Presentations

Carole Goble | Uli SattlerSchool of Computer Science

University of Manchester

COMP80122

Slides are available at http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~sattler/teaching/COMP80122/

Welcome and Basic Organisation

Welcome to COMP80122

Semester 1

P1:P2: COMP80131 Jon, Simon

Semester 2P3: COMP80142 Bijan, Jon

P4: COMP80122 Carole, Uli

March 31stApril 2nd

Week 7 Seminar

Week 8 Seminar

Easter Break Research Symposium

Week 9 Seminar

Week 10 Your Prezies

Week 12 Your Prezies

Week 11 Your Prezies

in small groups

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

• describe the core aspects of a presentation – and how they affect the understanding

• prepare a presentation on their research – keeping in mind the core aspects

• give a clear presentation on their research – that follows good practice in the core aspects

• analyse and evaluate a presentation along the core aspects

Your Deliverables for COMP80122

1. Active participation, incl. various small tasks

2. A 15 minute presentation

3. Critiques of Research Symposium Presentationsplus various little exercises, tasks, …

Week 7 Seminar

Week 8 Seminar

Easter Break Research Symposium

Week 9 Seminar

Week 10 Your Prezies

Week 12 Your Prezies

Week 11 Your Prezies

March 31stApril 2nd

Research Symposium

• March 31- April 1– see http://studentnet.cs.manchester.ac.uk/pgr/symposium/

• Great place to learn about – department & its research– research in Computer Science in general– other PhD students

• Great place to think about communication of research– clarity: what makes you “get” what has been done– story lines …– boredom, effect, ...– slides

how did X make you feel?

Deliverable 1

• During the whole seminar, in particular the discussion of fellow students’ presentations you

• are present• participate actively

• We’ll clarify this later

Deliverable 2 • Attend all presentations of the Research Symposium • You are assigned 10 presentations; for each

– give a 2-3 sentence summary of its contents and– write a critique: what was good, what could have been better – taking into account all 3 aspects of a presentation

• storyline• slides• presenter

• submit all your summaries and critiques via easychair– your reviews will be anonymous and fed back to presenters

• we’ll clarify this later

Deliverable 3• You will give a 15 minute presentation

• about your research (current or past) • to a small group of ~12 fellow participants• we discuss what

• worked well • can be improved

• Next week, we • organise you into groups• start scheduling your presentations

• First presentations: Monday, April 20th

Central Thoughts about Presentations

Including 3 core aspects

Most important features of a presentation?

TechnicalContributions

ImpressiveResults

ConfidentPresenter

ProfessionalSlides

EntertainingDelivery

Clear Delivery

GoodStructure

A Good Presentation is…

• interesting – tells something new & why we should care

• clear – story line: start, middle, end– follow-able– on the right level of abstraction

for the audience • articulate

– thought through – well prepared…

• right for the audience

kuweight64.blogspot.com/2011/04/quote-for-today.html

The wider view: Communication

…of your research: • Does it matter? • Do you need to be able to communicate your contributions?

– Results can speak for themselves!

A Blunt Answer: Your Viva!

Page 24 of 36

refer any problems or concerns to the Faculty Associate Dean for Postgraduate Research.

PART FIVE: EXAMINER RECOMMENDATIONS

22. Recommendations for doctoral degrees – first

examination

NB: regardless of which recommendation is selected, examiners are required to complete a joint Examiners’ Report Form and upload it to the University’s progression monitoring system via the internal examiner or independent chair within five working days of the oral examination having taken place (see section 19 for further information on the Examiners’ Report Form).

There are three categories of recommendations for doctoral

degrees: ‘A’ (award), ‘B’ (refer) and ‘C’ (reject). Within each category, examiners must select a sub-recommendation, as follows.

22.1 CATEGORY A: AWARD (recommendation A(i) and A(ii))

22.1.1 Award with no corrections (recommendation

A(i)) The examiners should select recommendation A(i) if the

thesis is satisfactory in every way and there are no revisions to be made to it.

