‘Giving a talk’, to colleagues, to peers or to the general public, is an important part of our professional duties as scientists. Whatever the context, we have a duty to make sure that the science is communicated clearly, and that the audience is able to understand the science at an appropriate level. Communication of science and about science is becoming more important, for many reasons. Science is becoming more expensive—the simple (that is, cheap) experiments have been done. Science, and the technology that results from it, has brought great benefits to society, but science has also given society cause for concern. Science should be dispassionate, the results independent of cultural background and beliefs of the individual scientist; but science can also be controversial, especially when it challenges generally accepted beliefs or attitudes. We believe that there are no absolute rules governing what makes a good slide, or how to assemble a series of good slides into a good talk. Even if there were such a recipe, how a talk is received depends upon many other things—the subject, the speaker, the venue, the size (and the mood) of the audience. There is never enough time to discuss all the details, and so we always have to make choices about what to include and what to omit. How we make these choices depends upon many things— what might be highly appropriate in one context could be completely inappropriate in another. Nevertheless, we can think of a few principles that should help you, which have underpinned the approach taken in this book. • Understand the scope of your talk—where do you start, what is the key point, how will you conclude, what is the message? • Understand your hosts—why did they invite you to give the talk or, if you invited yourself, why did they agree? • Understand your audience—why have they come to hear you, what do they know already, what do they expect to learn and what do they need to learn? • Be professional—understand and be master of the technology of the presentation.
The matter of standards. I. The individual scientist
