Prepare for Talks and Meeting

My experience during my internships and doing research is that meeting with managers are just as important while the project is going on as when the project is completed. Typically, my manager and I would set up meetings so I could show them my progress on a project and tell him my next directions. To make these short meeting go smoothly, I typically I will prepare something like a script to show where I am. For instance, say I am working on a website. I will first quickly show some decisions I made to get to the point I am at currently, then spend some time showing what I have - explaining where necessary, and lastly I will show places where I plan to improve or further develop.

To make sure this meeting goes smoothly, I will try to allocate 15 minutes or more before meetings to prepare these points. I think ahead and have answers to questions that my boss or manager may have. I may also quickly produce PowerPoint or OpenOffice slides that will show what I have done. These slide graphs can also help later when you are presenting a large talk or demonstration.

It is important for a manager to be confident knowing what he can expect during the next time you meet. Even if you do not accomplish as much as you would like, clarity during this meeting is important. Also, the less time you spend on fluff the better it is for both of you.

Below I have listed some "points to remember" I compiled when giving a research talk:

• Explain up front why the problem is important. This gives some meaning to your work and avoids wandering.
• It may be good to memorize the first few slides so you can start off well even if you are nervous.
• Smiling at people will usually cause them to smile back. So be enthusiastic.
• Its good to start with a question to gauge the backgrounds of the people at the talk.
  
• “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.”
• Memorize the 7 key points you have so you can know what to cover in the case you are side tracked.
• If people are not using the slides as notes use more pictures and less words. Words are for the people who miss the talk. Even those people can just read the paper. People read at different rates and you may get a confusing rippled reaction to slide content.
• Be able to skip ahead at any point.
• If you know people in the audience, use their names, it makes it more personal.
• Slides cost zero dollars, so it is okay to use put extra content on another slide
• It is a good idea to use crop/blur/fade techniques to draw attention to a particular part of a picture while still showing something as a whole.
• Showing a video, and narrating what is going on is a good idea.
• Demos are always great (use Alt-Tab to switch between programs)
  
• If a question is difficult you may 1) Ask them to repeat it 2) Ask for clarification 3) Question the motivation behind the question 4) Be political and answer the question with a question. 5) If it is a long answer or off topic answer the question off line.
• At the begining introduce yourself if someone else has not and if it a job talk be sure to name drop and toot your own horn "toot toot"
• During Q/A have a slide that has everything you talked about so people may remember question they wanted to ask you but forgot.