tips for oral presentations. why give oral presentations? effective communication is essential to...
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Tips for Oral Presentations
Why Give Oral Presentations?
Effective communication is essential to show your workto the scientific community
Journal articles are one way to do this.
Presentations at seminars and conferences are anotherway.
Why Give Oral Presentations?
Presentations at conferences are either posters ororal presentations.
At the big statistical conferences (JSM and ENAR), about 80-90% of the presentations are talks.
General Format for Talks
Session 273: Missing Data and Dropout in the Analysis ofLongitudinal data--Contributed
2:05 pm Do Mixed Model and Multiple Imputations Work Together for Longitudinal Data Analysis with Missing Values?
2:20 pm A Two-part Model for Longitudinal Data with Missing Values
2:35 pm Analysis of Longitudinal Data with Nonmonotone, Nonignorable Missing Data
...3:20 pm Mixed Effects Models for Truncated Longitudinal
Outcome and Nonignorable Missing Data
What Do You Need for a Good Talk?
Good slidesContentStyle
Good delivery
Good material = Good talk
Not necessarily true!
Good Slides: Content
Always start with a title slide
Presentation title
Authors
Support
Contact info
Good Slides: Content
What is the problem and why is it a problem? What has been done about it before? What is the presenter doing (or has done) about it? What additional value does the presenter’s approach provide?Where do we go from here?
What the listener wants to know:
Organize your presentation to address those 5 questions.
At statistics conferences... aim your presentation to an audience of colleagues whoknow the concepts but not the details
Good Slides: Content
Don’t present theoretical statistical development to anaudience of MPH epidemiology students.
Know who your audience is and put your material in a context suitable to the audience.
General Format for Talks
Session 273: Missing Data and Dropout in the Analysis ofLongitudinal data--Contributed
2:05 pm Do Mixed Model and Multiple Imputations Work Together for Longitudinal Data Analysis with Missing Values?
2:20 pm A Two-part Model for Longitudinal Data with Missing Values
2:35 pm Analysis of Longitudinal Data with Nonmonotone, Nonignorable Missing Data
...3:20 pm Mixed Effects Models for Truncated Longitudinal
Outcome and Nonignorable Missing Data
Remember the goal:
Your objective is to communicate an appreciation of the importance of your work, not just to lay the results out.
You always can and should give references and a way to contact you so those interested in the theoretical details can follow up with the literature or with you.
Good Slides: Content
Providing handouts is a good idea
25 mins. worth of talk dragged out for 45 minutes
Good Slides: Content
Budget your time carefully
25 mins. worth of talk crammed into 15 minutes
Allow enough time to describe the problem you address clearly enough for the audience to appreciate the value of your contribution.
This usually will take more than 30 seconds.
Good Slides: Content
Leave enough time to present your own contribution clearly. This almost never will require all of the allotted time.
1. Use simple fonts like Arial or Tahoma, not ornate fonts like Times New Roman or Corsiva.
Good Slides: Style
1. Use simple fonts like Arial or Tahoma, not ornate fonts likeTimes New Roman or Corsiva.
2. Use 24 point type or bigger.
Good Slides: Style
2. Use 24 point type or bigger.
Good Slides: Style
1. Use 24 point type or bigger.
2. Use simple fonts like Arial or Tahoma, not ornate fonts likeTimes New Roman or Corsiva.
3. Try to limit the material to 8 lines per slide. Summarize the main points – don’t include every detail of what you plan to say.
1. Use 24 point type or bigger.
2. Use simple fonts like Arial or Tahoma, not ornate fonts likeTimes New Roman or Corsiva.
3. Try to limit the material to 8 lines per slide. Summarize the main points – don’t include every detail of what you plan to say.
