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How to give a great research talk

       Simon Peyton Jones
  Microsoft Research, Cambridge
Giving a good talk

This presentation is about how to give
 a good research talk
 What your talk is for
 What to put in it (and what not to)
 How to present it
Why you should listen to this talk

Because many research talks are poor...
...and quite simple things can make your talks
much better
Because everyone benefits from good talks
  Your audience is happier
  You get promoted
Because a research talk gives you access to
the world’s most priceless commodity: the
time and attention of other people. Don’t
waste it!
What your talk is for

Your paper =   The beef



Your talk =   The beef
              advertisment

Do not confuse
 the two
The purpose of your talk…

The purpose of your talk is not:
 To impress your audience with your
 brainpower
 To tell them all you know about your
 topic
 To present all the technical details
The purpose of your talk…

The purpose of your talk is:
 To give your audience an
 intuitive feel for your idea
 To make them foam at the
 mouth with eagerness to read
 your paper
 To engage, excite, provoke
 them
 To make them glad they came
Your audience…

The audience you would like
 Have read all your earlier papers
 Thoroughly understand all the relevant
 theory of cartesian closed endomorphic
 bifunctors
 Are all agog to hear about the latest
 developments in your work
 Are fresh, alert, and ready for action
Your actual audience…

The audience you get
 Have never heard of you
 Have heard of bifunctors, but wish they hadn’t
 Have just had lunch and are ready for a doze

               Your mission is to


    WAKE THEM UP
          And make them glad they did
What to put in
What to put in

1. Motivation (20%)
2. Your key idea (80%)
3. There is no 3
Motivation
   You have 2 minutes to engage your audience
      before they start to doze
      Why should I tune into this talk?
      What is the problem?
      Why is it an interesting problem?
Example: Java class files are large (brief figures),
and get sent over the network. Can we use language-
aware compression to shrink them?
Example: synchronisation errors in concurrent
programs are a nightmare to find. I’m going to show
you a type system that finds many such errors at
compile time.
Your key idea
 If the audience remembers only one thing
     from your talk, what should it be?

You must identify a key idea. “What I did
this summer” is No Good.
Be specific. Don’t leave your audience to
figure it out for themselves.
Be absolutely specific. Say “If you
remember nothing else, remember this.”
Organise your talk around this specific
goal. Ruthlessly prune material that is
irrelevant to this goal.
Narrow, deep beats wide, shallow



       No

                             Yes

Avoid shallow overviews at all costs
Cut to the chase: the technical “meat”
Examples are
     Your main weapon your
             main weapon
    To motivate the work
    To convey the basic intuition
    To illustrate The Idea in action
    To show extreme cases
    To highlight shortcomings

When time is short, omit the general case,
             not the example
Exceptions in Haskell?
Exceptions are to do with control flow
There is no control flow in a lazy functional program

Solution 1: use data values to carry exceptions
     data Maybe a = Nothing
                  | Just a

     lookup :: Name -> Dictionary -> Maybe Address


Often this is Just The Right Thing
[Spivey 1990, Wadler “list of successes”]
What to leave out
Outline of my talk
Background
The FLUGOL system
Shortcomings of FLUGOL
Overview of synthetic epimorphisms
π-reducible decidability of the pseudo-
curried fragment under the Snezkovwski
invariant in FLUGOL
Benchmark results
Related work
Conclusions and further work
No outline!

“Outline of my talk”: conveys near zero
information at the start of your talk
     But maybe put up an outline for
     orientation after your motivation
     …and signposts at pause points
     during the talk
Related work

[PMW83]   The seminal paper
[SPZ88]   First use of epimorphisms
[PN93]    Application of epimorphisms to
          wibblification
[BXX98]   Lacks full abstraction
[XXB99]   Only runs on Sparc, no integration
          with GUI
Do not present related work

But
  You absolutely must know the related
  work; respond readily to questions
  Acknowledge co-authors (title slide),
  and pre-cursors (as you go along)
  Praise the opposition
  “X’s very interesting work does Y; I
     have extended it to do Z”
Technical detail
Omit technical details

Even though every line is drenched
in your blood and sweat, dense
clouds of notation will send your
audience to sleep
Present specific aspects only;
refer to the paper for the
details
By all means have backup slides to
use in response to questions
Presenting your talk
How to present your talk

Your most potent weapon, by far, is your
Enthusiasm

If you do not seem excited by your idea,
why should the audience be?
It wakes ‘em up
Enthusiasm makes people dramatically
more receptive
It gets you loosened up, breathing, moving
around
Write your slides the night before

