Presentation Guidelines for CSStudents

Philip W. L. Fong

pwlfong@cs.uregina.ca

Department of Computer Science

University of Regina

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Presenting Research Results

Understanding a research paper is challenging . . .

. . . but presenting the paper in a comprehensible waycould be as challenging

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.1/19

Tell a Good Story

1. Setting

2. Progress

3. Resolution

4. Conclusion

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.2/19

Tell a Good Story

1. Setting

Problem, crisis, challenge

2. Progress

3. Resolution

4. Conclusion

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.2/19

Tell a Good Story

1. Setting

Problem, crisis, challenge

2. Progress

Previous work, new opportunities

3. Resolution

4. Conclusion

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.2/19

Tell a Good Story

1. Setting

Problem, crisis, challenge

2. Progress

Previous work, new opportunities

3. Resolution

Solution, contribution

4. Conclusion

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.2/19

Tell a Good Story

1. Setting

Problem, crisis, challenge

2. Progress

Previous work, new opportunities

3. Resolution

Solution, contribution

4. Conclusion

Open problems, future work, perspectives

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.2/19

Tell a Good Story

1. Setting

Problem, crisis, challenge

2. Progress

Previous work, new opportunities

3. Resolution

Solution, contribution

4. Conclusion

Open problems, future work, perspectives

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.2/19

3 Classical Guides

S. L. Peyton Jones, J. Hughes, and J. Launchbury.How to give a good research talk. ACM SIGPLANNotices, 28(11):9–12, November 1993.

I. Parberry. How to present a paper in theoreticalcomputer science: a speaker’s guide for students.ACM SIGACT News, 31(1):77–86, March 2000.

C. C. McGeoch and B. M. E. Moret. How to present apaper on experimental work with algorithms. ACMSIGACT News, 30(4):85–90, December 1999.

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.3/19

How to Give a Good Research Talk

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.4/19

A Non-Uniform Approach

Your talk is primarily a “taster” for your work, rather thanas an in-depth treatment.

1. Who is my primary audience?

2. If someone remembers only one thing from my talk,what would I like it to be?

Treat some aspects in more detail than other parts.

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.5/19

Using Examples

A talk is the wrong place to show off yourmathematical skills.

“Have I illustrated this idea / theorem / definition /technique / algorithm with an example?”

When possible, use a running example.

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.6/19

How to Present a Paper inTheoretical Computer Science

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.7/19

What to Say

Communicate the key ideas

Don’t get bogged down in details

Structure your talk

Use a top-down approach

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.8/19

A Top-Down Approach

Going through the materials in multiple passes:

1. Introduction

2. Body

3. Technicalities

4. Conclusion

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.9/19

Introduction

Define the problem

Motivate the audience

Introduce terminologies

Discuss earlier work

Emphasize the contributions of your paper

Provide a road-map

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.10/19

Body

Abstract the major results

Explain the significance of the results

Sketch a proof of the crucial results

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.11/19

Technicalities

Present a key lemma

Present it carefully

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.12/19

Conclusion

Hindsight is clearer than foresight

Give open problems

Indicate that your talk is over

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.13/19

Know Your Audience

1. Scientists

2. Computer Scientists

3. Theoretical Computer Scientists

4. Experts

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.14/19

Know Your Audience

1. Scientists

Emphasize the Introduction and the Body.Omit the Technicalities.

2. Computer Scientists

3. Theoretical Computer Scientists

4. Experts

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.14/19

Know Your Audience

1. Scientists

Emphasize the Introduction and the Body.Omit the Technicalities.

2. Computer Scientists

Emphasis on the Introduction and the Body.A small Technicalities section.

3. Theoretical Computer Scientists

4. Experts

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.14/19

Know Your Audience

1. Scientists

Emphasize the Introduction and the Body.Omit the Technicalities.

2. Computer Scientists

Emphasis on the Introduction and the Body.A small Technicalities section.

3. Theoretical Computer Scientists

Emphasis on the Body.

4. Experts

OPresentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.14/19

Know Your Audience

1. Scientists

Emphasize the Introduction and the Body.Omit the Technicalities.

2. Computer Scientists

Emphasis on the Introduction and the Body.A small Technicalities section.

3. Theoretical Computer Scientists

Emphasis on the Body.

4. Experts

Emphasis on the Body and the Technicalities.

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.14/19

Getting Through to the Audience

Use repetition1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them.2. Tell them.3. Then tell them what you told them.

Remind, don’t assume

Maintain eye contact

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.15/19

How to Present a Paper onExperimental Work with

Algorithms

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.16/19

Template

Overview

Introduction

The setup

The experiment

Conclusions

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.17/19

Final Advices

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.18/19

LATEX Users . . .

Prosper: LATEX macros for slides presentation(http://prosper.sourceforge.net)

Generates PDF slide show

This set of slides is produced with Prosper.

Presentation Guidelines for CS Students – p.19/19