1. education
2. school

Computer Reliability
Week 14 - April 19, 21
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Guest lecture - Mary Shaw
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Administrivia
 Presentations
 April 26
• ?
 April 28
•
•
•
•
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Yong Wu Lee
Jonathan Navia
Benjamin Tucker
Ganesh Kumar
James Tong
 Email your slides to me no later than 10 am
 If you want me to review your paper draft you must give
it to me by April 22 at noon
 Final papers due April 29 at 4pm.You can turn them in
during class on April 28 or leave them in my mailbox
outside Smith 230
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
3
Research and Communication Skills
Plan your talk
 Make an outline of what you want to talk about
 No need to present every detail of your paper
 Your presentation should motivate people who find it interesting
to read your paper
 Consider the background of your audience
 If they are experts, focus on the details of your research and
results
 If they are not experts, spend time on background and
motivating the problem
 Consider how much time you have (10 minutes MAXIMUM
+ 5 minutes for questions)
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Research and Communication Skills
Structure your talk
 Outline
 Optional for short talks
 Background and motivation
 Sometimes you may want to lead with this
 Research methodology
 Or system design + evaluation, or analysis, etc.
 Results
 You may not have them if this is a work in progress
 Related work
 Could also go after background or at end, optional for short talks
 Contributions
 Useful in job talk, probably no time in 10-minute talk
 Future work
 Optional for short talks
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Research and Communication Skills
Making slides
 Use easy-to-read fonts
 Avoid text < 20 pt font
 Use a simple slide design, no distracting background
images
 Use a color scheme with high contrast
 Avoid animation unless it helps illustrate your point
 Clipart can help make your points more clear and/or
memorable, but don’t let it distract
 Make figures and tables readable
 Don’t make too many slides (1-3 minutes/slide)
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Research and Communication Skills
Slide content
 Are slides lecture notes/handouts?
 For a class or tutorial, slides may double as lecture notes 
more content on slides
 For a research presentation, your paper is usually the “handout”
 less content on slides
 Don’t try to put everything on the slide
 Don’t include text unless you want people to read it
 If people are reading your slides they are not listening to
you
 Keep text short
 Don’t put too much math on a slide
 Just include key points, examples, etc.
 A figure may be worth 1000 words
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Research and Communication Skills
If you use overhead projector
White background usually best
Don’t use a paper to cover up part of your
slide and uncover as you go
If you have to skip slides, don’t put them
up and take them down real fast, just skip
them
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Research and Communication Skills
Prepare
 Make your slides in advance
 Practice
Time yourself
Get feedback from others
Watch yourself on video
 Make sure you know how to hook your laptop up
to the projector, change screen resolution,
advance your slides, etc. (Mac users, bring your
adaptor!)
 If you need to point to parts of your slides,
decide if you will use, mouse, stick, laser
pointer, etc. and bring it with you
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Research and Communication Skills
Giving your talk
 Dress neatly
 Stand up straight, hands out of pockets
 Don’t hide behind the podium
 Move around, but not too much
 Keep track of time
 Put your watch on podium, note clock in room, watch moderator
with time cards, etc.
 Face the audience, look at your audience, not just one
person
 Project your voice
 Don’t talk too fast
 Finish on time (or early!)
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Research and Communication Skills
Keeping your audience engaged
 Convey enthusiasm
 Inject humor
 Tell a story
 Ask the audience questions
 Modulate your voice
 Speak slowly
 Try to prevent your audience from getting lost
Provide ample background
Define important terms up front
Don’t get into highly technical details unless that’s
what your audience expects
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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Research and Communication Skills
Handling questions
If you have a strict time limit,
leave time for questions or avoid
taking them
Answer clarification questions quickly
Suggest that questions that will require
lengthy answers be taken off line
Don’t get flustered by critics or questions
you don’t know the answer to
Stay calm, diffuse the question, keep going
Computers and Society • Carnegie Mellon University • Spring 2005 • Lorrie Cranor and Dave Farber • http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/sp05/
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