(…or at least, polish it then)
  Your talk absolutely must be fresh in your
  mind
  Ideas will occur to you during the
  conference, as you obsess on your talk
  during other people’s presentations
Technology
Borrow a laser pointer, but avoid using it
Consider borrowing a wireless slide changer
Test that your laptop works with the
projector, in advance
Laptops break: leave a backup copy on the
web; bring a backup copy on a disk or USB key
Do not apologise

“I didn’t have time to prepare this talk
properly”
“My computer broke down, so I don’t have
the results I expected”
“I don’t have time to tell you about this”
“I don’t feel qualified to address this
audience”
The jelly effect

If you are anything like me, you will
experience apparently-severe pre-talk
symptoms
Inability to breathe
Inability to stand up (legs give way)
Inability to operate brain
What to do about it

Deep breathing during previous talk
Script your first few sentences precisely
(=> no brain required)
Move around a lot, use large gestures,
wave your arms, stand on chairs
Go to the loo first

     You are not a wimp.
   Everyone feels this way.
Being seen, being heard

Point at the screen, not at the overhead
projector
Speak to someone at the back of the
room, even if you have a microphone on
Make eye contact; identify a nodder, and
speak to him or her (better still, more
than one)
Watch audience for questions…
Questions
Questions are not a problem

       Questions are a golden
    golden golden opportunity to
     connect with your audience

Specifically encourage questions during your
talk: pause briefly now and then, ask for
questions
Be prepared to truncate your talk if you run out
of time. Better to connect, and not to present
all your material
Presenting your slides

A very annoying technique
   is to reveal
  your points
  one
  by one
  by one, unless…
  there is a punch line
Presenting your slides

Use animation effects
  very             very
          very         very
   very          very
          very

                 sparingly
Finishing

   Absolutely without fail,
        finish on time
Audiences get restive and essentially stop
listening when your time is up. Continuing is
very counter productive
Simply truncate and conclude
Do not say “would you like me to go on?” (it’s
hard to say “no thanks”)
Conclusion: there is hope

The general standard is often low.
You don’t have to be outstanding to
             stand out

 You will attend 50x as many talks as you give.
Watch other people’s talks intelligently, and pick
  up ideas for what to do and what to avoid.
Do it! Do it! Do it!

Good papers and talks are a fundamental
      part of research excellence
           Invest time
           Learn skills
           Practice

  Write a paper, and give a talk, about
             any idea,
no matter how weedy and insignificant it
           may seem to you
Research is communication

 The greatest ideas are worthless if you keep
              them to yourself

Your papers and talks
 Crystalise your ideas
 Communicate them to others
 Get feedback
 Build relationships
 (And garner research brownie points)

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How to Give a Great Research Talk

