Physics Oral Presentations 101 - uni-regensburg.de · TYPES of PRESENTATIONS Ordered by importance • Oral student presentation ... abstract information for the Test Web ... you

JF: Presentation of Scientific Results 1

Physics Oral Presentations

101


CONTENTS

1. Types of presentations2. Abstract preparation3. Talk preparation: software4. Talk preparation: format 5. Talk presentation


1. TYPES of PRESENTATIONS

Ordered by importance• Oral student presentation at a seminar

(30-60 minutes)• Contributed talk at a conference (10-30) • Invited seminar (45-60 min)• Invited talk at a conference (30, 60)• Plenary talk/lecture at a conference (60)


Conferences

• http://www.aps.org/meet/index.cfm• http://physicsweb.org/events• http://www.iop.org/IOP/Confs• http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/conferences/

http://www.aps.org/meet/index.cfm

http://physicsweb.org/events

http://www.iop.org/IOP/Confs

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/conferences/

http://www.aps.org/meet/


Abstract ExampleSession M14 - Glasses Collective Behavior and Vibrational Dynamics.MIXED session, Wednesday morning, March 18405, Los Angeles Convention Center[M14.05] Vibrations in Glasses and Random Matrix TheoryJaroslav Fabian (University of Maryland at College Park), Joseph L. Feldman(Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C.)Vibrations in amorphous silicon are analyzed from the perspective of random matrix theory.We use the combination of the Wooten-Winer-Weaire random network andStillinger-Weber interatomic potential to model the vibrational dynamics of amorphoussilicon. By calculating the level-spacing distributions and spectral correlation functionsfor the vibrations of this model we find that the majority of the vibrations (diffusons-extended non-propagating modes) can be described in terms of random matrices (thecorresponding level-spacingistribution corresponds to the Wigner surmise). On the otherhand, localized modes, which in our model exist only at the highest frequencies, show nosign of spectral correlation and their level-spacing distribution is a Poisson one.

http://flux.aps.org/meetings/YR98/BAPSMAR98/abs/S2540.html#SM14.005


2. ABSTRACT PREPARATION

http://abstracts.aps.org/• Both html and MSWord possible• For LaTex need apsab.sty

In UNIX put apsab.sty in the same directory as the file abstract.tex that you createCompile by typing: latex abstract.texConvert to postscript: dvips abstract.texView your abstract by typing: gv abstract.ps

• Example follows

http://abstracts.aps.org/


Please proofread this information You have entered the following abstract information for the Test Web Abstract. If this information is correct, please press the 'Submit' button at the bottom of the page.

What happens to a cat with a jelly spread on its back Jaroslav Fabian (University Graz)

Cats thrown up always fall on their feet. A toast spread with jelly always ends on the jelly side. A thorough investigation of cats with a jelly spread on their backs suggest that such cats levitate above the surface, never falling down. This effect could be used for fast and friction free transportation similar to MAGLEVs. Quantum aspects of this phenomenon are studied. Preliminary results show a cat in a superposition of two states: cat on its back and cat on its feet. Possible measurement schemes to actually observe the cat in one of the two states are proposed.An open question remains what happens if the cat is a Schroedinger's cat.

Presentation type: Oral Sorting category: Cat

Submitter: Jaroslav Fabian Submitting Member ID: 12345 submitting member email address: [email protected] Submitting Member affiliation: University of Graz

Special instructions: a live cat is required. CategoryType: T Email address[1]: [email protected]

If the information is correct, press the "Submit" button below. If the information is not correct, please use the Back button on your browser to return to the input form and correct the problem.

Do NOT press the submit button more than once or multiple copies of the abstract will be entered in the system.

When you are satisfied with your submission, please print this page for future reference.

Thank you.

