing what you’re doing). • Outline (briefly) what you’re going to do, and how you plan to do that. • Focus on the benefits of what you’re doing, how it will advance your area of research (often, this is obvious, but not always)

8. Your Results • Once you’ve outlined your research direction, you can begin to discuss your results. • Note that the amount of time you spend getting here is between 20-40% of your talk • In a 20 minute talk (18 minutes to talk/2 minute Q&A), you need about 4-8 minutes worth of background material, 40-60 %...7-10 minutes worth of your results, with the balance of your time going for your title slide, outline, conclusions and acknowledgements—2-4 minutes

9. Conclusions/Future/Acknowledgements • Always give credit where it’s due • Financial sponsors • Advisor • Other students graduate/u-grads/postdocs • Conclusions—tell them what you’ve told them (last chance to get your message across • Future—if you have other plans for your research (often the case), outline what you plan to do in the future

10. Common mistakes made • Most common mistake is making a slide too busy. Keep things simple, one reaction (2 at most). Bigger font, so everyone can see • Here’s an example that sort of outlines this, I’ve crammed two slides into one.

11. Straightforward reaction, alkane solvent Establish electronic influence of ligand Not everything went according to “the plan” Already reported compound… Though reported as an “oil” Using alkane solvent yielded x-ray suitable crystals Submitted to Acta Cryst

12. Complete sentences • Too often, using complete sentences is unnecessary and distracting. Tend to ‘read’ slide (more on that in a minute) • Bullet points should normally be less than one line long…and can be sentence fragments. • Fragments mean you need to complete the thought, so your audience listens to you

13. Don’t READ your talk • Most severe error—don’t read your talk word for word right from the screen (sort of like what I’m doing now…). Your audience is literate, and can do that themselves. • Often used as a crutch by first timers… avoid this pitfall

14. Graphics • Using graphics helps eliminate the need for writing sentences, since graphics take up a lot of panel space • 1 or 2 graphics per page is good rule of thumb • Use ppt animation if you like, that’s a style preference

15. Multiple Substitution -Additional thermolysis yields disubstituted product Peters, Baughman, Golynskiy; Acta Cryst. E. 2002, 58, 70-71

16. Voice patterns/inflections • Don’t drone on—using same tone. Monotone voice = monotonous talk • Vary speed, pitch, inflections…just like you often do during normal conversations. Acting as though you’re uninterested (via monotone) tunes your audience out too.

17. Avoid the Awkward Turtle • Several awkward moments—how to avoid • At your Intro…how do you ‘get into things’? • Title? Was it read? Can your audience read? • Have an alternative ‘title’; a second way to describe your talk. • Thank the one who introduced you… • Don’t worry about telling people your name. They can read. Just get started in professional manner

18. Towards the end…wrapping up • Also one of the more awkward moments in a talk. • Find a smooth way to wrap up…leaves a really good overall impression. • Two sections as you conclude your talk… • Acknowledgements • The actual ‘finish’

19. Acknowledgements • IN this section, you’ll need a segue line. • No journey in lab is solo…many people worked on this before…or many have helped me or supported me… • No research completed in solitude—I have many people that have helped along the way • Then name those people, giving their contributions if necessary

20. The grand finale… • Once you’ve ‘acknowledged’ everyone…it’s time to finish your talk. Something like this works well. • …and I would also like to thank you for your attention and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. • The audience now knows to applaud

21. Local Knowledge—King’s & Miz • CHM 391--Presentation…Kings or Misericordia • King’s • Long room with a low hanging screen. • Audience strains to see things at the bottom • Make things top heavy; leave the bottom 3rd blank • Smaller Title font to accomodate • Dark in the front, well-lit in the back • Means dark backgrounds look terrible • High contrast background/font colors

22. Misericordia University • Presentation room in their Library. • Room is enormous—you can hear echos! • Room stays uniformly well lit. • Dark backgrounds ‘ok’ • Keep material relatively centered on page