Recently, our family took a trip to the Griffith Observatory, the historic public astronomy destination with its beautiful views of the Hollywood sign, the Pacific Ocean, and the downtown skyline of Los Angeles.
Being a resident of Southern California, I feel really blessed to have such a wonderful science attraction in my own backyard.  And with the special significance of this year and our trip to Griffith, I am even now more appreciative.
This year, the Observatory is celebrating the International Year of Astronomy, marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s pioneering …

When you are giving your presentation, you might think that you need to include color, or maybe animation in your PowerPoint, or making sure you are making eye contact.
Now all of these aspects of presenting are important, but there is one key component to presenting that is the most important. And this is…
Knowing what you want as the result of your presentation
If you’re presenting technical research, do you want your audience to agree with your conclusions? Or do you just want to have them agree that you’re making progress?
In front …

When you are giving a presentation, there are many things that are in your control that can make your presentation go well or go terribly wrong. Without knowing it, presenters many times fall into traps of their own making, which can be easily avoided with the right tools and outlook. Here are ten of the biggest deadly mistakes that presenters should avoid.
Taking too much time
Your audience’s time is valuable, and if you care about them liking your presentation, then you will value their time. If you have an allotted slot …

Your job interview presentation can make the difference between you and all of the other candidates that are walking in the door.
I remember hiring people when I led an advanced technology department, and many people looked great on paper. They all had the qualifications we were looking for, but we always conducted interviews and watched how the candidate presented themselves.
In fact, that’s the main part of the presentation that hiring managers are looking for — how the candidate present themselves as opposed to the material.
And those who do that the …

When you get to the end of your presentation, you generally will have a question-and-answer or Q&A session. Here are 7 helpful tips for making your Q&A successful.
- Encourage questions
When you finish your presentation, you should ask your audience if they have any questions. Make this open and warm by saying something like, “Feel free to ask me any questions” as opposed to cooler response such as, “I was told to give you 15 minutes for questions, so fire away.”
One of the ways to ensure that your audience receives your …

PowerPoint is a great software package for creating presentations. And one of the most powerful features in PowerPoint is the ability to animate text, pictures, and graphics.
However, with any technology, people can abuse it, so there are some things you’ll want to keep in mind when using PowerPoint animation.
Here are 4 must-have nuggets on how to use PowerPoint animation effectively.
1) Use animation to control the flow of your presentation, not to entertain
You are the one that must control your presentation. You are trying to convey a message and you want …

When we give presentations, many of us get all tied up in knots worrying about what to do if an audience gets angry.
You get worried. Being up there, completely exposed. And you’re afraid that the audience will turn on you…
You have the “deer in the headlights” look, because you don’t know what to say.
You feel insecure because you’re thinking that the audience has exposed you as a fraud. All these people staring at you wondering why you don’t know the answer to the question. I mean, you’re the expert — …

You’ve heard it a hundred (if not a thousand) times: You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Yeah, yeah, yeah… So, is this going to be another one of those articles?
Well, no, but I’ll have to admit, there is truth about the whole first impression thing…
It turns out, psychologically, that peoples’ impressions of things – people, food, whatever – are truly most influenced by their first exposure to them. These first exposures set the initial state by which we compare any future exposures.
So, while first impressions can …

Stephen Hawking has many things in common with some of the great scientists of our time, his understanding of the intricacies of the universe rivaling that of Albert Einstein.
When Stephen Hawking was born, he came into our world exactly 300 years after Galileo Galilei left.  Two great scientists, connected by their birthdays, separated by three centuries.
Yet, the most remarkable aspect of Stephen Hawking’s contributions to science is his ability to communicate his ideas to others, especially those outside the sciences.
And of course, this is made even more remarkable given what …

This may be a harsh way to start off this column, but it is a way to get your attention about the principle behind the statement.
Technically, things aren’t always your fault.  There are circumstances, reasons, environmental variables, and people’s reactions that play into every situation you face.
However, what is always true is that you are involved in the situation.  And there is always something you can do about it.
But before I go deeper into this, let me describe a situation I was in during graduate school…
I was taking a class …