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Summary:
THE CRAFT OF SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS provides a score of examples from contemporary and historical scientific presentations to show clearly what makes an oral presentation effective. It considers presentations made to persuade an audience to adopt some course of action (such as funding a proposal) as well as presentations made to communicate information, and it considers these from four perspectives: speech, structure, visual aids, and delivery. In keeping with technological innovations, it discusses computer-based projections and slide shows as well as overhead projections. In particular, it discusses ways of organizing graphics and text in projected images and of using layout and design to present the information efficiently and effectively.
Unlike other books that discuss technical presentations, this book anchors its advice in the experiences of scientists and engineers, including such successful presenters as Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Niels Bohr, and Rita Levi-Montalcini, as well as currently active laboratory directors, scientists, and engineers.
In addition to examining successful presentations, Alley also discusses the errors that cause many scientific presentations to flounder, providing a list of ten critical errors to avoid. The insights and tools in this book will guide readers to deliver outstanding presentations.
Praise for Michael Alley's THE CRAFT OF SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS:
"Alley has revamped the way our research center makes presentations-particularly the way we design our presentation slides." DANIEL J. INMAN, DIRECTOR CENTER FOR INTELLIGENT MATERIAL SYSTEMS
"This book fills a void by illustrating key issues and difficulties in oral presentations with the experiences of others." CHRISTENE MOORE, COMMUNICATION INSTRUCTOR UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Presentations: Craft and science?
Customer Rating:
The presentation of theory, data and opinion to audiences is ubiquitous, in schools, universities, scientific conferences and in media and public relations fora. What should be the case that the message is primary and the medium secondary has been eroded. The roles have to a degree been reversed, largely through the accessibility of Powerpoint. Creating an argument, building a case with data and inference, the very nature of education, is difficult and not something which can be done by all. What had been relatively easy for some, to make a presentation interesting and persuasible to an audience, but difficult for many, seemed to be available through the default options of the Microsoft software. And the diffusion of the methodology was immediate and pervasive. It is almost impossible to go to a meeting, conference or school without there being some form of Powerpoint without attendant trivia, irrelevance or distraction being dominant. Many people have suffered either through sitting in front of a presentation or from preparing one. There has as a result been something of an industry in presenting alternatives. This book is one of the outcomes.
This is a very interesting and accessible account of what can be done with slide presentations to get the message across and to make it memorable. It is useful in giving hints and examples of what to do and how to do it. It benefits from having been developed from personal experience and there are a plethora of examples and anecdotes that give substance to the points made.
As a primer on how to make a presentation it is valuable and worth reading and building upon. But there is a theory implicit in the craft. The idea that a statement of the outcome should be presented and then data and examples presented to substantiate the statement, is dependent upon the notion that there is a "fact" that can be presented and the audience has to be helped to acquire it. This may be suitable for engineers, medical scientists and practitioners in general in many fora. It may be less suitable for those who are in the media, the humanities and the social sciences, and indeed in the sciences, where the propositions are less definite and more speculative and hence need to be presented as questions, where the data are not primary.
This is not to say that the message of this book is not important. All presenters should look at this and learn. But this is not the craft tool, the sought after and ubiquitous jackknife, that can be used to make presentations interesting and persuasive. It needs to be read in conjunction with work such as Edward Tufte's critique of Powerpoint and his theory driven, aesthetically created, work on visual representation of data. The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within, Second EditionThe Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd editionIt can also benefit from reading what has been denigrated as a clone of Powerpoint but which does actually go beyond to make important points about what can and should be done slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations.
This is a useful book and well worth examining. But there is a whole theory and practice out there that serious presenters should examine and incorporate into their work. The art of practice is reflective practice, incorporating theory while doing Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions (Higher Education Series). To do the practice without contemplation of the theory can lead to the outcome that is "death by Powerpoint".
excellent book
Customer Rating:
The book was excellent pointing out errors that as a presenter one may overlook and yet they determine the quality of your presentation
a little chatty but quite interesting to read
Customer Rating:
I've been thinking about how to improve students' scientific presentation and find this book very useful. The author occasionally slips in quite a few interesting stories of some famous scientists. Quite an enjoyable reading experience.
Great way to structure presentations
Customer Rating:
This book suggests ways to go beyond the "stock" powerpoint style presentation scheme of titles and bullets to create better presentations. What do I mean by better? Basically, the goal is to create a more narrative presenation. Rather than a presentation of lists of facts, a good scientific presentation also tells a story, and at the same time elucidates a finding in clear detail.
Getting someone to think or create a presentation in this way is a difficult thing to teach, and so the book takes a conversational tone and has plenty of examples and counter examples. It also discusses the various expectations of author, audience, and other politicos who might be in the room, and suggests ways to meet those expectations. I recently put the tactics to good use, for instance, I had picutres of the actual elements of the apparatus over schematic as I spoke about them. It was very effective, and kept the audience engaged.
Bottom line, I recommend this book if you want to improve your style or if you are nervous about starting out in the world of scientific presentation. It also helps with confidence to know you've worked hard on improving your style, your audience will appreciate it as well.
Scientific Presentation review
Customer Rating:
It gave me advice on traps to avoid in presentations. I just need to make good practice of them.
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