mary jean harrold advance professor of computing college of computing georgia institute of...

Mary Jean HarroldADVANCE Professor of Computing

College of ComputingGeorgia Institute of Technology

Communication Skills

My Background

PhD CS, 1988BS, MS math,secondary, college math teacher

• Georgia Tech (1999-present)

• Software engineering• TOSEM, TSE, ACM Fellow• CRA, CRA-W, National

Center for Women and Information Technology

Role of Communication





Thought “if I do good work, it will be recognized”

Disliked writing and public speaking—but wouldn’t need these as math teacher

Role of Communication







But then I realized•Good writing/presentations can’t make my bad work good, but bad writing/presentations can make my good work go unnoticed• No matter how good the idea is, it won’t go anywhere unless I can communicate it to others

COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY!







But then I realized• Good presentations/writing can’t make bad work good, but bad presentations/writing can make good work go unnoticed• No matter how good the idea is, it won’t go anywhere unless it can be communicated to others

Making Good Presentations

Making GOOD presentations essential for– Explaining your work to others

(1 min, 3 min, 25 min)– Advertising your work

(lab talks, industry visits)– Selling your work to funding agencies,

managers– Interviewing for jobs– Interacting with other researchers– Etc.

But I’m Not a Natural Communicator

• Being a good speaker rarely comes naturally, improve by– analyzing what good speakers do– giving more talks

• Studies show that – public speaking is #1 human fear

So work at becoming a good

communicator—it’s work but worth it!

Becoming a Good Communicator

Have something

to say

Create ahigh-qualitypresentation

Get feedback

Practice, practice, practice

Give talk

Some final thoughts

Have Something to Say

Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

• Work should be mature enough for presentation

• “Begin with the end in mind” (i.e., know how the work will be evaluated)Significance

• problem you’re solving• solution in context of your area

Originality of contributionSoundness of results



Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

Create a High-quality Presentation

Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts


1. Goals for the presentation

2. Tips for getting started

3. Determine organization

and outline

4. Consider how and where

to discuss research within outline

5. Some tips for a presentation

6. Mini-tutorial for poster presentation

1. Goals for the Presentation

Remember

You have a short time to tell audience about your work, and get them interested in finding out more—e.g., reading paper, asking questions

So make your presentation– interesting– understandable


Interesting• Get audience interested

early, keep their interest• Tell anecdote from

experience with problem• Tell story or give statistics

about problem• Provide motivation for problem


Understandable

• Know audience—level of expertise about your area, what they expect,…

• Know environment—where you fit within the program, who will speak before you,…

• Know community—style of conference, established styles of presentation, areas of research do they work,…


Understandable (cont’d)

• Discuss required background with respect to audience

• Provide appropriate details of research for audience and community

• Make presentation clear and concise

• Present sound research results but understandable by non-expert

2. Tips for Getting Started

• Start early—it takes time to prepare a good presentation

• Decide what the “story” and “take home message” should be

• Write down the important points you want to make (in any random order)—don’t forget motivation and “way of looking at the problem”

• Think about pictures / graphs / visual aids / examples to help you make your points

3. Determine Organization and Outline

Title

Introduction

Outline (optional)

Background (if needed)

Body (research)

Evaluation

Discussion

Related work

Future work

Conclusion

Acknowledgements


TitleTitle

Introduction

Outline (optional)Outline (optional)

Background (if needed)

Body (research)

Evaluation

Discussion

Related work

Future work

Conclusion

Acknowledgements


IntroductionBackground BodyEvaluationDiscussionRelated workFuture workConclusionAcknowledgements

4. Consider How/Where to Discuss Research Within Outline (SOS)




• Significance– discuss why this problem

is significant – discuss why your solution

is significant (e.g., what it

may be useful for, why/how

it scales up, generalizes)



• Originality– specify objectives,

contribution clearly

– compare with related

work carefully– implement objectives

carefully


IntroductionBackground Body EvaluationDiscussionRelated workFuture workConclusionAcknowledgements

• Originality– specify objectives,

contribution clearly

– compare with related

work carefully– implement objectives

carefully



• Soundness– describe research – discuss evaluation

• method• results• discussion

– will need to leave out many details



• Background and related work—the difference– Background—what listeners

need to know to understand your technique

– Related work—what existing work is similar to yours, and how yours is different from theirs



• Who to acknowledge– Those who fund your work

—ask advisor– Those who have helped

with work but not authors– Those who have given you

important feedback

5. Some Tips for Presentations

Preparing presentation• Do in parallel (telling your “story”)

– Create talk using outline, make slides – Write out exactly word-for-word what you are going to

say on each slide—this is your story

• Give the talk out loud to yourself with slides and printed notes in front of you– Note mistakes in slides– Jot notes on places that just “don’t seem to work” or

“don’t flow well”– Note if talk is too long or short

Slide mechanics• Plan for about 1.5-2 min/slide • Never use serif or variable width fonts• Never use less than 24 point font

• Aim for 3-6 points per slide and less than 30 words per slide

• Make effect use of color—but don’t overdo it (I try to select a pleasing 3-color scheme)

