Dazzle 'Em With Style: The Art of Oral Scientific Presentation

by Robert R.H. Anholt

Mastering the art of communicating scientific information is more critical than ever for a successful career in science and technology. Scientists today must be able to effectively convey sophisticated information to a broad audience that may include students, colleagues around the world, regulatory bodies, granting agencies, legislators, and the lay public. In this engaging and lively book, the author provides a step-by-step guide to the complete process of making a scientific presentation from preparation to delivery. It offers numerous examples highlighting what to follow and what to avoid. This revised edition covers the effective use of PowerPoint™ and other computer-based presentation programs. It also includes a handy checklist, new illustrations, and tips on handling an audience in a foreign country.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Katherine Nowak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful, but I don’t think a book has ever stressed me out more in my life

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of what is in this book is what one would learn from any book/class on public speaking: know your audience, be kind to your host, tell a story, keep on time etc. There is however some useful information relating directly to scientists, most of this is about how to present the data (how to make a good story) and how to act/what to expect when invited to speak somewhere. Since this book is aimed at new graduate students, i'm not sure how useful the help on what to do when invited to be a speaker somewhere would be, but it was nice to lean about it anyways.

Overall I would not recommend this book. While it is nice that it is written for scientific presentations, I think what little good information there is on scientific presenting would be easily outweigh by the content of a highly regarded public speaking book. Also, for the content (I read it in an afternoon), $25 is way overpriced.

Overview:
Buy: NO
Recommend instead: Any highly regarded public speaking book.

[bumblethunderbeast · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is logically divided into 4 sections: preparation, structure, display and delivery. Display was the most useful for me with specifics about showing data. The other three sections contained general information I already knew and some of the perspective was old school. My greatest challenge was the scientific jargon that populated many of the examples; it was difficult for me to follow.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather than read through this whole book, I recommend reading through the summaries at the end of every chapter. The author makes good points, but his long winded anecdotes are exhausting. The irony of his constant need to go off on a tangent while instructing readers to stay on topic, did not escape me.