Wissenschaftliche Kommunikation I 20.10.2016 Inst. Geophysics and Geoinformatics

Course Introduction and

How to Prepare and Deliver an Effective Oral Presentation

Summary Notes

Course Introduction: 5 Steps to Success1. Find a topic you like in the list and contact the supervisor 2. Tell Catherine Alexandrakis which topic you have by October 28, 2015 3. Read the suggested articles and discuss them with your supervisor 4. Prepare and give your presentation

4.1. 20 minute presentation followed by 5 minutes of questions 4.2. Deutsch (English is also ok)

5. Submit a written summary to your supervisor 5.1. Maximum 5 pages 5.2. Submit before the end of the semester

Course Introduction: Seminar Grading• For the final course grade, the weighting between the oral and written reports is

3:1 • Minimum 70% attendance is required

Presentation Organization: Balance between telling a story, and giving an oral report. • Organize the talk so it flows logically from beginning to end • Introduction: study area, motivation, data • Methods: what you did • Results / Interpretation: observations, results, significance • Summary, conclusions and outlook

Visualization: How to make appealing slidesGeneral Tips for Slides:• Use a template to achieve a consistent look and feel • Light-coloured background with dark text is best • Avoid very strong, bright or dark backgrounds • Balance text, figures and equations but do not overload your slides General Tips for Figures and Text: • Keep figures as simple as possible • Label all axes • Font / symbol / line size, colour and style • Check for spelling and grammar errors

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Wissenschaftliche Kommunikation I 20.10.2016 Inst. Geophysics and Geoinformatics

Body Language: Silent communication. It can help you appear confident and calm. • Smile! • Keep an open and relaxed posture • Eye contact

Delivery: Oral communication • Speak clearly, slowly and project your voice • Be dynamic • No reading • Repeat your message

Tips for Nervous Speakers: Plan your content • Start early! • Imagine that you are telling your friends about your research • Include only the most important ideas • Explain the concept in a simple way Practice! • Practice with an audience, in front of a mirror and/or record yourself • Identify and reduce your “crutch words”, e.g. um, ah, just, so zu sagen, quasi, … • Make sure your talk is not too long or too short • Plan what you will point to on each slide During the presentation • Eye contact (or foreheads or noses) • If someone frowns, it is not necessarily a bad reaction! • If you are speaking too fast, take a deep breath before starting the next slide • If you are too slow, skip the details • If your voice is too quiet, look to the back corner of the room Useful Phrases - Linking phrases • This leads us to the next question/problem/point … • How can we do/accomplish/calculate this? • What does this mean? • Relating these results back to the main question, we see… Useful Phrases - Question period • That is a great/interesting/difficult question. • I am glad you asked me that. • As far as I know, … • Perhaps we can discuss it further during the coffee break/after the session. • Thanks for the suggestion. We will keep it in mind for the next step. • I don’t know, but I will look into it.

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Wissenschaftliche Kommunikation I 20.10.2016 Inst. Geophysics and Geoinformatics

Some Useful Resources: 18 Tips for “Killer” Presentations: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/18-tips-for-killer-presentations.html

Tips for Effective Presentations: https://www.accuconference.com/resources/effective-presentations.html

7 Powerful Public Speaking tips from One of the Most-Watched TED Talks Speakers: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239308

** Anything from “Toastmasters” and “TED Talks” **

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