Society for Judgment and Decision Making

Society for Judgment and Decision Making Annual Meeting

Instructions for Speakers of Talk Sessions

You are the stars of the show! The program committee and attendees are excited for your talk. But that comes with a big responsibility. Please design your talk to be as engaging as possible and practice your talk while timing yourself. No excuse-making or self-handicapping is allowed (Urdan & Midgely, 2001). Below are some practical details, guidelines to increase accessibility, and advice on how to make your talk engaging from generations of conference program chairs.

Practical details

If you have any questions, please contact the SJDM conference organizers at SJDM.Conf@gmail.com

Accessibility Guidelines

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Advice for Making your Talk Engaging

(Started by Gordon H. Bower and then edited by generations of program chairs)

1. Focus on conveying what is most interesting about your research. Resist the urge to present everything that is in the paper.

2. Bring energy and enthusiasm. People will be excited about your research only if you are excited about it.

3. A narrative style is preferable in talks. Your talk should tell a story, going from problem, goal, plan through actions (observations) to outcomes, resolution, and a moral (conclusion). You should likely not organize your talk in exactly the same way you organize an academic paper for a journal.

4. When using niche jargon, be sure to convey what it means using an intuitive explanation in common language. Or avoid using niche jargon.

5. Prepare your first three sentences as if the audience might turn away from your talk if they don’t find them interesting. Your first priority is getting their interest and attention, with a rhetorical question, anecdote, or startling statement or paradox. Grab the audience in these first sentences.

6. In planning your talk, consider these steps:
(a) Write down the ideas and points to be made.
(b) Assemble them into an outline and fill it out.
(c) Revise the outline, concentrating on transitions between sections.
(d) Plan out your talk as you will speak it—work on oral, not written phrasing.
(e) Practice delivering the talk orally from the revised outline.
(f) Practice aloud before a mirror and with a clock in front of you. Keep it to 13-14 minutes.
(g) Learn to give the talk without a dependence on notes. It should not feel like you are reading during the talk.

7. Pause on the slides that (i) show a study design, or (ii) show a graph of results.

8. If a study design (or the series of events in the study) is complicated, show a concrete illustration of it in a visual. If the series of events in an experiment is complicated, show diagram of it. In both cases, provide a verbal description for audience members who are unable to see the slide well.

9. Describe exactly what responses your subject was making, perhaps give one or more concrete illustrations of materials for different trial types.

10. You are not duty-bound to describe every condition of your experiment, not every result, not every analysis, in a 15-minute talk.

11. Summarize your main idea and then clearly conclude. Make it completely obvious to your audience exactly when you have finished, by some words or gestures (e.g., by stepping back, smiling, and saying “Thank you”). Applaud one another at the end of the presentation. (Ask—Are there any questions?).

12. Think about the Q&A after your talk as discussion. You are not under fire, you are interacting with an audience that wants to learn from you and your work.

13. If a question comes that you don’t know about, it’s okay to say “I don’t know.” Or to say “That’s a tough one I haven’t thought about—or I’ll need more time to think about that”—or “Fine idea—would be worth trying in an experiment.” You don’t have to have instant answers for everything. If you don’t understand a questioner, ask them to rephrase it so you can understand. If they ask multiple questions at once, feel free to answer one of them and move on.

14. Smile and show you are glad to be there. Dress sharp. Speak loud enough. Articulate clearly. Be yourself.

Thank you for considering these guidelines.