SKEPTICAMP? How to talk about the things you love to people who don’t know

as much as you

•  Uh… I might want to give a talk at Skepticamp…

•  OMG I DON'T KNOW HOW!

I might want to speak…

•  Do you know about something? •  Can you tell us about it? •  Well, did you ever do Show and Tell?

BAM. •  What do you know about that you think

OTHER PEOPLE should know about, too? What do you wish more people were interested in?

Talk nerdy to me

•  What super-nerdy subject would you really like to chat about at tokenistic hipster dinner parties where nobody actually eats any food? DO THAT.

•  Topics include: •  Statistical significance! •  Conspiracy theories! •  Evolution! •  Investing! •  Pareidolia! •  UFOs! •  Skeptical Bible study! •  Free will! •  Homeopathy! •  Mythology! •  Stem cells! •  Astrobiology! •  And these were just a FEW talks from the

past two years AND EVERYONE LOVED THEM. We currently have (I believe) the LARGEST/most well attended Skepticamp in the US, and it's because we get good speakers. And very few of them have ever given a talk before in their lives.

•  So how do you start putting your talk together? Since many of us love the idea of numbers and structure, I'm gonna tell you about Pecha Kucha.

•  [neko] •  Pecha Kucha is actually a designery-nerd thing (OMG

ART NERDS) that started by a couple of architects in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.

TALE OF THE LUCKY CAT, JAKE ADELSTEIN March 27, 2013, Tokyo

I BECAME AN ARTIST AND SO CAN YOU, LUIS MENDO January 16, 2013, Table Talks

•  Because creative types pretty much refuse to shut up when they start talking about Their Work, a format was established to keep people from blathering on about jargon-y bullshit for 45 minutes.

•  Pecha Kucha 20 x 20 is the result. 20 slides, 20 seconds each, boom, done. Ok, we can all go home now. See you at Skepticamp! But really, something similar really lends itself to a discussion of

DO SHIT YOU LOVE: INNOVATIONS OF TH HEART, DAWN HANCOCK March 14, 2013, Table Talks

•  just about anything without migrating into "oh, THIS story again" territory. So. 20 slides at 20 seconds each is 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME, KATE GARMEY October 14, 2013, Chicago

•  You've got ten minutes to talk at Skepticamp, so let's say 25 slides for 25 seconds each. That's 10:24, which goes a bit over and we'd like to avoid so there's more time for questions, so 24 slides at 24 seconds each is 9:36 which is good in case you forget something and need to tack it on at the end.

SUSHI FOR SMILES, TAKAYO KIYOTA October 30, 2013, Tokyo

•  Phew! So yeah, I *was* going to try to do a Pecha Kucha format for this talk, but it doesn't really lend itself to my STYLE. If ya see what I mean. Pecha Kucha is just a suggestion, a place to start from if you need a little structure to get started. And there's tons of resources to help you with that format in the Wide World of Intarwebs for when you're up past midnight on the day before you've got to submit your talk and you're freaking out that it's not "right."

LUIGI, KYLE MCLAIN May 15, 2013, Tokyo

•  Sometimes, the internet is reassuring. So how do you get started?

•  DO NOT OPEN POWERPOINT. DO NOT TURN ON YOUR COMPUTER. DO NOT PASS GO. DO NOT COLLECT $200. Seriously, everything I've seen out there is a HUGE advocate for analog idea generation. Bust out those index cards… no, really.

•  Take your topic, and write one idea that you want to get across in your talk on each card. Don't worry about how many cards you have, just keep going until you have all your ideas out. Then you take the cards, toss the duplicate ideas, and start arranging them in some semblance of order. Can you combine ideas into one sentence? Can you talk about multiple concepts at once? Is that fiddly detail REALLY necessary to a layperson who's never heard of your particular style of underwater basketweaving before? Combine, pare down, and once you get to 20 or 25 cards, there's your talk.

•  TADA! Everyone can go home now.

Daniel Ramos Santos. “Unusual friends.” 2012. deviantART.

•  But really, let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. •  You want the good stuff. Think about doing research in high school or

college. A ton of research, three tons of information, and you've got to cram it into some arbitrary page limit or word count. (And cite your sources. You should do that here, too.)

•  So you already know all this stuff, so what you're really doing is editing and deleting. You're not coming up with anything new, there's nothing you didn't already know. You want to present evidence, sure, but you never submitted your entire study carrel as finished work, did you? So take your 20-25 cards and get cracking.

