There are many points in your career at which you will be called upon to present a paper in Theoretical Computer Science, perhaps a paper written by somebody else in a graduate seminar, or your own research at a conference, departmental colloquium, or job interview. This skill is particularly important if you intend to pursue a career in academia. While research excellence is the main criterion for success as a theoretical computer scientist, your career will be assisted if you gain a reputation as a competent speaker. A competent speaker will more likely be invited to give colloquia at leading universities and invited talks at important conferences than a mediocre one, provided their research is of similar quality. The expected quality of the presentation can be the deciding factor in the selection or rejection of a controversial conference paper in cases where there is no clear consensus from the program committee.
The author does not claim to be an expert in oral presentation, but has attended (and given) enough bad talks to be able to draw up a few rules of thumb. This note is written primarily for students in Theoretical Computer Science, but most of it is relevant to other sub-disciplines of Computer Science, and some to any scientific discipline. Different styles of presentation work for different people. These guidelines are intended to assist you in developing a workable style of your own.
The remainder of this note is divided into four sections. The first, ``What to Say and How to Say It'', concentrates on choosing and organizing the material to be presented. The second, ``Getting Through to the Audience'', focusses on presentation. The third, ``Visual and Aural Aids'', discusses the proper use of overhead projector transparencies and the microphone. The fourth, ``Question Time'', is devoted to the period after the talk during which the audience asks questions of the speaker.
The manuscript was rewritten extensively in 1993. The new version appears in Korean in SIGTCS News, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 37-50, 1993, and in SIGACT News, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 77-86, 2000.
A modified version of the guide was created with Robert Spillman for the North American Membrane Society, available in pdf format, 2000.