E0203

The Craft of Lecturing: A Guide To Effective Oral Presentations. Gregory A. Petsko, Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center Brandeis University 415 South Street Waltham, MA 02254-9110 USA

I feel a trifle presumptuous in claiming to be able to advise people on how to give good scientific lectures, but having been asked to do it, and being every bit as susceptible to flattery as the next person, I have agreed to try. I think it is true that over the years I have gotten some sense of what works and what doesn't, and I'm glad to share this experience with others. Oddly enough, the best advice on giving effective lectures was, I think, written by Aristotle over 2,000 years ago, and I shall start with a review of his guidelines, which I have found always to be appropriate. I shall offer some comments on nervousness, and how to use it productively. From there, I shall discuss some practical issues (slides or overlays or both?; how many sildes?; one projector or two?; how much background material?; should one be humorous?; should one be humorous intentionally?; etc.), and end by talking about the most important thing in any lecture: clarity, both of thought and expression. I plan to use as examples my own successes, and failures. Since I prefer dialogs to monologs, I hope to get a lively discussion going as well.