Creating & Developing Compelling Academic Presentations

Creating & Delivering Compelling Academic Presentations Monica Bulger, Oxford Internet Institute November 2010

Why do we present?

advocate clarify test conﬁrm challenge question practice Purpose

persuade inform advocate clarify test Purpose conﬁrm challenge question practice

Who do we present to?

Why are they here?

what are they passionate about? what do they hope to gain? --adapted from Duarteʼs slide:ology

How will you meet their needs? --adapted from Duarteʼs slide:ology

clearly explain your purpose/rationale deﬁne your scope provide context use vivid examples and, most importantly...

the toughest challenge of interdisciplinary dialogue...

address the so what? of your research

BIG idea --adapted from Duarteʼs slide:ology

+ 3 main points

before they leave the room... what do you want your audience to know?

ﬁnd your message

What surprised you in your discussions?

Overheard during the discussion: Theoretical or empirical? What frame? How do you do it? What would be the applications? Whatʼs your big idea?! Blow my mind!

Presentations are not about perfection, theyʼre about communication

presentation vs. story

not a dump of what you know, but why itʼs important

talking at vs. talking to

stories = understanding

ﬁnd the story in your data

Sample student data visualizations --images from “Pathway to Self-Funding,” “Cumulative Impacts of Large-Scale Renewable Energy Development in the West Mojave,” “Management Recommendations for Piute Ponds, EAB,” and “Post-Fire Sedimentation and Flood Risk Potential in the Mission Creek Watershed of Santa Barbara,” available at http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/gp2009.htm

Think differently: not what the data has to say, but what you have to say about the data

Acknowledgment: from this point on, the beautiful, well-designed slides were either created or co-designed by Aaron Sobel, my colleague at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management

Think visually --image from visualcomplexity.com

What is your data story? --image from Design & the Elastic Mind exhibition, “The Million Dollar Blocks Project” available at http://www.moma.org

Barack Obama Personal Visits by State Jan 2007 - Feb 2008 --Image created by graduate students in UCSBʼs Geography Department using data from IGERT “Issue Browser” project (2009)

3-D allows for visualizing complex data -- Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/covers/20061030/where_we_live/

Visualizing the distance to the nearest McDonaldʼs --Image from infosthetics, available at http://www.infosthetics.com

What does the pie chart tell us? What information is important? --Adlerman, D., Maciejowski, N., Randall, J., Shirley, R. (2009). Management Recommendations for Piute Ponds Edwards Air Force Base, California (Project Poster). Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara. Available at http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/ gp2009.htm

Draw the viewerʼs attention

Focus on key points -- image from Duarteʼs (2008) slide:ology, p. 69

Draw the viewerʼs -- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

Draw the viewerʼs attention -- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

-- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

why is this slide better? -- Presentation Zen http://www.presentationzen.com

-- Yes! A Journal of Positive Future, Summer 2006, p. 39

Find the best ﬁt for representing your data visually

Pie charts vs. bar graphs proportion comparison -- image from Dutton, W.J. & Helsper, E.J. (2007). Oxford Internet Survey 2007 Report: The Internet in Britain. Oxford Internet Institute, UK.

http://monicabulger.com	4622
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http://stream1.massey.ac.nz	7
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Creating & Developing Compelling Academic Presentations

by Monica Bulger on Nov 11, 2010

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