• Use animation (rather than a laser pointer)

5. Some Tips for Presentations

but don’t overdo it

6. Mini-tutorial for Poster Presentation

Things to consider– Audience is quite general

• in CSE• not in your area

– All communication tips still apply but time is short

– Want to quickly interest listener so they’ll ask more questions


Create a 1-2 minute presentation that addresses SOS

Significance of problem and solution

Originality of contribution

Soundness of results


Outline (mini-talk in 1-2 minutes)• Describe problem area• Describe your specific problem• Tell (briefly) what others have done and the

limitations of those techniques• Describe your solution (it should address

limitations), and list its benefits• Discuss any empirical results that validate your

work• List contributions


Follow up questions

• Discuss approach in more detail

• Discuss validation in more detail

• Discuss limitations of your work

• Outline current and future work

• Etc.


Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

Get Feedback

Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

• Get draft slides done early for feedback– Give it to your advisor REALLY early– Give it to your friends—and offer to help them

in return

• Look at feedback as a blessing (grow a thick skin)

• Let people listening know what evaluation criteria are so they can provide good feedback

Get Feedback

Get Feedback

Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

Practice, Practice, Practice

Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts


• Act on the results of your practice– Does the overall talk work?– Is it close to the right amount of time or do you have

to cut/add major chunks?– Fix the slides– Rewrite the text to fix the rough spots (sometimes this

means re-ordering or working in a new transition or significantly changing a couple of slides)

• Repeat until good! (speak slowly; don’t use notes)


The dry run• It’s often harder to give a talk to your friends and

colleagues than it is to a large audience that doesn’t know you

• Make sure to do it early enough so you will be able to incorporate changes

• Lay the ground rules for the dry run – make sure they know where you are giving the talk (what kind of audience), how long you have, whether you can be interrupted, etc.


Still on the dry run…• Deliver the talk as if it were the real thing

– Smile– Be confident– Look them (all) in the eye– Be enthusiastic about (all) the material– Speak SLOWLY– Speak clearly– Modulate your voice emphasizing the important points


Still on the dry run…• Listen carefully to the comments

– Be grateful for every comment you get! (Remember, you don’t need to incorporate them if you don’t like them, but another viewpoint is ALWAYS helpful.)

– Pay particular attention if someone is confused or didn’t understand a point that was made – that really needs to be fixed!

• Redo the talk based on the comments• Practice it for yourself again and again!


Before event• Need to present many times before actual

talk• Not sufficient to go through slides and

think about them to yourself• Practice in “chunks” of talk

– according to your outline– each of them until you get it right– in front of a mirror


Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

Continue Until High-quality…

Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

Give Talk

Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

Give Talk

At the talk• Check out the set-up in advance • Try the media in advance

– Ask for help if something doesn’t work right– Know what “signals” for time you will get

• Have script for first few slides written• Think about appearance—avoid extremes• It’s natural to be nervous (learn ways to relax) • Remain confident – you KNOW the material and

it is GOOD – now show them!

Give TalkAnswering questions• Be prepared!

– Think of sample questions beforehand– Have backup slides for the questions you expect

• Make sure you listen to/understand the question – repeat it back to the questioner

• For questions that need long/detailed responses, ask to meet after the session

• Don’t be afraid to say “that’s a really good point/idea and on our list to consider for future work”

• Don’t get into extended arguments

Give Talk

Have something

to say


Get feedback


Give talk

Some final thoughts

Some Final Thoughts

Keep a professional web page

• Update it regularly

• Include a professionally done head shot

• Think carefully about putting personal stuff (family pictures, etc.)—if you do include them, put a link to them

Some Final Thoughts

Research communication resources• M. Alley, The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical

Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid, 2005

• R.A. Day, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. Cambridge University Press, 1989

• L. Dupré, Bugs in Writing. Addison-Wesley, 1998

• E. Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2001

• J. Zobel, Writing for Computer Science, 2s

Conclusion

• Communicating your ideas clearly is an important skill at which you need to work—so start now!

• The more you do it, the easier it becomes!

• But the fear never goes away—you just learn to deal with it!

Additional Suggestions

These came from questions, suggestions, and discussion with students at the talk

• Look for resources at your university—they are usually available—e.g., classes, videotaping, labs

• Put your slides in pdf format so that they can be read by any machine and system—or if you want to give them in powerpoint, have the pdf slides as a backup

Additional Suggestions (cont’d)

• Create sections of your talk, according to the outline, so that if people tune out, they can get back in. There are two possible ways to do this:– Create an outline that will guide the talk, and continue

to put it back up; when you show it, you’ll be able to transition from what you’ve told them and what you’re now going to tell them

– Instead of having a slide with the outline, you verbally transition from section to section—e.g., “Now that I’ve presented my technique, let me discuss the evaluation of it…”

Additional Suggestions (cont’d)

• It’s important to provide transitions between slides– They help the audience keep up with you and

see where you are– They tell the audience what you’ve told them

and what you’re going to tell them.

Questions?

mary jean harrold advance professor of computing college of computing georgia institute of...

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