{"id":696,"date":"2011-10-12T11:37:36","date_gmt":"2011-10-12T10:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/ajb\/?p=696"},"modified":"2011-10-12T11:37:36","modified_gmt":"2011-10-12T10:37:36","slug":"suggestions-for-giving-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/ajb\/2011\/10\/12\/suggestions-for-giving-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Suggestions for giving talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all have to give talks as part of our work from time to time.\u00a0 In fact giving talks is\u00a0 very important. Let’s face the truth, people won’t read your papers.\u00a0 People working on very similar and related things might. Placing a preprint on the arXiv helps,\u00a0 but generically people won’t get past the title and if you are lucky the abstract. Giving talks at conferences and seminars is the only way to get people to notice your work and importantly YOU.<\/p>\n

My general advice (and I have no great insight) is simple,<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Select very modest goals and maybe 3 or 4 key points.\u00a0 Most of the audience will not be experts in your precise field, unless you are at a specialist conference.\u00a0 For departmental seminars you will have to take great care in what you say and how you say it. You want people to learn something and also see that you are great at communicating.<\/li>\n
  2. Open with setting the context of your work.\u00a0 People need to know how it all fits in. They want to know if what you have done relates to their work.<\/li>\n
  3. Be slack with unimportant details.\u00a0 You can remove terms in equations that play no significant role. Just use words like “+ small terms”.\u00a0 You can suppress indices.\u00a0 Don’t be frightened of using analogies or examples to get a point across.\u00a0 The ethos does\u00a0 have to be exactly correct,\u00a0 just close enough to what you are really doing, but you must say this.<\/li>\n
  4. Never run overtime. The audience will hate you for this. It is disrespectful to keep going past your allotted time.\u00a0 It can also show that you do not take talking seriously and have not though out your talk at all.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Geroch way back in 1973 wrote some notes called “Suggestions For Giving Talks”.\u00a0 He gives plenty of sound advice for giving talks. The notes are available on the arXiv\u00a0 here<\/a>.\u00a0 I suggest anyone giving a scientific talk take a look at it.\u00a0 I know it has helped me.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Other things online I have found useful and full of good advice include<\/p>\n