Public Presentations

By Chip Kobulnicky (1996)

Journal club, and indeed any public presentation, is a good opportunity to hone speaking skills which will allow you to communicate your messages more effectively, and may weigh heavily in getting you a job someday. A little preparation and reflection goes a long way toward turning just any old talk into a effective vehicle for communication and dialog. I compiled the following tips and suggestions for a Departmental Journal Club several years ago, with the aid of students and faculty. I also acknowledge early influence and suggestions by Larry Molnar at the University of Iowa. While this summary is by no means exhaustive, enough people have contributed to this effort that I believe it contains all the major considerations relevant to preparing a public presentation on any technical topic. Certain items are tailed more toward traditional science lecture-style presentations, and may need to be modified for other settings, such as elementary school presentations, after-dinner talks, or Nobel acceptance speeches. For a much more extensive write-up on how to give talks, see this.

Organization and Preparation

Recommendations for Visuals

Stylistic notes (very subjective; feel free to disagree)

Pet Peeves (add your own favorites)