1. ?What makes
a research presentation
good or bad?

2. ?
?
? ?

3. Jonathan Foley
California Academy of Sciences

5. Jean-luc Doumont
Trees, maps, and theorems

6. “ ”SCIENTISTS
CANNOT COMMUNICATE VERY WELL
WITH NON-SCIENTISTS,
BUT IN FACT
THEY CANNOT COMMUNICATE WELL
WITH
OTHER SCIENTISTS
EITHER.

7. consequences

8. “professor” + “PowerPoint”

10. THE USE OF THE POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
HAS BEEN A DISASTER.
Prof. John Sweller
University of New South Wales
IT SHOULD BE DITCHED.
“ ”

11. 5THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
TO MAKE YOUR PRESENTATIONS
A LITTLE BIT BETTER

12. TIP ONE
Make a plan.

13. ?
Someone just asked you
to deliver a presentation.
DO FIRST?
WHAT DO YOU

15. We don’t know where we get our ideas from.
We do know that we do not get them from our laptops.“ ”John Cleese

19. TIP TWO
Move your notes
off-screen.

20. ?What is the average reading speed
for a literate adult (words per minute?)

21. Concluding Remarks
•Absent rings were uncommon during the growing seasons that followed
major volcanic eruptions, including A.D. 1259 and 1816.
!
• Because these features have occurred so rarely in high-latitude and high-
elevation tree ring-width records, the hypothesis that the Northern
Hemisphere tree ring-width network is compromised by dating errors due to
unrecognized absent rings would require that many temperature-limited
forest stands in the network exhibited a reaction to cold temperatures that
have essen- tially never been observed anywhere.
!
•If however absent-ring formation were to increase in forests outside of the
American Southwest, that behavior would represent an unprecedented
response to environmental stress.

24. Source: Amy Luxbacher

25. Source: Amy Luxbacher

26. improve the accuracy of paleoclimate reconstructions
assign more weight to behavior exhibited by
many records and tree species
reduce emphasis given to unusual records
that may be dominated by non-climatic noise
BENEFITS OF LARGE NETWORKS
Source: Meko et al., Journal of Climate, 1993

27. TIP THREE
Ditch the clutter.

28. http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/NaturalFlow/current.html
Population Growth of Colorado River Basin 1900-2000
0
12,500,000
25,000,000
37,500,000
50,000,000
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
California
Other 6 Basin States Combined
Population
Golf course in Las Vegas photo:
K.Dewey, High Plains Climate Center
Low flow conditions since 2000 have
coincided with increased consumption from
a rapidly growing population and new
demands for water for ecosystem health and
recreation. Increases in consumptive use
are projected to continue.

29. ONE

30. IDEA

31. PER

32. SLIDE

34. American Association for the Advancement of Science
Chicago, Illinois
February 15, 2014

35. Source: St. George et al., Geophysical Research Le ers (2013)

37. really
decadal
not that
decadal
Source: St. George and Ault, Journal of Geophysical Research, 2011

40. TIP FOUR
Design for the back row.

43. “ ”I KNOW YOU
BUT...
CAN’T SEE THIS,

44. MAKE IT BIG

45. MAKE IT
BIG

48. Picea
Pinus
Pseudotsuga
Quercus
Larix
a
18ºN
36ºN
54ºN
72ºN
90ºN
120ºW 60ºW180ºW
0º
Source: St. George et al., Geophysical Research Le ers (2013)

49. 60ºE 120ºE 180ºWSource: St. George et al., Geophysical Research Le ers (2013)

50. Picea
Pinus
Pseudotsuga
Quercus
Larix
a
c
#records
%records
b
18ºN
36ºN
54ºN
72ºN
90ºN
120ºW 60ºW 0º 60ºE 120ºE 180ºW180ºW
2000
1000
0 0%
12%
6%
0º
How o en have locally-absent rings occurred
across the Northern Hemisphere tree ring-width network?
Source: St. George et al., Geophysical Research Le ers (2013)

51. TIP FIVE
Get to the point

52. ?How long can you expect to keep
your audience’s attention?

55. “ ”
Sting
IN ROCK MUSIC
YOU HAVE TO
BURN
FROM THE FIRST BAR.

56. ?
WHERE AND WHEN
HAVE
ABSENT RINGS
OCCURRED ACROSS
BOREAL AND TEMPERATE
FORESTS?

57. 134 881TREE-RING ‘YEARS’
ZERO CASESWHERE A GROWTH RING WAS MISSING FROM
EVERY SPRUCE TREE AT THE SAME SITE.

58. Plan your talk on paper first.
Move your notes off the screen.
Create visual aids that work for the back row.
Be mindful of basic design principles.
Get to the point.
5THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
TO MAKE YOUR PRESENTATIONS
A LITTLE BIT BETTER

59. www.presentationzen.com

60. h p://www.slideshare.net/treubold

63. Yoda
“ ”
WHAT YOU
HAVE LEARNED.
UNLEARN
YOU MUST

64. twi er.com/sco stgeorge