The examiners may recommend the award if they are

satisfied that the thesis is satisfactory in every way and that:

• the candidate possesses an appropriate knowledge of

the particular field of learning within which the subject of the thesis falls;

• the research which is reported in the thesis contributes a substantial addition to knowledge;

From: Examination of Doctoral Degrees Policy June 2017

Slightly Sharper Answer: Conferences

• Hopefully, you will present your work at conference/workshop• Great opportunity to

– travel– meet colleagues – network– get feedback

Communication of CS Research

…?

• A presentation is a monologue with • no/little space for

- questions- clarifications- explanations

• therefor requires - thought- preparation

The Three AspectsThe speaker• body language

– focus • voice

– volume– speed– clarity

• nerves • ...

The story• story line• clarity • level• timing• use of terminology• ...

The slides• bullet lists• graphics• fonts• highlights• ...

Effects on you/audience by choices to these?What is helpful to get message across?

Being Prepared

Your Thoughts about the 5 Presentations

Feedback for this presenter• Good points• Points to work on

Feedback for this presenter• Good points• Points to work on

Feedback for this presenter• Good points• Points to work on

Feedback for this presenter• Good points• Points to work on

Feedback for this presenter• Good points• Points to work on

The Basis: Being Well Prepared

The Three AspectsThe speaker• body language

– focus • preparedness• voice

– volume– speed– clarity

• nerves • ...

The story• story line• clarity • level• timing• use of terminology• ...

The slides• bullet lists• graphics• fonts• highlights• ...

Being Prepared

Good Preparation• is a duty to the audience

– don’t make a group of (influential?) people suffer

• makes you more confident• requires good conceptualization of your work

– might even provide new insight into your work

• takes a looooong time to design: – start well in time, i.e., weeks before – iterative through different versions:

• make slides • practise• think & discuss• …start again

• Setting the scene: – what kind of problem is addressed?– why is that interesting/relevant?

• Focus: – your Research Hypothesis/Question?

• Methodology/approach/work done: – what have you done/are you doing?

• Context:– how does this relate to other people’s work?

• Contributions made: – what is the outcome of the work done? – what are the new insights gained? – how do these answer research hypothesis/question?

• Outlook/next steps/open questions?

Storyline: relevant questionsR

unning example

At right level/enough tim

e

Two approaches to presentation design • iterative:

1. make slides 2. practise3. think & discuss➡ …start again until tired/

happy

• top down:1. gather points to make2. gather terms to define3. ponder whether these are

complete4. arrange in an order5. ponder whether this is

good order/narrative6. make slides7. practise 8. think & discuss➡ …improve

Discuss: which is more efficient?

Preparing a Presentation

Think about: • who is your audience? • who are you?• short memory of audience!• what do you want them to take home?• how much time do you have?

– rule of thumb: 2 min per slide– even if it hurts: you need to leave out certain

• aspects of your work• details of your work

• what technical devices do you have/need?

Discuss:

• If you understand X, then you can explain X – well– to everybody– at any length

Corollary: Inability to explain shows lack of understanding

Caveat: Being good at explaining is a skill that takes practise

Let’s try this out (20 mins)

• Spend 3 minutes to sketch out a suitable storyline to tell – a fellow CS PhD student – about your research– in 2-3 minutes (a long elevator pitch)

• Build groups of 3 students who don’t know each other – shuffle around

• Tell each other your storylines

• All: discuss

For the Next Session on Wednesday

Coursework for Wednesday 1.Watch the 5 videos again

– paying special care to story (incl. terminology)– but also other aspects– what

+ caught your interest/made you curious+ made you smile/laugh+ gave you a lightbulb- confused you - distracted you - annoyed- bored you• …take & bring notes with slide numbers/minutes

‣ Bring this on Wednesday and we’ll discuss

the day after

tomorrow

People and sites mentioned

• Videolectures for numerous recordings of presentations – http://videolectures.net/

• Dave Gorman for great use of slides – http://www.davegorman.com/

• Hans Rosling for talking nicely & clearly with a foreign accent and for some more examples of

– good use of graphics– great entertainment– great communication of tricky, technical statistics!– e.g., https://www.ted.com/talks/

hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen

Any Questions?