PowerPoint Presentation at a faculty job interview

[Jeff1]

Bring a copy of your talk in transparencies. I know it takes time to make them. but, you never know what is going to happen with the system. Computer is not reliable and you do not want take any risk. good luck.

[Rich Lemert]

>>> Bring a copy of your talk in transparencies. I know it takes time to
>>> make them. but, you never know what is going to happen with the system.
>>> Computer is not reliable and you do not want take any risk.

I'll give this advice a strong second. My dad told me about attending a conference once where one of the speakers apologised that he wouldn't be able to take any questions because he had to catch his plane. He then went to the back of the room and grabbed what he thought was his slide carousel. This was discovered later when one of the subsequent speakers realized that the first speaker had managed to pick up _his_ slides.

Expect the best, but plan for the worst.

[Jeff1]

What I meant is using the transparency as a backup. I was not suggesting to replace the laptop ppt talk.

[Rob]

Few things...a 'good' science talk is no different then a 'good' business or whatever talk. Use many of the available guidelines online on making a good presentation when preparing your slides. Some suggestions:

- Since you know your crowd, tailor your talk to them. Microbio dept? No microbio background slides, gloss over it saying 'As many of you know, XYZ...'. But anything detailed do not take for granted and make sure the audience knows your open to answer any questions as you talk on details that might not be familiar.

- 40 words per slide. MAX.
- Do not...do NOT...read your slides. Any of them. Period.
- Use lots of diagrams and images, that are easy to understand. This will keep people interested, they can't read ahead, and your providing all of the important information vocally.
- You should be able to give the talk without any overheads/PPT slides (i.e. you need to know everything and talk without really looking at the slides).
- Practice.
- Tell a story. The entire talk should be a 'story' of the research - NOT just 'Hey we found this...and this. Isnt that cool?'. Tell why it's cool, how it applies to the field, the general science area, and the world. ;)
- Give credit to everyone that deserves it. (for slides, help, undergrad workers, etc., - it looks good IMHO and if someone doesn't give good thanks at the end, it completely blows my idea of them. The grad student vote on one candidate hinged on this when I was a PhD.)
- Reference your own data, mention 'as we/I published in XYZ' to reiterate you have published in some pretegious journal.
- Practice.
- Practice some more.

Just some things I try to stick to. Limiting text on your slides is really REALLY important. Slides are just visual aids, they should not have tons of text on them at all.

[Wendy]

Bob, thank you very much for your precious advices! I'll practice my talk again and again. Although it won't make perfect, but make better. It's good point to stress the significance of my research. Otherwise, why should other people care? Yes, slides should be visually appealing. Too much text on them only distracts the attention of audience. Giving credit to those who deserve is a reflection of professionalism.

Jeff1, thanks for your tip. I'll bring one copy of the transparency of my slides as a backup.

Rich, thank you for your info. Hopefully, I won't have such an encounter as your dad.