Submit


\documentstyle[11pt,apsab]{article} \nofiles \MeetingID{TEST98} %\DateSubmitted{20040315} \SubmittingMemberSurname{Fabian} \SubmittingMemberGivenName{Jaroslav} %\SubmittingMemberID{12345} \SubmittingMemberEmail{[email protected]} \SubmittingMemberAffil{University of Graz} \PresentationType{oral} \SortCategory{A}{}{}{} \SpecialInstructions{a live cat is required.} \begin{document} \Title{What happens to a cat with a jelly spread on its back} \AuthorSurname{Fabian} \AuthorGivenName{Jaroslav} %\AuthorEmail{[email protected]} \AuthorAffil{University Graz} T \begin{abstract} Cats thrown up always fall on their feet. A toast spread with jelly always ends on the jelly side. A thorough investigation of cats with a jelly spread on their backs suggest that such cats levitate above the surface, never falling down. This effect could be used for fast and friction free transportation similar to MAGLEVs. Quantum aspects of this phenomenon are studied. Preliminary results show a cat in a superposition of two states: cat on its back and cat on its feet. Possible measurement schemes to actually observe the cat in one of the two states are proposed.An open question remains what happens if the cat is a Schroedinger's cat. \end{abstract} \end{document}



After submitting an abstract:

Dear ...,

Thank you for your abstract submission. Your abstract willbe reviewed by the program committee, and you should receiveits decision on or by 1 April 2010.

• Wait to be notified if the abstract is accepted (sometimes one gets downgraded to a poster presentation—What is a poster?)


Invited presentations>> You need to be invited, it is an honor! <<

Dear Dr. ...,

We have great pleasure in inviting you to be our guest lecturer at the xxthInternational School on the Physics of .... The School will be held form ... through ... 2010, in .... We shall be much obliged if you could accept the invitation and would find it possible to visit .... Please, find enclosed the letterof invitation which contains all the deatils concerning the event. Naturally, the hardcopy of the letter has been sent to you by regular mail. We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,


3. TALK PREPARATION:Software tools

•Hand-aided: transparencies (already history)•Computer-aided: MS PowerPoint


Hand-aided transparanciesPersonal art of scientific presentation

Pros:•Versatile: personality exposed, cheerful•Reasonably colorful•Relevant points natural (much effort needed for overdoing)

•Easy add-ons at talk•Works virtually everywhere•Light to carry•No power, AC convertors needed to review•If left in a Cafe, most likely found there next day


Cons:•Personality exposed •No modifications (xept add-ons) •Low resolution •No templates available•Graph print-out/xerox time consuming, expensive•Frequently blown away by projector fans•Finger-printing, yellowing•Question „Could you show again the slide where ...?“invites for a desparate search.

Hand-aided transparanciesPersonal art of scientific presentation


Pros:• Flexible, portable, easy to share• Insertions of portable graphics (png,jpg, gif, eps, ...)• Great resolution, easy to do math (TexPoint, ...) • Templates available (Scientific presentations for

dummies)• Easy to do on train/plane/car (xept while driving)• Changes at last moment, spellchecking• Visual, sound (the symphony effect possible)• Easy orientation for question session

Computer Aided PresentationsBill Gates‘s art of scientific presentation


http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2_pr.html

There are sceptics about PowerPoint

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2_pr.html


Cons:• Personality lost (uniformity, business-like)• Bullets, bullets, bullets ... (bulletproof is illusion)• Border between HA slides and reading a paper• Long warm-up phase, disruptive to sessions

(5-100000 minutes: wiring, technology, Mac)• Problems with graphics• Overdoing (equations, indexes): relevance lost• Heavy (notebooks comes to about 3 kg)• Try leaving your notebook for a moment in a Cafe

Computer Aided PresentationsBill Gates‘s art of scientific presentation


4. Talk preparation:Format

GRAND RULE:

Slides are no more and no less thanan accompaniment to the oral presentation.They shall not be a reading board, nor adecoration to your speech. At any rate, theyshould be readable.


dress analogy

Conceal your weaknesses and expose your strengths


4. Talk preparation:Format

OrHow to sift one year worth ofresearch into ten minutes of

presentation


Structure

• Title • Contents (outline) • Introduction• Body • Conclusions (summary)


Title page(unless you are well known to the audience)

1. Title of the talk2. Name, Institution3. Collaborators4. Acknowledgements (Grants, etc. ) 5. An informal picture helps to catch

attention from the start


SPIN RELAXATION & SPIN TRANSPORT IN

ELECTRONIC MATERIALS

Jaroslav Fabian

Institute for Theoretical Physics Karl-Franzens University Graz

Collaborators: Igor Žutić1,2 and Sankar Das Sarma1

1Condensed Matter Theory Center

University of Maryland at College Park 2Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC

Supported by US ONR

Title pageexample


Contents pageSay what you want to talk about

OUTLINE

1. SPINTRONICS

2. SPIN RELAXATION

3. BIPOLAR SPINTRONICS: MAGNETIC BIPOLAR DIODE MAGNETIC BIPOLAR TRANSISTOR

4. SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK

contentspage example

Not recommended for 10 minute talks !!!


