five things you can do right now to make your research presentations just a little bit better

FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW TO MAKE YOUR RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS

JUST A LITTLE BIT BETTER

RESEARCH

Source: Peter Cuhalev

IF I HAVE SEEN FURTHER THAN OTHERS, IT IS BY STANDING UPON

THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS.“ ”

Isaac Newton February 5, 1676

REVIEW LITERATURE

RUN EXPERIMENT

COLLECT DATA

CONDUCT ANALYSIS

SYNTHESIZE RESULTS

REVIEW LITERATURE

RUN EXPERIMENT

COLLECT DATA

CONDUCT ANALYSIS

SYNTHESIZE RESULTS

SHARE FINDINGS

COMMUNITY MEETING

WORKSHOP

POSTER

CONFERENCE

YOUR BRAIN

SOMEONE ELSE’S BRAIN

Dr. Andy Frasse!o Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology

EVERYONE LEARNS

HOW TO DO RESEARCH IN GRADUATE SCHOOL

BUT NOT EVERYONE LEARNS

HOW TO GIVE A GOOD TALK.

“ ”Dr. Andy Frasse!o

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology

22

THIS IS NOT JUST A PROBLEM FOR “SCIENCE COMMUNICATION”

OR “SCIENCE OUTREACH”.

??

? ?

Jean-luc Doumont Trees, maps, and theorems

SCIENTISTS

CANNOT COMMUNICATE VERY WELL WITH NON-SCIENTISTS,

BUT IN FACT THEY CANNOT COMMUNICATE WELL

WITH OTHER SCIENTISTS EITHER.

“ ”Jean-luc Doumont

Principiae

FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW TO MAKE YOUR RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS

JUST A LITTLE BIT BETTER

1STEP ONEBe clear

about your own goals.

FIVEminutes

ONEidea

TAKE-AWAY MESSAGE

Outline for every research talk•Introduction •Statement of problem •Data •Methods •Results •Conclusion

WRITE DOWN

THE MAIN MESSAGE YOU WANT TO COMMUNICATE

THROUGH YOUR PRESENTATION IN ONE SENTENCE

(MAYBE TWO).

North Dakota Water Science Center, United States Geological Survey | May 13, 2016

Sco! St. George University of Minnesota

Joe Zeleznik North Dakota State University

ANCIENT FLOODS AND

MODERN HAZARDS IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY

RECOVER INFORMATION FROM

THE RINGS OF OLD TREES TO UNDERSTAND THE PAST AND POTENTIAL FUTURE

OF HYDROLOGICAL CHANGE

IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY

?How long can you expect to keep your audience’s attention?

CLASSROOM RESEARCH SUGGESTS SPEAKERS CAN HOLD AN AUDIENCE’S ATTENTION FOR, AT MOST, TEN MINUTES.

IN ROCK MUSIC YOU HAVE TO

BURN FROM THE FIRST BAR.

“ ”Sting, English Pop Star

2STEP TWOKnow your audience.

AUDIENCE

… DESIGNING A PRESENTATION WITHOUT AN AUDIENCE IN MIND IS LIKE

WRITING A LOVE LETTER AND ADDRESSING IT

‘TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN’.

“ ”Ken Haemer

Manager, Presentation Research, AT&T

WHAT’S THE SETTING OF YOUR PRESENTATION?

WHAT DO THEY ALREADY KNOW ABOUT YOUR TOPIC?

WHAT SOURCES DO THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION FROM?

WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO THEM? WHAT KEEPS THEM AWAKE AT NIGHT?

WHAT PRECONCEPTIONS WILL YOU NEED TO WORK AGAINST?

3STEP THREEMake a plan.

?Someone just asked you

to deliver a presentation.

DO FIRST?WHAT DO YOU

We don’t know where we get our ideas from. We do know that we do not get them from our laptops.“ ”

John Cleese

4STEP FOURMove your notes off the screen.

?What is the average reading speed for a literate adult (words per minute?)

Concluding Remarks

•Absent rings were uncommon during the growing seasons that followed major volcanic eruptions, including A.D. 1259 and 1816.

• Because these features have occurred so rarely in high-latitude and high-elevation tree ring-width records, the hypothesis that the Northern Hemisphere tree ring-width network is compromised by dating errors due to unrecognized absent rings would require that many temperature-limited forest stands in the network exhibited a reaction to cold temperatures that have essen- tially never been observed anywhere.

•If however absent-ring formation were to increase in forests outside of the American Southwest, that behavior would represent an unprecedented response to environmental stress.

PICTURES BEAT TEXT… BECAUSE READING IS SO INEFFICIENT FOR US.

WE HAVE TO IDENTIFY CERTAIN FEATURES IN THE LETTERS TO BE ABLE TO READ THEM.

THAT TAKES TIME.

“ ”Dr. John Medina

Brain Rules

Source: Amy Luxbacher

5STEP FIVECreate visual aids

that work for the back row.

http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/NaturalFlow/current.html

Population Growth of Colorado River Basin 1900-2000

0

12,500,000

25,000,000

37,500,000

50,000,000

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

CaliforniaOther 6 Basin States Combined

Population

Golf course in Las Vegas photo: K.Dewey, High Plains Climate Center

Low flow conditions since 2000 have coincided with increased consumption from a rapidly growing population and new demands for water for ecosystem health and recreation. Increases in consumptive use are projected to continue.

“ ”I KNOW YOU

BUT...CAN’T SEE THIS,

MAKE IT BIG

American Association for the Advancement of Science Chicago, Illinois

February 15, 2014

Source: St. George et al., Geophysical Research Le!ers (2013)

PiceaPinus

PseudotsugaQuercusLarix

a

c

# re

cord

s

% re

cord

s

b

18ºN

36ºN

54ºN

72ºN90ºN

120ºW 60ºW 0º 60ºE 120ºE 180ºW180ºW

1000 20001200 1400 1600 1800

2000

1000

0 0%

12%

6%

1000 20001200 1400 1600 1800Year Year

0º

How o"en have locally-absent rings occurred across the Northern Hemisphere tree ring-width network?

Source: St. George et al., Geophysical Research Le!ers (2013)

Be clear about your own goals for the talk.

Know your audience.

Plan your talk on paper first.

Move your notes off the screen.

Create visual aids that work for the back row.

5THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW TO MAKE YOUR RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS JUST A LITTLE BIT BETTER

www.presentationzen.com

www.slideshare.net/treubold

I CAN POINT TO SPECIFIC LESSONS THAT HELPED ME

WIN RESEARCH AWARDS GET A RESEARCH JOB IN EUROPE

AND THAT CONTINUE TO PAY OFF

WHENEVER I PRESENT MY WORK TO A LARGER GROUP.

“ ”


RESEARCH

twi!er.com/sco!stgeorge