Ad Lagendijk
8 March 2010
I could give a much longer talk
Tags: arrogance, modestyPosted in Conferences, Speaking in public, Tips for senior scientists
I have recently listened to a number of talks given by excellent senior scientists. Their being excellent can be concluded from the prizes they – recently – got and from their – recent - membership of exclusive societies.
A number of them fall in the trap of feeling the necessity of proving that they are smart and of proving that their field is much more important than the research subjects pursued by their audience.
Let me first put a two simple facts that are often overlooked:
- Every scientist can always give a much longer presentation than the allotted time
- Every scientist can give a mathematically sound presentation that nobody in the audience will understand.
So why do these superb scientists keep on saying things like “I could give a whole talk on just this part, but here I will have to limit myself to … “, or when they start, their first sentence is “I could give a much longer talk than the prescribed x minutes? The implication of what they state is: “I am much more important than the other speakers, and I do not understand why I am not invited to talk for hours, you dummies.”
So why do these excellent scientists keep on trying to impress their audience with mathematical formula’s they know nobody in the audience will understand?
Limit yourself
Goethe has written in a sonnet “In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister”. A beautiful phrase. Please avoid in your talk TMI (Too Much Information). I always tell my students when asked for advice about their upcoming presentation: “We know you are smart, but don’t prove it.”
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9 Mar 2010 10:35, Mirjam
For senior scientists it may be a conscious (although stupid) choice to give a talk to impress people, instead of getting information across. But, as you also point out, people at all levels frequently walk into the trap of squeezing too much info into one talk, often just out of enthusiasm. I find that it helps to give each slide a clear title that summarizes the main point that you want to make with that slide. In this way you quickly find out what info on the slide does not contribute to that message and whether each of your slides is actually related to the overall message of your talk. If not: remove!
9 Mar 2010 21:38, Otto Muskens
Another necessity felt by important seniors is the need to go way over their allocated time slot. The most succesful strategies for stretching a talk are:
1. Say ‘1 more slide’ and start off on a completely new topic
2. Run a 5-minute movie at the end
3. Completely ignore the session leader who is to scared to make an example anyway
Of course only important people can get away with this unacceptable behavior.
11 Mar 2010 13:39, Ad Lagendijk
@Mirjam and Otto,
How do we treat people that do not behave themselves when they give a talk? For instance because their slides are horribly busy or because they are going way over their time. I went recently to a IEEE Photonics conference which a ridiculously high conference fee. A major fraction of the speakers went way over their time. I just do not know what to do about it.
11 Mar 2010 20:56, Mirjam
Well, you’d hope that the chair(wo)man does the job when someone is about to go over time. If you don’t mind upsetting some people you could also just start applauding of course
Or make a big show of walking away.
Wrt slides: it partly is still a matter of taste, so I would be a bit more careful here. If it is really bad you could always try to point this out to them in a friendly way afterwards or ask some questions where you make it clear that this was not at all clear from the slides.
Notoriously bad speakers should not be invited anymore, but then you’ll have to convince the organizers that look up to these people…