•  The next big thing is the presentation itself, and for most people that means some sort of slideshow. You don't HAVE to have one, you can just speak. If there's some means to present it, video is fine in snippets, but honestly if your entire presentation is on film we may as well have all stayed home. You can do demonstrations, or bring in samples to pass around. But if you're going the traditional slideshow route, there's lots of options there too. You can use Powerpoint, or Keynote, or a PDF, or Open Office Whatever, or a sideways Word document if you want. We have the technology… and you're free to ignore it.

•  But for some reason, people really like to put their entire speech up on the wall behind them while they're reading it, and then they're surprised when nobody's paying attention to the fact that they're talking any more. Look, you've just put a pile of words in front of us, and you expect us not to read it? If it's so important that you've put it in 900-point font up on a screen, of COURSE we're going to read it! Anyone who's ever been to school has it ingrained into their skulls that Stuff Up There Is Important, and You'd Better Pay Attention To Those Words.

•  Note that I did not say That Speaker, I said Those Words. It's practically a compulsion, when we see words, they're meant to be read. And while we're reading, we're not listening. So TL;DR on MY words here, don't do this

Stephanie Booth. “Bad Slide - too much text.” 2007. (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Flickr.

and expect people to keep paying attention to the words coming out of your mouth. Because they won't. You're going to be up on stage sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher for as long as it takes them to finish make it through the novelette you've just provided as reading material. Show rather than tell. And while I'm here, don't use some teeny tiny font that only people on stage could possibly read. You're the only one up there and you already know the material… make the text you DO use large enough to be readable by those nice folks with glasses in the back row.

Fillerama •  Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. It's art! A statement on modern society, 'Oh Ain't Modern

Society Awful?'! It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool. Sorry, checking all the water in this area; there's an escaped fish. You've swallowed a planet!

•  Aw, you're all Mr. Grumpy Face today. Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or as I've always known him: Jeff. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. I am the last of my species, and I know how that weighs on the heart so don't lie to me!

•  It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool. Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or as I've always known him: Jeff. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. I'm nobody's taxi service; I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship.

•  You've swallowed a planet! Sorry, checking all the water in this area; there's an escaped fish. I'm nobody's taxi service; I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship. No… It's a thing; it's like a plan, but with more greatness. I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!

•  It's art! A statement on modern society, 'Oh Ain't Modern Society Awful?'! Aw, you're all Mr. Grumpy Face today. You hit me with a cricket bat.

•  I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks! I hate yogurt. It's just stuff with bits in. The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things.…hey.…the good things don't always soften the bad things; but vice-versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant.

•  I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everyone's aunt. *catches himself* And that is not how I'm introducing myself. No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor. Don't call me the Rotmeister. They're not aliens, they're Earth…liens!

•  While we're on things NOT to do, don't switch up the fonts all over the place. It doesn't "call attention" to anything, and switching things up like this actually makes it harder to read.

•  You also don't need to use ALL THE TRANSITIONS just because they're offered to you. A buffet is never really as satisfying as you think it'll be… sure, you can have all the things, but you'll be really uncomfortable afterwards when you've tried to eat everything at once.

•  (If you’re reading this on Slideshare, you’re totally missing out on all the most obnoxious transitions. You’re welcome.

•  You don't need to use all the colors, either. Two or three, maybe, plus black, and I'm counting your lines and bullet points and whatnot.

Fillerama •  Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. It's art! A statement on modern society, 'Oh Ain't

Modern Society Awful?'! It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool. Sorry, checking all the water in this area; there's an escaped fish. You've swallowed a planet!

•  Aw, you're all Mr. Grumpy Face today. Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or as I've always known him: Jeff. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. I am the last of my species, and I know how that weighs on the heart so don't lie to me!

•  It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool. Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or as I've always known him: Jeff. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. I'm nobody's taxi service; I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship.

•  You've swallowed a planet! Sorry, checking all the water in this area; there's an escaped fish. I'm nobody's taxi service; I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship. No… It's a thing; it's like a plan, but with more greatness. I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!

•  It's art! A statement on modern society, 'Oh Ain't Modern Society Awful?'! Aw, you're all Mr. Grumpy Face today. You hit me with a cricket bat.

•  I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks! I hate yogurt. It's just stuff with bits in. The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things.…hey.…the good things don't always soften the bad things; but vice-versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant.

•  I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everyone's aunt. *catches himself* And that is not how I'm introducing myself. No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor. Don't call me the Rotmeister. They're not aliens, they're Earth…liens!

