Preparing and Delivering a Seminar
Copyright 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.