3. Try to limit the material to 8 lines per slide.
• Summarize the main points
• Don’t include every detail of what you plan to say
• Bullets can be effective
Good Slides: Style
Good Slides: StyleSample characteristics Blood Pressure Status
Normotensive Pre-ypertensive Hypertensive p
SBP 103.4 + 0.16 109.1 + 0.27 110.4 + 0.41 0.0001
DBP 63.9 + 0.13 66.2 + 0.23 68.8 + 0.35 0.0001
Pulse Pressure 39.7 + 0.15 42.6 + 0.26 41.5 + 0.39 0.0001
MAP 76.9 + 0.13 80.6 + 0.22 82.7 + 0.33 0.0001
BMI 19.6 + 0.9 20.5 + 0.15 21.5 + 0.21 0.0001
SS skinfold 10.9 + 0.17 12.7 + 0.29 14.2 + 0.45 0.0001
TR skinfold 14.8 + 0.13 16.3 + 0.23 17.8 + 0.34 0.0001
Triglycerides 59.3 + 1.01 62.0 + 1,01 65.1 + 1.02 0.0001
Insulin 9.2 + 1.01 9.9 + 1.02 11.6 + 1.04 0.0001
Insulin Resistance 1.86 + 0.0001 2.16 + 0.0004 2.77 + 0.0011 0.0001
Glucose 81.3 + 0.24 84.3 + 0.41 85.9 + 0.62 0.0001
HDL 59.2 + 0.35 58.5 + 0.59 58.4 + 0.88 ns
LDL 90.6 + 0.54 91.5 + 0.91 93.3 + 1.4 ns
Total Cholesterol 158.3 + 0.58 158.8 + 0.98 161.1 + 1.46 ns
4. Limit the tables to 4 rows/columns for readability.
Sacrifice content for legibility – unreadable content is worse than useless.
Good Slides: Style
5. For slides, use light letters (yellow or white) on a dark background (e.g., dark blue). Limit the number of colors in your text.
5. For slides, use light letters (yellow or white) on a dark background (e.g., dark blue). Limit the number of colors in your text.
Good Slides: Style
6. Don’t put a lot of curves on a graphical display – busy graphical displays are hard to read. Label your graphs clearly with BIG, READABLE TYPE Legends are absolutely necessary
Good Slides: Style
5-8 9-11 12-19 20-24 25-27 > 27
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
7. Use equations sparingly if at all; avoid derivations.
Good Slides: Style
)|(LlogE
)]('h[)|)̂(h(Var
2
2
2
X
p1
pln)(hWhen
)|p(LlogE
p̂-1p̂
lnp
pp̂-1
p̂lnVar
2
2
p
2
X
we obtain
)p1(pn
)p1(p
122
n)p1(p
1
8. Keep it simple.
Good Slides: Style
etc does not mean that you should.
The fact that you can include all kinds of cute animation
pictures
9. Always purview your slides.
Good Slides: Style
There’s no excuse for a misspelled word on a slide.
______
Careful about translating between different applications
Fonts available on the computer where you made your slidemay not be available on the computer that produces yourslide.
Good Delivery: Timing
Few things irritate an audience more than a 30 minute talk delivered in 15 minutes.
Present only as much material as can reasonably fit into the time period allotted.
1 slide per minute
Talk at a pace that everybody in the audience can understand. Speak slowly, clearly, and loudly, especially if your English is heavily accented.
Balance the amount of material you present with a reasonable pace of presentation.
If you feel rushed when you practice, then you have toomuch material.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.
Good Delivery: Timing
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.
Alone: in the mirror
Good Delivery: Timing
Make sure you do not block the screen.
Don’t bounce, pace, jangle your keys, or twist your rings.
Ask a colleague to judge your presentation, delivery, clarity of language, and use of time.
Good Delivery: Presentation
The audience wants to hear what you have to say
Autopilot effect
Don’t apologize
The audience knows how to read
Good Delivery: Presentation
Don’t apologize for incomplete results. Researchers understand that all research continues. Just present the results and let the audience judge.
Beware the laser pointer
but don’t point at the computer screen
Take all questions seriously, no matter how stupid you thinka particular question is.
It’s okay if your answer is “I don’t know”.
Be diplomatic.
Invite persistent questioners to discuss the topic with you after the session.
Good Delivery: Audience Manners
Duplicate questions still deserve answers
Presentation Tips Resources
Many of these tips are culled from the ENAR guidelines to effective presentations.
www.enar.org
Also see
Freeman, DH, Gonzalez, ME, Hoaglin, DC, &Kilss, BA. (1983).Presenting statistical papers. American Statistician, 37:106-110
Becker, RA & Keller-McNulty, S. (1996). Presentation myths.American Statistician, 50:112-115
Upcoming Events
Sept. 30: no meeting
Oct. 7: Dr. Cruz Velasco
Oct. 14: Janet Ricejournal club format
Oct. 21: Dr. Don Mercante