The Craft of ScientificPresentations

[Feynman] developed into an accomplished and inspiring teacher and lecturer, who gave virtuoso performances full of showmanship, humor, with his own inimitable brilliance, style, and manner.

Jagdish Mehra

Because presentations are expensive, one should consider whether a presentation is truly needed

Cost in salaries of audience

Cost in time for presentation

Cost in time to prepare presentation

Presenter can read audience and react

AB

C

C

D

Presenter receives instant reaction

! ? ! ?

Presentations have several advantages over documents

Work can come alive for audience Work

Speaker has limited chance to catch errors

? ? ?

Audience cannot reread text

has oneaudience

chanceto hear

Audience cannot look up background material

Presentations also have several disadvantages

Presentations can be viewed from three stylistic perspectives

Structure andSpeech

Delivery

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Visual Aids

audience

purpose occasion

You begin preparing a scientific presentationby analyzing your constraints

who are they?what do they know?

why are they here?what biases do they have?

to inform

to persuade

to inspire

to teach

formality

size

time

Beginning

Ending

Middle

As with documents, the structure of presentations should have clear beginnings, middles, and ends

Beginnings prepare the audiencefor the work to be presented

Defines workDefines work

Work = A + B

Maps presentationMaps presentation

A

B

CD

Shows importanceShows importance

Gives backgroundGives background

The middle presents the workin a logical order

post-combustionmethods

combustionmethods

pre-combustion methods

pre-combustionmethods

combustionmethods

post-combustionmethods

combustionmethods

In the middle, you make smooth transitions between major points

The ending summarizes main points and places those results in the context of the big picture

point 1point 2point 3point 4

point 5point 6point 7point 8

point 1point 7

Summary

Big Picture

Presentations can be viewed from three stylistic perspectives

Structure andSpeech

Delivery

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Visual Aids

One type of visual aid that deserves reflection is the presentation slide

Downstream of the combustor simulator is asection to test turbine vanes

Turbine Vanes

Combustor Simulator

Audiences remember more when youuse well-designed slides

10 20 30 40 50 60

Recall (%)

Hearand See

See

Hear

What information to include?

Excluded

Included

What format to choose?

No matter what type of projection you use,you must make certain decisions

Choose a format that is easily read

Arial

BOOK ANTIQUA

Choose legible type

Choose a helpful layout

wordswordswordswords

wordswordswords

words

Color can distinguisha presentation

Color affects how fastthe audience can read

The color combination that is read most quickly is black on yellow.

Color affects how fastthe audience can read

What is important is that the combination has contrast—the one on this slide fails to do so.

Color affects how fastthe audience can read

Combinations of red, green, and brown are difficult for many people to read

Color affects the emotionsof the audience

Avoid having a hot color such as red or orange as your background color.

Headline

Body

Recommended here is a sentence-headline design that quickly orients the audience

The sentence headline succinctly statesthe main assertion of the slide

Body supportswith words

Body supportswith images

compressor

combustor

turbine

Secondary flows enter the primary flow through film-cooling holes and dilution jets

Turbine Vanes

SecondaryFlow

PrimaryFlow

SecondaryFlow

Dilution Jet

Combustor Simulator

Film-Cooling Holes

What information to include?

Excluded

Included

What format to choose?

No matter what type of projection you use,you must make certain decisions

Include slides that accent important details

ResultsFour warmestyears of century

1988198719831981

The world is warming

Images

Neptune has three moons

Include slides that show organization

Beginning

Methods to ReduceSulfur Dioxide EmissionsFrom Coal-Fueled Utilities

Cynthia SchmidtMechanical Engineering DepartmentUniversity of Texas

Title

Three classes of methods exist forreducing emissions of sulfur dioxide

post-combustionmethods

combustionmethods

pre-combustion methods

Mapping

Middle

Coal switching and coal cleaningare two pre-combustion methods

Coal CleaningCoal Switching

High Sulfur Mine Low S ulfur Mine

Middle 1

The most effective combustion methodis an atmospheric fluidized bed

separator

airinlet

cleanedexhaust

grid

90% removal capability

Low capital cost—can usein existing equipment

High operating cost

Ability to use differentgrades of coal

Middle 2

Ending

By using these methods, coal utilitiescan greatly reduce SO2 emissions

Percentage Reduction of SO2

coal cleaning

coal switching

fluidized bed

absorption

adsorption

25 50 75

40%40%

80%

90%

95%

80%Conclusion

Cynthia SchmidtMechanical Engineering DepartmentUniversity of Texas

Methods to ReduceSulfur Dioxide EmissionsFrom Coal-Fueled Utilities

Three classes of methods exist for reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide

post-combustionmethods

combustionmethods

pre-combustion methods

90% removal capability

low capital cost—able to use in existing equipment

high operating cost

ability to use different grades of coal

separator

airinlet

cleanedexhaust

grid

The most effective combustion methodis an atmospheric fluidized bed

Percentage Reduction of SO2

coal cleaning

coal switching

fluidized bed

absorption

adsorption

25 50 75

40%40%

80%

90%

95%

80%

In summary, by using these methods, coal utilities can greatly reduce SO2 emissions

Questions?

Avoid complex images

DEAR-ATOR

HOTWELL

RGFAB

Avoid filler information

Roentgen discovered x-raysin 1895. He found that a cathode-ray tube producedfluorescence in a distant plati-num-barium-cyanide screen.

Avoid long lists• Corrosion• Acid rain• Toxic materials• Pulsed combustion• Energetic materials• Pyrogenic materials• Smog

Exclude details that the audiencedoes not need or cannot remember

Presentations can be viewed from three stylistic perspectives

Structure andSpeech

Delivery

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Visual Aids

Delivery is the speaker’s interaction with the audience

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Stage Presence

Voice

AIP Movement

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You have several choices for how you deliver your speech

Memorizing the Speech

+ allows eye contact- difficult for long speeches- room for precision errors- no room for improvising

Reading From a Text

+ ensures precision- does not sound natural- no room for improvising- hinders eye contact

Winging It

+ sounds natural- has much room for error

Speaking From Slides

+ insures organization+ allows eye contact+ allows improvising- some room for error

In summary, you can improve by practicing and by critiquing the presentations of others

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Linus Pauling

Chien-Shiung Wu

AIP

Richard Feynman

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