Give amazing presentations even with Powerpoint.
Previously, I pointed you to what Steve Jobs does in making awesome presentations. As I’ve read more on presentations using visual aids, I’ve come across a couple blogs on how to get the most out of Powerpoint for your talks. I point you to a couple example posts on each blog.
“Takahashi method” – on Presentation Zen
“What’s wrong with templates?” – Presentation Advisors (impressively, only one guy)
There are countless ways to incorporate PPT in a presentation, and the optimal way will vary with the nature of the presentation. These blogs have so many ideas, I will definitely have fun trying to work different elements into my talks, which will be a challenge since science talks are usually so data/visual-heavy.
Become famous—but not for your verbal tics.
On “How I Met Your Mother” the character Robin, anchor of an early-morning talk show, thinks her show is doing really well because a lot of people watch it, including students of her friend Ted. In actuality…
College kids: “We watch it for the drinking game. You have to drink every time she says But, um…“
I never thought verbal tics and filler words could be the subject of sitcom tv, but they do a pretty good job with it. Link to episode; start watching around the 9-minute mark.
(My filler word is like but I’ve gotten better at using it less, thanks to the Ah-Counter at our toastmasters meetings pointing out how often I’m using it.)
This is amazing. Use it.
Go here to see a slideshow on “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience.” Then try to incorporate some of those tips the next time you give a presentation, especially if its a powerpoint.
(H/T Harman.)
Stand up during a phone interview.
That is all the not-obvious advice I have to offer in this post of my Job Hunt series. Really.
What else would you like to know? Join the conversation by leaving a comment.
So why should you stand during the phone interview? Energy. When you are up, you are free to move about your room and your speech will flow better than if you were bottled up sitting in a chair. You might even use a headset so your hands are free to gesture (even though no one else can see you) because, again, it aids your flow. There’s more on the topic here.
I won’t belabor the next point because an endless amount has been written about interview preparation, but this is what I did that seemed to work well. Using two sheets of paper…
Imagine if Bush were a good public speaker.
Spurred by the news that former President Bush will be the featured speaker at a motivational seminar next week, Slate published a collection of public speaking advice for Bush from different motivational speakers (which was a moderately interesting read). But it got me thinking…
Opinions of political leaders span the entire spectrum between loved and hated, but most people would agree that President Obama has public speaking skills superior to Bush’s. Now, imagine if Bush were as eloquent as Obama. Depending on your opinion of Bush, you might ask:
- What else could he have persuaded America and its allies to stick their noses into, that he couldn’t do with fear mongering alone? Or…
- What other greatness could he have achieved by motivating people to action by appealing to their aspirations, rather than their (there it is, again) fears?
Fyi, the Slate article containing the public speaking advice is here.
How I paid 62 cents for a brand new hardcover bestseller.
I went to Borders tonight because I had $15 in Borders Bucks that needed to be spent this month before they expired.
Retail price of book: $25.95
-Apply 40% off coupon-
Subtotal: $15.57
-Apply Borders Bucks-
Subtotal: $0.57
TN 9.25% Sales Tax: $0.05
Total: $0.62
Saving money is one of my interests, but what does it have to do with nanotechnology research? Read the rest of this entry »
Ah, ’Tis the Season for Bigger, Better Things
The air has a new crispness to it, the leaves are swirling to the ground, and Vanderbilt’s football team is giving the home fans very little to cheer about. Fall is here, and if it’s your (anticipated) final year of graduate school, fall is when the search for a grown-up job begins. The amount of information out there on job hunting and interviewing and résumé writing is endless. After reading up on this subject for a few months, I think I can post some short articles focusing on what’s relevant to early-career scientists. Here is the first piece.
I. The Wisdom of Feldman (or, What is a core competency?)
Over chicken wings following his student’s PhD defense, Dr. Feldman shared his thoughts on breaking into the post-PhD world as a scientist. Read the rest of this entry »