  • 1. How to give a great research talk Simon Peyton Jones Microsoft Research, Cambridge
  • 2. Giving a good talk This presentation is about how to give a good research talk What your talk is for What to put in it (and what not to) How to present it
  • 3. Why you should listen to this talk Because many research talks are poor... ...and quite simple things can make your talks much better Because everyone benefits from good talks Your audience is happier You get promoted Because a research talk gives you access to the world’s most priceless commodity: the time and attention of other people. Don’t waste it!
  • 4. What your talk is for Your paper = The beef Your talk = The beef advertisment Do not confuse the two
  • 5. The purpose of your talk… The purpose of your talk is not: To impress your audience with your brainpower To tell them all you know about your topic To present all the technical details
  • 6. The purpose of your talk… The purpose of your talk is: To give your audience an intuitive feel for your idea To make them foam at the mouth with eagerness to read your paper To engage, excite, provoke them To make them glad they came
  • 7. Your audience… The audience you would like Have read all your earlier papers Thoroughly understand all the relevant theory of cartesian closed endomorphic bifunctors Are all agog to hear about the latest developments in your work Are fresh, alert, and ready for action
  • 8. Your actual audience… The audience you get Have never heard of you Have heard of bifunctors, but wish they hadn’t Have just had lunch and are ready for a doze Your mission is to WAKE THEM UP And make them glad they did
  • 10. What to put in 1. Motivation (20%) 2. Your key idea (80%) 3. There is no 3
  • 11. Motivation You have 2 minutes to engage your audience before they start to doze Why should I tune into this talk? What is the problem? Why is it an interesting problem? Example: Java class files are large (brief figures), and get sent over the network. Can we use language- aware compression to shrink them? Example: synchronisation errors in concurrent programs are a nightmare to find. I’m going to show you a type system that finds many such errors at compile time.
  • 12. Your key idea If the audience remembers only one thing from your talk, what should it be? You must identify a key idea. “What I did this summer” is No Good. Be specific. Don’t leave your audience to figure it out for themselves. Be absolutely specific. Say “If you remember nothing else, remember this.” Organise your talk around this specific goal. Ruthlessly prune material that is irrelevant to this goal.
  • 13. Narrow, deep beats wide, shallow No Yes Avoid shallow overviews at all costs Cut to the chase: the technical “meat”
  • 14. Examples are Your main weapon your main weapon To motivate the work To convey the basic intuition To illustrate The Idea in action To show extreme cases To highlight shortcomings When time is short, omit the general case, not the example
  • 15. Exceptions in Haskell? Exceptions are to do with control flow There is no control flow in a lazy functional program Solution 1: use data values to carry exceptions data Maybe a = Nothing | Just a lookup :: Name -> Dictionary -> Maybe Address Often this is Just The Right Thing [Spivey 1990, Wadler “list of successes”]
  • 17. Outline of my talk Background The FLUGOL system Shortcomings of FLUGOL Overview of synthetic epimorphisms π-reducible decidability of the pseudo- curried fragment under the Snezkovwski invariant in FLUGOL Benchmark results Related work Conclusions and further work
  • 18. No outline! “Outline of my talk”: conveys near zero information at the start of your talk But maybe put up an outline for orientation after your motivation …and signposts at pause points during the talk
  • 19. Related work [PMW83] The seminal paper [SPZ88] First use of epimorphisms [PN93] Application of epimorphisms to wibblification [BXX98] Lacks full abstraction [XXB99] Only runs on Sparc, no integration with GUI
  • 20. Do not present related work But You absolutely must know the related work; respond readily to questions Acknowledge co-authors (title slide), and pre-cursors (as you go along) Praise the opposition “X’s very interesting work does Y; I have extended it to do Z”
  • 22. Omit technical details Even though every line is drenched in your blood and sweat, dense clouds of notation will send your audience to sleep Present specific aspects only; refer to the paper for the details By all means have backup slides to use in response to questions
  • 24. How to present your talk Your most potent weapon, by far, is your
  • 25. Enthusiasm If you do not seem excited by your idea, why should the audience be? It wakes ‘em up Enthusiasm makes people dramatically more receptive It gets you loosened up, breathing, moving around
  • 26. Write your slides the night before (…or at least, polish it then) Your talk absolutely must be fresh in your mind Ideas will occur to you during the conference, as you obsess on your talk during other people’s presentations
  • 27. Technology Borrow a laser pointer, but avoid using it Consider borrowing a wireless slide changer Test that your laptop works with the projector, in advance Laptops break: leave a backup copy on the web; bring a backup copy on a disk or USB key
  • 28. Do not apologise “I didn’t have time to prepare this talk properly” “My computer broke down, so I don’t have the results I expected” “I don’t have time to tell you about this” “I don’t feel qualified to address this audience”
  • 29. The jelly effect If you are anything like me, you will experience apparently-severe pre-talk symptoms Inability to breathe Inability to stand up (legs give way) Inability to operate brain
  • 30. What to do about it Deep breathing during previous talk Script your first few sentences precisely (=> no brain required) Move around a lot, use large gestures, wave your arms, stand on chairs Go to the loo first You are not a wimp. Everyone feels this way.
  • 31. Being seen, being heard Point at the screen, not at the overhead projector Speak to someone at the back of the room, even if you have a microphone on Make eye contact; identify a nodder, and speak to him or her (better still, more than one) Watch audience for questions…
  • 32. Questions Questions are not a problem Questions are a golden golden golden opportunity to connect with your audience Specifically encourage questions during your talk: pause briefly now and then, ask for questions Be prepared to truncate your talk if you run out of time. Better to connect, and not to present all your material
  • 33. Presenting your slides A very annoying technique is to reveal your points one by one by one, unless… there is a punch line
  • 34. Presenting your slides Use animation effects very very very very very very very sparingly
  • 35. Finishing Absolutely without fail, finish on time Audiences get restive and essentially stop listening when your time is up. Continuing is very counter productive Simply truncate and conclude Do not say “would you like me to go on?” (it’s hard to say “no thanks”)
  • 36. Conclusion: there is hope The general standard is often low. You don’t have to be outstanding to stand out You will attend 50x as many talks as you give. Watch other people’s talks intelligently, and pick up ideas for what to do and what to avoid.
  • 37. Do it! Do it! Do it! Good papers and talks are a fundamental part of research excellence Invest time Learn skills Practice Write a paper, and give a talk, about any idea, no matter how weedy and insignificant it may seem to you
  • 38. Research is communication The greatest ideas are worthless if you keep them to yourself Your papers and talks Crystalise your ideas Communicate them to others Get feedback Build relationships (And garner research brownie points)