IntroductionPut your talk in a broader context

Why should the audience listen?Why is your work interesting?


Body of the presentation

•Reasonably organized•Easy to follow---accompany speech•Colorful•Plenty illustrations•Equations to a minimum•Main physical points stressed•Do not overcrowd, audience tend toread everything on the screen


2. SPIN RELAXATION IN METALS

ELLIOTT-YAFET THEORY

Body page example


SPIN INJECTION? I. Zutic,J. Fabian,S. Das Sarma, Phys. Rev. B. 64, 121201 (2001).

Body page example


Conclusions page

Conclusions for 10 minute talks?

I recommend only a punchline, if one insists:

‚Cats with jelly on the back never fall!‘

If you feel you need to formally conclude a 10 min. talk, you likely failed to deliver the main point. The audience should remember what you said within last 10 minutes.


SUMMARY

Novel spintronic device schemes proposed and modeled numerically and analytically:

• magnetic bipolar diode • magnetic bipolar transistor

New spin and charge transport phenomena in semiconductor junctions predicted:

• spin injection through diode and transistor

• spin-voltaic effects • giant-magnetoresistance • spin capacitance • spatial spin amplification • spin control over current amplification

Conclusionsexample


4. Talk presentation:

From: J. Garland


Useful readings:

Physics Today 42, July 1991

Physics Today 11, November 1992


‚,It is in the nature of physics talks thatthey should be boring and confusing‘‘

N. D. Mermin, Physics Today, 9 November 1992


Planck to Schroedinger:


So, how do you give a good talk?

Rule -1:Report original, reasonable,

and interesting resultsyou are proud of


So, how do you give good a talk?

Rule 0:GIVE A GOOD TALK ((*)

(*) I claim priority to this rule. All other rules that follow (some named) are trivial extensions or specific cases of this one.


Rule 1 (Planck): KNOW THE AUDIENCE

• general public• undergrads• grads, experts• husband/wife

What is the level?

Response: Imagine yourself in their shoes and adjust yourtalk (especially the length of the introduction) to becomprehensible to an average person in that level. Then make your talk one level simpler!


A rule of thumb

If you as a graduate student (professor) had notknown or had forgotten a specific concept that youhave learned during your research and appears to youat the time of the presentation as ‚standardknowledge‘ (all cats fall on their feet because ...), it isvery likely that graduate students (professors) in theaudience will find it helpful to have their memoryrefreshed as well. Give them the pleasure of learningnew or already forgotten ‚standard knowledge‘ (as youmay already know, all cats fall on their feet,because...).


• 0• 2-5• 5-20• 20-50• 51-100000

(*) intensity = size x aggressivness = size/friendliness

Response: Adjust your voice, question allowance, and friendliness. Mind cultural differences.

What is the intensity? (*)

•Cheesy•Polite-friendly•Polite-ironic•Aggressive

size friendliness


Physics Today, 45, July 1991


• coherent all asleep or all listening

• incoherent (no phase can be defined) frequent disturbances: snoring, shouting, wobbling,candy unwrapping, door slamming

What is the phase?

Response:Adjust your level of excitement, lock the door


Rule 2: TIME THE TALKIntrinsic timing

10 min. talks

•1 min. title•9 min. body•2 min. questions


Intrinsic timing

30-60 min. talks

•1 min. title•5-20 min. introduction (20-30% of talk)•fill in body•2-4 min. conclusions•5-10 min. questions


Extrinsic timing: better less than more

•5-8 slides for 10 min. talks•12-20 slides for 30 min. talks•20-30 slides for 45-60 min. talks

allow circa 2-3 minutes per slide (*)

