Tips for Academic Presentations
30 April 2007 at 12:00 am Peter G. Klein Leave a comment
| Peter Klein |
Good tips from Jonathan Shewchuk (via Craig Newmark). Written for computer scientists but mostly applies across the board. Highlights:
A talk of 30 minutes or less should be an advertisement for the paper, not a replacement.
It is disturbing that so many presentations have large wasted bands of space on the border of every slide, as if to taunt the audience — “I could have used a readable font, but it’s just you.”
You communicate most powerfully when your every movement, facial expression, and utterance is in the service of the words you are saying right now, and no unproductive movement takes place.
Good speaking is about rhythm. The most common type of bad speaker delivers one talk-length paragraph at a uniform speed, never slowing for emphasis.
Most everything else, especially aesthetics, is learned through practice and feedback.
Includes great cartoons, like the one above.
Organizations and Markets 
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