Ten commandments (with annotations gleaned from Patterson's talk by Mark D.
Hill):
- Thou shalt not be neat
Why waste research time preparing slides? Ignore spelling, grammar and
legibility. Who cares what 50 people think?
- Thou shalt not waste space
Transparencies are expensive. If you can save five slides in each of four
talks per year, you save $7.00/year!
- Thou shalt not covet brevity
Do you want to continue the stereotype that engineers can't write? Always
use complete sentences, never just key words. If possible, use whole
paragraphs and read every word.
- Thou shalt cover thy naked slides
You need the suspense! Overlays are too flashy.
- Thou shalt not write large
Be humble -- use a small font. Important people sit in front. Who cares
about the riff-raff?
- Thou shalt not use color
Flagrant use of color indicates uncareful research. It's also unfair to
emphasize some words over others.
- Thou shalt not illustrate
Confucius says ``A picture = 10K words,'' but Dijkstra says ``Pictures
are for weak minds.'' Who are you going to believe? Wisdom from the ages
or the person who first counted goto's?
- Thou shalt not make eye contact
You should avert eyes to show respect. Blocking screen can also add
mystery.
- Thou shalt not skip slides in a long talk
You prepared the slides; people came for your whole talk; so just talk
faster. Skip your summary and conclusions if necessary.
- Thou shalt not practice
Why waste research time practicing a talk? It could take several hours out
of your two years of research. How can you appear spontaneous if you practice?
If you do practice, argue with any suggestions you get and make sure your talk
is longer than the time you have to present it.
Commandment X is most important. Even if you break the other nine, this
one can save you.