(*) Measure your personal slide/minute speed


Rule 3: BE QUALITATIVE

• Physics is an exact science whose pleasure derives fromqualitative understanding.„It will turn out, as we go to more and more advanced physics, that many simple things canbe deduced mathematically more rapidly than they can be really understood in a fundamental or simple sense.“Richard Feynman while discussing spinning tops in his Lecture notes

• Give simple physical pictures and graphs. • Keep formulas simple, without unecessary indexes,

essentially giving the main trends (energy goes as 1/L2)• Give tables only when necessary (comparison of theory and

experiment), use graphs instead


Rule 4: ENGAGE THE AUDIENCE

The sheer fact that the topic of your talk is intersting doesnot guarantee your talk will be intersting

•Do not be afraid to make gestures•Move (though jumping may be consideredtoo theatrical by some)

•Make eye contact, do not stare at the floor•Make a joke •Make them think, not just listen: ask a question,pause, then give an answer (do not ask random people for

answers—this tends to be embarassing)

Or how to keep them awake


Rule 5 (Koch(*)): Keep PANDORA‘S box closed

(*)I first heard it from Prof. Peter Koch when I was a grad studentat SUNY Stony Brook

Do not talk about things you have only a faint idea about. You think you will look educated, but bet that there will be someone in the audience asking a question about it and you will be embarassed and say ‚Ooops, I am actually not an expert on that, sorry.‘ You should be in full command over your slides.


An actual account of Pandora‘s box

-speaker: cites from the slide:‚Everyone must rediscover quantum mechanics for himself‘

Wagner

-audience: Who is Wagner?-speaker: I do not know but he must be a well

known physicist-audience: Do you actually mean Wigner?-speaker: Could be


Rule 6: GIVE PROPER CREDIT

•Display ackowledgements to your coworkersand to your funding agencies

•Give credit to relevant previous work and mention concurrent efforts by others.

•Cite the sources of the pictures that you borrowor you are inspired by

•Neglecting the above opens Pandora‘s box (Rule 5).


Rule 7: ANTICIPATE QUESTIONS

•You appear competent when you know how to answer questions.

•Be honest if you do not know the answer:This is an intersting question, but I would need more time to think about an answer.A very good question. We are currently working on a relatedproblem so if you come to my next talk in 2020 I will let you know.I should have thought about that, this is very good. Honestly I do not know the answer. But you appear to know morethan I do on this issue so I would be interested in talking to you after the sessionI am not familiar with that work of Prof. Einstein so I cannotcomment on it


Rule 8: PRACTICE

• Even experienced speakers do practice

• Talk at your group meeting or alone at home

• Pay attention to timing, smoothness of the transitions between slides


Rule 9 DEVELOP YOUR OWN STYLE

•Be creative, play with colors and fonts•Include scanned graphics and hand-made pictures


Rule 10: ENJOY THE TALK

• You should be excited that your research is in a stage that your results can be communicated and disseminated

• You should be excited that you have an opportunity to present your ideas to a broaderaudience

• You should be excited that people actually listen to you (on their free will or not)

• Try to relax. It is natural to be a little stressed, especially at the start


10 RULES--SUMMARY1. Know the audience2. Time the talk3. Be qualitative4. Engage the audience5. Keep Pandora‘s box closed6. Give proper credit7. Anticipate questions8. Practice9. Develop your own style10. Enjoy the talk


Random Rules 11-14 •If appropriate, begin by thanking the organizersfor invitation or opportunity to present your recentwork•End by ‚Thank you for your attention‘ which to someis an alarm clock and to others may be a clear-cutway that the talk is really over•Reading from a slide occasionally is OK, especiallywhen citing (Little Prince, Alice in Wonderland, Einstein, Feynman, ...)

•Dress appropriately (since physicists do not appearto be fashion fans, this rule is not strict; just becomfortable while socially acceptable)


Random Rules 15-... •If asked a question, repeat it if you feel some may notheared it (especially if you have a microphone)

•Prepare technical aspects of the talk (notebookconnection, booting) a few minutes before the talk

•Make sure that all can see the whole screen, and thatyou are no obstacle for the view. Stand at the side, not infront.

•Point to the screen, not to the projector!

Documents

Physics Oral Presentations 101 - uni-regensburg.de · TYPES of PRESENTATIONS Ordered by importance • Oral student presentation ... abstract information for the Test Web ... you