3 different presentation: Well-prepared presentation, monthly updates with the lab, weekly updates with advisors.
For well-prepared presentation, the key is storyline. How can we think from the perspective of the audience and lead them into the story?
Write down the high-level idea, mid-level key points for the story and talk to people out of the project.
I usually prepare 80% of the slides 1 week before, finalize the slides and practice at least 3 times. If the presentation is in a range of 5-10 mins, I may write down the transcripts or the bullet points for all the slides.
For monthly updates with the lab, it is important to introduce the topic of the project and recap things from last time.
For weekly updates, the key is to recap, update, and discuss the details of the project.
In order to discuss the details, we need to zoom in to the project and obstacles smoothly.
The presentation and communication skills affect the effectiveness of discussion.
Key concept
"Always prepare slides (or something with a flow) with a smooth order."
"Be 100% patient when listening." (Thanks to my audience for the patience.)
"The questions and the response from the audience are signals. Pay attention to the signals."
"You will never be perfect. The key is to be aware and give the best shot."
"When the audience asks a basic question, it indicates that you fail to explain."
"Think and practice what to say, for every meeting."
"Meeting is an art of collecting feedback from the attenders."
Preparation of presentations
Preparation of Weekly updates
Q: Why we only spend little time "discuss" the real thing?
We wasted too much time asking, and explaining the results. I wasted time jumping back and forth to find the explanation. I failed to answer the question to the point.
When the listener asks a question, he spent 10 second. And I spent another 10 seconds to understand the question. Additional 1 min to explain the answer.
When I jump back and forth to find the answer, the listeners wait. They couldn't think smoothly and effectively.
When I answer a questions, I can choose the suitable level of details to explain. I can first say why, then what. By knowing 'why', we sometimes can skip or quickly understand 'what'.
Q: How can I better prepare for the meeting?
To document the thoughts and experiments, I used both google doc and onenote. Creating slides can combine the information into a flow and facilitate discussion.
Prepare slides:
jot down the high-level outlines
jot down the mid-level outlines: 'titles' of each slides
one point for one slides: write the key message as title, copy and paste the results from doc or onenote.
walk through the slides again (for 10 mins) and think as an audience
Potential problem
detailed outlines cause confusion
Q: What is a good structure of the slides?
Recap
Serve as an introduction
remind the attenders what have been discussed last time
include the conclusion of last discussion
can include the action plan from last time
Updates
overview: from the action plan last time, how much has been done
Visualization: make sure the resolution is high enough
Experiments: what is the input, output? what are the metric?
Tables or graphs: explain the x, y-axis. explain the numbers. Highlight the key numbers.
Results: what can you infer from the experiments?
Topics to discuss
Important part of the meeting: things need advice
After updates, the attenders have the big picture of the project as well as the view of the details.
Abstract
3 different presentation: Well-prepared presentation, monthly updates with the lab, weekly updates with advisors.
Key concept
"Always prepare slides (or something with a flow) with a smooth order." "Be 100% patient when listening." (Thanks to my audience for the patience.) "The questions and the response from the audience are signals. Pay attention to the signals." "You will never be perfect. The key is to be aware and give the best shot." "When the audience asks a basic question, it indicates that you fail to explain." "Think and practice what to say, for every meeting." "Meeting is an art of collecting feedback from the attenders."
Preparation of presentations
Preparation of Weekly updates
Q: Why we only spend little time "discuss" the real thing? We wasted too much time asking, and explaining the results. I wasted time jumping back and forth to find the explanation. I failed to answer the question to the point.
Q: How can I better prepare for the meeting? To document the thoughts and experiments, I used both google doc and onenote. Creating slides can combine the information into a flow and facilitate discussion.
Q: What is a good structure of the slides?
References
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Chin-Yi for bringing up the issue for me.