Brief Research Talks

[Based on a presentation by Gordon H. Bower; transcribed by D.C. 
Fallside]

What is a “talk”?

A talk is not a written paper.  Talks have an informal narrative style 
and are dramatic rather than detailed or completely informative.

A better model for the short talk is the campfire storyteller of a 
mystery (or a Steve Martin skit) rather than the reciter of an 
encyclopedia.  A narrative style is preferable in talks.  Research is 
done to tell a story, going from problem, goal, plan, through actions 
(observations, analysis) to outcomes, resolution, and a moral 
(conclusion).  Avoid a written journal-style organization.

You must be very selective about what you say in a short time.  Most 
short speeches can barely carry one main idea plus lots of support.  
Resist the temptation to tell everything you know about the subject or 
every thought you ever had about it.  In a short talk, only the most 
interesting and important things can be said.  You are not duty-bound to 
describe every condition, every analysis, every qualification.  In 
particular, suppress complications and unresolved loose ends or 
incomprehensible pieces of results--don’t lay your confusions on the 
poor listener or confuse the listener by trying to pack too much in.  
Speeches are for getting people interested in your work and having a 
discussion; written paper for all the details!  Your audience will 
usually ask about questions about the details they want to hear more 
about.

Talk informally as though you were telling your grandmother what you did 
and why.  Complexity of expression is uncorrelated with wisdom, 
intelligence, and originality; it’s perfectly correlated with audience 
puzzlement and boredom.

Get interest and attention first, with a rhetorical question, anecdote, 
or startling statement or paradox.  Prepare your first two sentences 
like they were Madison Avenue advertisement for you and your talk.  Grab 
the audience in your first sentences:

	• Example weak start: “The research I will tell you about stems 
	from earlier work by Johnson published in Cognitive Psychology.  
	This work led to a lot of follow up.  And I want to thank my 
	collaborators, Jane and John Smith. . . “

• Example better start:  “How do we understand language?  How can 
I figure out the meaning of what you say?  Some people believe we 
have a mental ‘dictionary’ with fixed entries and that we assemble 
the meanings out of this fixed dictionary.  In contrast, other 
people believe that we have ‘flexible procedures’ which  compose 
sounds into works from which we compute a meaning for the 
utterance . . .”

State the problem being investigated in  concrete, specific  terms.  
Help the audience understand specifics first before moving to 
generalities and abstractions (if you every do).  If you do move on to 
abstractions, one or more concrete examples help the audience 
instantiate the abstractions.

At the end, include a nutshell summary of your main idea(s).

Working on your talk

In working on your talk, consider following these steps:

	•  Write on paper slips ideas and points to be made.

	•  Assemble them into an outline and fill it out.

•  Revise the outline, concentrating on transition sentences 
between sentences.

•  Write out your speech as you would speak  it.  Work on oral, 
not written, phrasing.

	•  Make a new outline of the revised written version.

	•  Practice delivering the talk orally from the revised outline.

•  Practice aloud before a mirror.  Talk slowly.  Give yourself 
plenty of timefor pauses.

•  Practice with a clock in front of you (or have a friend time 
you) and  practice until you are sure you are within the time 
limit!  Going over the time limit sends an implicit message to 
other speakers that you believe what you have to say is more 
important than what they have to say.  Other speakers usually find 
this offensive (if you want to be the subject of nasty gossip at 
forums, going over time is a 99% surefire strategy).  Even if you 
are the only speakers, it sends a message to the audience that you 
think what you have to say is more important than their 
questions/discussion.  A helpful rule of thumb: It takes 
approximately 2 minutes to deliver one page of double-spaced 12 
point text (if it takes you substantially less than this, you may 
be talking too quickly).

•  Overpractice so that you will be less nervous when you have to 
deliver it in front of a real audience.

Giving the talk

In giving your talk, consider following these steps:

•  Dress sharp.  Be Superman or Superwoman.

•  Clench your fists tightly right before you speak for a minute 
or so (on the way to the front of the room), then release them.  
This can help you feel a bit more relaxed before you speak.  
(Remember, overpracticing your talk is very important if you think 
you may be nervous.)

•  Smile.  Be and appear friendly and glad to be there.

•  Talk slowly.  Speak loudly enough.  Articulate clearly.

•  Make it completely obvious to your audience when you have 
finished by some words or gestures, for example, by stepping back, 
smiling, and saying, “Thank you.”  (Applaud one another at the end 
of your speeches.)

•  Then ask, “Are there any questions?”  The wait a long  time 
(count to 60--one thousand one, one thousand two, etc.).  Often 
the audience needs time to think of some question to ask about--so 
give the audience a long time to come up with a question.  Plant 
at least one pithy question with a friend she/she can direct it to 
you in case no one else pops up with a quick question.

•  If you don’t understand a questioner, ask him or her to 
rephrase it so you can understand.

•  If someone asks three questions, answer any one of them and 
move on.

•  Don’t worry about “tough” questions: they almost never come.  
You know more about your research than anybody, so you have a 
great advantage.  Don’t be intimidated by “big shots” in the 
audience (if there are any).  Most are interested in comprehending 
and ask only simple questions that require you to elaborate 
details you’ve already thought about but didn’t have time to talk 
about in a short talk.

•  If a question comes you don’t know about, it’s okay to say, “I 
don’t know” or to say “That’s a tough one I haven’t thought about” 
or “I’ll need time to think about that” or “Fine idea--would be 
worth pursuing.”  You don’t have to have instant answers for 
everything.

Visual aids

Use visual aids (overhead transparencies or slides but not both) if you 
think they will help.  If your line of argument is complex (e.g., many 
causes), list them on a visual; if a within-trial procedure is 
complicated, show a concrete illustration of it in a visual; if the 
series of events in an experiment is long or complicated, show a diagram 
of it.

In visuals, make things simple, clear, and obvious.  Don’t clutter 
slides with irrelevancies.  A rule of thumb: no more than 7 words on a 
visual.  One word can stand in for whole phrases.  If you are working 
with numbers, ask, “Are the exact values all that  terribly important 
for my point?”  Consider a graph that shows idealized trends.  If you 
must use numbers, round up to one or two significant digits (unless 
additional digits are necessary to make your point).  A rule of thumb: 
no more than 7 numbers on a visual.  If you have lots of results you 
must show, use many slides, not one cluttered slide.

Slides must be readable.  Print large.  Use 24 point font for an 
audience of 30 or so; even larger for an audience of 100.

Put up a slide only a moment before you want to refer to it.  Give the 
audience time to read it, or better yet, you read it to them.  Remove 
the slide when you want to audience to attend fully to you again.
Research Talks