How to Give a Seminar
Any effective talk must do three things: (1) communicate your arguments and ideas, (2) persuade your audience that they are true, and (3) be interesting and entertaining. Your Presentation (1) Give an opening statement to familiarize the audience with your subject matter. What is your key message? Can you write it down as a single sentence? (2) Speak slowly, clearly, and loud enough to be heard by all. (3) Remember the 5WH's: who, what, why, when, where, and how. (4) Summarize your talk at the end in a few sentences. On the Day Sound enthusiastic. A good presenter downloads information at a sensible rate, pauses, and uses voice and body language to good effect. A brilliant speaker opens a two-way channel with the audience, and is sensitive to, and can adapt to, the non-verbal messages coming back from the audience. You need to look at us, even in the dark: eye contact is essential, or we think you have lost interest in us. If you can - move. A static presentation read from a lectern is safe: it is rarely memorable. Try being brave, especially if you are not tied to a fixed microphone. Which presentations have you found memorable in the past? A dynamic interaction, especially one supported by 'props', can be wonderfully persuasive - but do your research first and don't try anything potentially career limiting, especially if you have not practiced it first. You could try liberating yourself from the lectern for question time at least. If you can't answer a question, admit it, offer to find out and say when and how you will respond. You could also try opening the issue to the floor: the chances are that someone will know and come to your aid. And Finally Prepare, practice and get feedback beforehand. Revise. Enjoy the talk and so shall we: we're on your side. Be yourself. Find your own style. Be imaginative in your use of support material. Many superb speakers are not technically brilliant, but they compensate by taking pains to consider what the audience will enjoy, and find both memorable and relevant. As a result, they outshine those with honed technique but no empathy or rapport with their listeners. Prepare well, and then think not so much of what you will say, but what the audience will hear. We will thank you for your courtesy, and remember you with pleasure.
Parts to a Seminar
Title
Write a sentence that describes the subject matter. __________________________________________________________________ Now extract a title from that. __________________________________________________________
Introduction
What is the history? Who was involved in this area of physics? __________________________________________________________________ Where and when did the research take place? __________________________________________________________________ What techniques and equipment were used in this research? __________________________________________________________________
Images, Equations, and Numbers
Include some images of the equipment, scientist, charts and graphs. Show at least one equation and some numbers to support your ideas.
Conclusions
Summarize your talk at the end in a few sentences.