Brief Guide to Writing and Speaking ?

Rules for writing paper & planning talks

• Iterate figures to display main points.
• Iterate figure captions to tell main story.
• Ditto for tables and caption; use most relevant & least numbers with fewest significant figures.
• Avoid equations; use only already defined symbols.
• References capture most relevant papers.
• Iterate TS outline; topic sentences captures paragraph's essence; cut number for needed length.
• Do sentences: known subject drives to new concept.

Rules for preparing talk/viewgraphs

• Decide on take-home message. Design talk to that aim.
• Pick figures that deliver take-home message.
• On each viewgraph, put
  • Title that summarize subject of viewgraph.
  • Carefully formulated argument.
  • Conclusion of argument at bottom of viewgraph.
• Practice for:
  • Length. Shorter is better.
  • Connectivity. Cleanly segue between viewgraphs.
  • Clarity. Formulate ideas accurately & concisely.