No. Don't do this. Just, no.

Fillerama

u  Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. It's art! A statement on modern society, 'Oh Ain't Modern Society Awful?'! It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool. Sorry, checking all the water in this area; there's an escaped fish. You've swallowed a planet!

u  Aw, you're all Mr. Grumpy Face today. Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or as I've always known him: Jeff. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. I am the last of my species, and I know how that weighs on the heart so don't lie to me!

u  It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool. Father Christmas. Santa Claus. Or as I've always known him: Jeff. Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush. I'm nobody's taxi service; I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship.

u  You've  swallowed  a  planet!  Sorry,  checking  all  the  water  in  this  area;  there's  an  escaped  fish.  I'm  nobody's  taxi  service;  I'm  not  gonna  be  there  to  catch  you  every  Ame  you  feel  like  jumping  out  of  a  spaceship.  No…  It's  a  thing;  it's  like  a  plan,  but  with  more  greatness.  I  am  the  Doctor,  and  you  are  the  Daleks!  

u  It's art! A statement on modern society, 'Oh Ain't Modern Society Awful?'! Aw, you're all Mr. Grumpy Face today. You hit me with a cricket bat.

u I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks! I hate yogurt. It's just stuff with bits in. The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things.…hey.…the good things don't always soften the bad things; but vice-versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant.

u  I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everyone's aunt. *catches himself* And that is not how I'm introducing myself. No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor. Don't call me the Rotmeister. They're not aliens, they're Earth…liens!

And you sure as hell don't need to go out of your way to violate every law of visual decency on the planet.

•  Every time you use a watermarked photo or right-click on a Google image search, Jeebus makes this puppy listen to Justin Bieber for sixteen hours on a loop. Don't steal photos, cite your sources or buy stock. There are actually a few free stock photo sites out there, and more stuff is getting released to Creative Commons every day. You can even filter your Google search by usage rights! Click on Search Tools then pick "labeled for reuse" from the Usage Rights dropdown. Flickr also lets you search by Creative Commons as well.

•  sxc.hu •  morguefile •  everystockphoto lets you see which stock photo sites have the image

you want. •  OR, if someone has taken a photo or has an image you'd like to use,

you could do something really crazy and ASK THEM IF YOU CAN USE IT. Much like there are different types of Creative Commons licenses, the creator may ask that you only use their image in certain situations, but that's their work. Don't steal other people's work and take credit for it. Save a puppy.

•  So what SHOULD you do? There ARE things you can do to make your presentation more of the visual aid it's meant to be.

• Consistency • Simplicity • Contrast • Nudity

(got your attention there, didn't I?)

•  Consistency means using the same (or similar) fonts, sizes, placement, colors, and image styles.

•  One or two fonts, in a limited range of sizes make your presentation easier to read.

•  So will keeping your text always in the same place from slide to slide; people will know where to look and what to expect, and that will allow them to pay more attention to what you're saying instead of their hindbrain trying to figure out what's going on.

•  A theme of a few complementary colors will make your slides nicer to look at. There are tools out there (Kuler, ColourLovers, etc.) that have pre-made color schemes you can use, and most software you'd be using lets you create themes with preset colors. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH JUST USING BLACK AND WHITE.

•  And if you can, use similar image styles. Pictures that use the same colors, or the same lighting, or are of similar objects will add to the sense of cohesiveness in your talk. Keeping similar sizes and placements of your pictures will help, too. And don't use 87 pictures on one slide, you're not making a collage.

• Consistency – Fonts – Sizes – Placement

– Colors – Image style

• Simplicity – Clarity – Focus – As few words

as possible

Simplicity is just that. Keep it simple, stupid. Keeping your slides simple keeps the focus on one thing at a time and makes your point clear. Don't over-explain on your slides, use as few words as possible or even none at all. You're giving a talk, not a read-through, and the audience is there because they're interested in what you have to SAY.

Contrast may seem like the opposite of consistency, but it isn't. Contrast allows you to selectively highlight points in your talk without literally pointing at something or over-explaining why it's important. When there's one red word on a slide and everything else is black, you know it's important. When one slide is different in style from the previous ones, your audience will know it's a different topic or section in your talk. Color contrast is also important, in that it makes things easier to read. Red text on a black background is hard to read regardless, and impossible for some color blind folks. Go easy on our eyes and stick to dark text on a light background, or vice versa. There are also color contrast tools you can use if you'd like to check your work; snook.ca, juicystudio.com, and checkmycolours.com are a few.

