A Typical Organization of a 20-minute Conference Paper Presentation
The timing of the sections depends on the topic, but the estimates below are a good starting point. For some new problems, you may have to use more time for introduction/motivation. For well-known problems, you may have a shorter introduction. [Note: This is for a 20-minute talk, not for your 9-minute AC exam talk.]
(0:15) Introduction: Title slide
- Title of paper, name(s) of author(s) and affiliations, name of presenter if not an author
(1:30) Introduction: History of the Problem and Previous Research
- In simple English, give the context (field, area, topic). What problem does this research relate to?
- Why is the problem interesting? (motivation)
- Give simple definitions needed to understand problem (number needed depends on audience)
- Mention best known results prior to your work.
(2:30) Introduction: Preparing the audience to understand your result
- Be sure the problem your research solves is clearly stated. It may be just a part of a bigger problem.
- Give any special definitions needed to understand your result. If there is not a commonly accepted definition for a term you are using, be sure to be clear about your definition of it.
- Preview your results.
(12:00) Body: Explain your results
- Explainthe most significant results of your research paper (may not be all results in paper).
- Develop ideas. Outline proofs. State results of experiments and interpret their significance.
(1:45) Conclusion:
- Review themain points you’ve presented and emphasize the central, most important result.
- Mention a practical application (if any and it is not obvious).
- State more recent results since paper was written.
- List one or two specific open questions.
(2:00??) Time for questions
- For a 20-minute talk, you must be absolutely sure to end in 20 minutes, including any time needed to set up your presentation after the previous speaker. Aim for 18 minutes and if there is extra time at the end, use it for question/answer.
Suggested timing for a 9-minute talk (not including question time at end):
Title=0:15, Introduction (context, definitions, preview)=2:00,
Body (results)=5:30, Conclusion=1:15
(For this exam, make sure you have enough time for a good Introduction & Conclusion!)
Notes:
- The timing above is only a starting point for your consideration. The content of your paper and the background knowledge of the audience will require you to decide how much time to spend on each part, but you must have a good Introduction and Conclusion to your presentation.
- The Conclusion part of a presentation is quite different from the Conclusion section of a written paper. Make sure you have a good presentation conclusion section.
- The written English used in a paper is different from the oral English used to present the paper at a conference. You MUST use your own words in the presentation to explain orally what is written in the paper. Some diagrams, tables and even sentences from the paper may be used in the oral presentation, but you MUST NOT just read parts of the paper and call that a presentation.
Think about: At the start of presenting your chosen paper… / When concluding your presentation…
- What will you use to attract audience attention?
- How can you summarize the result quickly in simple, non-technical language?
- What could motivate the audience to care about this result?
- What will you need to define so people understand the problem?
- What previous results (if any) will you have to mention?
- What will you need to define so people understand your solution?
- How can you preview your main result in one or two sentences (one slide)?
- How can you restate the points of the body in one sentence each?
- What is the most important point you want the audience to remember?
- What practical application is there of this work?
- What further questions came up because of this work?