Presentations

ECON 73010: Research & Writing Seminar I

Eric Sims

University of Notre Dame

Spring 2024

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Readings and Assignments

Reading:
▶ For today: Weisbach (2020): Ch. 9; Thompson (2011): Ch.
3; Piazzesi
▶ For next time: Weisbach (2020): Ch. 10-11; Ellison (2002)

Assignment:
▶ Mini-research proposals (3-5 pages) due February 22

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The Goal of a Presentation

A presentation should not simply be an “oral” version of a paper

A presentation is really an extended advertisement of a paper

Fact: most people don’t read papers (or at best they skim)

Presenting is really often your one shot at communicating the idea

of your paper to others

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Different Structures

Seminars: usually 75-90 minutes, audience members have free

reign to ask questions

Brownbags: usually 60 minutes, more informal, usually local

Conferences: anywhere from 15-60 minutes, sometimes with a

discussant
▶ In short conference presentations (≤ 20 minutes), norm is
usually no questions until after

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Different Structures

Cannot use the same presentation slides for department seminars

vs. short conference presentations

Can obviously provide more detail in a 90-minute seminar

Short conference presentation: just motivation, research question,

main result, and interpretations – gloss over nitty gritty details

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Opening

Similar for a paper, the opening few minutes are critical

Especially today with phones and tablets, people have short

attention spans

You must nail the first few minutes, otherwise people tune you out
and start checking their stock portfolios or doze off

Not a novel – highlight the main result early in introduction of the

talk

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Time Management

Time will fly

For a seminar or brownbag with active questions, budget for at

least one third of the time to be dealing with questions

Useful rule of thumb: ≈ 40 or so slides for a 90-minute seminar

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Motivation

Like in a paper, you need to motivate what you are doing early on
in the presentation

Some effective ways to do so:

▶ Start with a figure that shows some stylized fact you want to
explain
▶ Start with a quote from a policymaker
▶ Picture or article from periodical
▶ Reference classic literature: Friedman, Keynes, Samuelson
▶ Puzzle: highlight an important puzzle, say you are going to
make progress on it

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Don’t Overdo Motivation

A mistake people often make: they spend too much time on

motivation

Aim for one slide, or two at most, and no more than a couple of
minutes

Do not want the motivation to cause the audience to stray from

what you are doing

Like in a paper itself – but even more importantly for a presentation

– your goal is to get to what you do as quickly as possible

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Research Question

Useful to have a slide titled “Research Question” – just be explicit

Make it crystal clear what you are doing

This should come very shortly after the motivation slide – make it
the second or third slide

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Preview of Results

Useful to have a slide titled “Preview of Results” very early on

Be crystal clear what the main results of the paper are

Point these out even if you haven’t described how you get those
results

▶ Remember, people have short attention spans

▶ If someone falls asleep after ten minutes, you want them to
remember the main point of what you did

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Literature and References
Remember, a presentation is not the same as the paper

For most types of papers, best to avoid “literature review” slides

Only bring up papers if:

▶ What you are doing builds on a paper

▶ What you are doing contrasts with a paper
▶ What you are doing seems very similar to another well-known
paper. Make clear how what you are doing is different and/or
better
▶ What you are doing uses a tool or data set from another paper

Do not spend time (or slides) in a presentation citing tons of

literature

Paper citations should (almost never) come before you motivate

and state your research question
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Constructing Slides

Important to have professional, good-looking slides

Beamer or Powerpoint are fine

My rule of thumb: don’t try to get cute

▶ Plain, white background

▶ Easy to read font that is plenty large
▶ Don’t make the slides a source of distraction

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Less is More

Common mistake: too many words on a slide

▶ Do as a I say, not as I do

Slides are a visual aide – just put up what you need people to see

Too many words: people will read those and not listen to you

Everything you plan to say does not need to be on the slides

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Math and Equations

Remember: people have short attention spans

Use as little math as possible

You almost certainly need some. But be careful

▶ Only show what is necessary

▶ Use clear and obvious notation
▶ Don’t show all the steps

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Theory and Papers with Models

Remember: people have short attention spans

Only show what is absolutely necessary to make your point

▶ If you have a “toy model” in paper, present this

▶ If you don’t, but can simplify model in paper to make main
point, do so for the presentation
▶ Skip parts of the model that are standard

▶ e.g. in a macro model, if you have a very basic representative

agent household, just say so, don’t show it

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Tables and Figures

Useful rule of thumb: a figure is always better than a table

Do not simply copy detailed tables from the paper – there is

almost always too much information

Focus on the main result

▶ Don’t have too many numbers on any slide

▶ Use bold or color to highlight what you need people to see
▶ Make sure figures are sharp and clear
▶ Try to avoid having “too much” going on in a figure

▶ I hate three-dimensional graphs

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Table of Contents, Transitions, and Backup Slides

Can be useful to have a “roadmap” slide once you transition from

intro/research question into meat of the paper

Can reference back to this when transitioning to another part

Keep reminding your audience where you are and where you are
going – do this out loud. “Next, I am going to . . . ”

Good to have “backup” slides at end of presentation that you can

link to in Beamer. Anticipate questions and have these ready. But
if not central to main point, have them as backups

▶ Also useful to put “literature review” backup slide; only show

if someone asks for it

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Be Relaxed

Start talk by thanking organizers, say something nice about the

department or university, or joke how it’s nice to get away from
your kids

Perfectly okay to make jokes (keep them PC) – audience will be

more engaged

Make eye contact and stand up straight

Pace around the room – this will keep you more comfortable, and
keep audience more engaged

Poke fun at yourself if you make a mistake

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Handling Questions
You will get questions, perhaps many, some apparently hostile

Be courteous:

▶ “That’s a great question, Joe!”

▶ If you don’t know the answer, say so. Say “Let me think
about that.”
▶ Make sure you understand the question – it’s fine to ask for a
repeat, or to restate the question yourself

You need to be in control of the room

▶ Don’t let questions get off on useless tangents

▶ Be polite but firm
▶ Say something like “Okay, I’d like to get back to . . . ”

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Admitting Deficiencies

It is perfectly okay (and often desirable) to point out problems

with your approach, assumptions, or results

People will respect you more if you are honest and forthcoming

Strategy: “bad news, then good news” – defend problematic

assumptions or results, turn into a positive

Perfectly okay to say “That’s a great suggestion. I’ll think about

that.”

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Practice Makes Perfect

You will almost always be nervous before a talk

The more you do it, the better you’ll get (and the more
comfortable you will feel)

Goal: get lots of practice with a “home field advantage” (i.e. here)
before venturing out into the broader world

You will almost never be a good judge of how a talk went, so don’t
try to grade yourself and Monday morning quarterback things

Teaching helps. Gets you used to standing in front of a crowd and

talking

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