• Contrast – Easy to read – Highlight items – Accessible

Nudity means NEKKID SLIDES! Don't feel the need to fill every inch of white space with something, you don't need to impress us with your mad Photoshop skills. Don't be afraid of basic black and white. Keep bullet points bullet-y, leave the explanation to your mouth. Among the other dreck that women are told about how to decorate themselves, one piece of advice is to remove one piece of jewelry or accessory before leaving the house, but I think that applies here. Pare down, don't add on. Make your focus one thing, and if that one thing is your talk, you're doing it right.

• Nudity – Remove one item – Stick to basics – One thing at a time

•  Now the big question: how to prepare. Basically, practice. A lot. Get your stuff together, stand up in front of a mirror with a timer, and talk. Do it again. You can't practice too much. If you think you're done, run through it one more time. Why does this help? For the same reason any rehearsal helps. You become more familiar with the material and how you want to present it. You know exactly what you want to say, how you want to say it, and, if you're as much of a worrywart as I am, you've got a pretty good idea of where things could go wrong. The benefit of worrywart-dom is that you can prepare for the worst. And be pleasantly surprised when all of your practice and preparation has prevented the worst from happening.

•  Try not to read from your paper •  Be comfortable with the material (you picked the topic, this shouldn't be TOO hard) •  Practice with a timer - you've got ten minutes plus five for questions afterward, and we WILL

yoink you to keep on schedule. Be considerate. •  Practice standing up - make your rehearsals as much like the actual presentation as

possible. •  Remember silence is OK, you don't need to fill space with Um and Ah. Everyone has trouble

with this, so don't let it make you more nervous, but sometimes just being aware of it helps. •  Remember a picture is worth a thousand words, you don't need to explain your slides before

each one. Let them speak for themselves and tell the story yourself; you've got a smart audience and they can figure out that it's a picture of a podium that represents what you might see when you're giving a talk.

•  Oh, and practice again.

•  So here you are at Skepticamp, it's the big day! You've practiced, you're ready, you're nervous. So is everyone else speaking, it's okay. There are things you can do to keep from being TOO nervous, though.

•  Arrive early. Get a look around the room, go stand on stage, ask to try the mic. We'll still be setting up, most likely, and a quick sound check shouldn't get in the way unless all sixteen people want to try the mic at once.

•  Don't change anything at the last minute. Not only will you have already committed to the presentation you're giving because you already sent us your slides, changing things up in a last-minute panic just stresses you out more and kinda kills the benefit of all that practicing you did. You put together your talk the way you did for a reason, be confident in your preparation.

•  Remember the audience is on your side. We're all there for the same reason, and we want to listen to what you have to say. Many of us know what it's like to be up there in front of a ton of people, and we respect your nervousness. We want you to do well. We think you're awesome for getting up there. YOU CAN DO EET!

•  During your talk, slow down and look around. Most people tend to talk reallyreallyfast when they're nervous, I'm no different. Our brains can keep up with your swift speech, but if you're running words together like a crazed preteen we might miss one of your important points. Take a moment, take a breath,

•  Looking around the room helps, too. Looking down at a piece of paper or the floor does not make for an engaging presentation, but it can be hard to look at the audience. Sometimes it helps to just look at exit signs or other items around the room, even if you can't look the audience in the eye.

•  Be ready for questions! There's a few minutes built into the schedule for the audience to ask questions, and interaction and inquiry is a big part of what Skepticamp is about. We're all on the same level, sharing information. If you don't want to be asked questions about your topic, even stupid or challenging ones, maybe Skepticamp isn't the place to present your talk.

•  Finally, bring cards! You may meet people who are just as interested in your topic as you are, and we hope you'll keep the conversation going after Skepticamp is over. If you don't have cards, bring a pen and paper. Or hell, you've all got smartphones, trade Twitter handles or email addresses or carrier pigeons right there. But people are interested in what you've said, and they may want to follow up with you later. Don't share any information you're not comfortable giving, and don't feel obligated to friend random Skepticampers just because they added you on Facebook, but try to be open to further conversation even if it's just in the lobby after the event. Photo: Ivan Phillips

Skepticamp Chicago 2012

•  meetup.com/chicago-skeptics •  facebook.com/groups/chicagoskeptics •  @chicagoskeptics •  chicagoskeptics.net •  chicagoskepticamp@gmail.com