Preparing and Delivering a SeminarCopyright 2002, Michael K. Gilson
Build
a seminar around the main points you want to convey. Make sure that
each one is clearly, slowly and explicitly stated when it first arises
during the talk. At the end of the talk, restate all of the points in a
summary.
Here are some additional principles, practices, and tips
for preparing and delivering seminars. Some of these ideas apply to
writing papers, too.
- Assume your audience is infinitely ignorant but infinitely intelligent. The audience will understand a clear, complete explanation. (From Barry Honig.)
- Give a good introduction.
A research report will be boring to everyone except an expert in your
area unless you provide the context. Explain why what you are doing is
interesting and important.
- Never underestimate a person's pleasure in hearing a good presentation of what he or she already knows. Don't
feel foolish providing background that your audience might be familiar
with. And don't assume your audience knows a great deal more than you
do, even if you are a graduate student and they are professors. They
still need you to orient them to what you are doing. {From Andy
McCammon.)
- Keep your audience oriented. Make
sure that they understand, at each step, why you are presenting each
topic. If the audience becomes disoriented, you will lose their
attention. Presenting an outline of the talk near the beginning can
help. (From Marti Head.)
- A talk should entertain. The best scientific talks entertain by giving people new ideas and perspectives. High-quality graphics can also help.
- Present only one big idea per slide. This
helps convey your ideas forcefully, and prevents the audience from
reading ahead instead of listening to you. (The exceptions are the
outline and summary slides.)
- Never read aloud from your slides! A slide should support your talk, never substitute for it.
- Avoid spending time on highly technical points. Unless
it is a critical detail, it is acceptable to briefly state what was
done and that it was reasonable, and add that you'd be happy to explain
it in detail if anyone is interested. Then continue with the seminar.
- Practice. Stand
in front of a seminar room and present to an imagined audience or to a
friend. Identify parts where you have trouble finding the right words
and work on them. Make sure the talk is about the right length.
- Benefit from other people's opinions of your talk. Parts
of your talk may be less clear than you imagined. Even invalid
criticism can be helpful: if one person thought your talk had an error,
someone else probably will also, so head off future concerns by add a
sentence or two to make your point clearer.
- Pay attention to your audience when you're speaking.
If everyone is watching you and listening, you are succeeding! If
people look lost or somnolent, you may need to slow down, speak more
loudly, and/or explain better.
- When you are speaking, you are in charge. A
talk can be badly derailed if you get into a discussion or debate with
someone in the audience. If the discussion seems to have no end, say
that you'll be pleased to continue the discussion after the talk and
then resume.
- Check the time occasionally during your talk. Adjust the level of detail and the rate of presentation so that the talk fits the allotted time.