How to Stand out at Conferences

Short version

Martina Umlauft

2026-07-31, Group Seminar, AAU

NES, Smart Grids Group

Improve Your Talks

Improve Your Talks! How to stand out at Conferences

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We all hate THIS

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How about THIS ?

Boring boring boring

Boring boring boring

Boring boring boring

Hard to read….

boring boring

gibberish…

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You, at 15:00�

Would you want� to listen to your talk?

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2^nd Screen Effect

Partial attention

is now a thing

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So….

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…what is a Talk,�Anyway?

�Type

Audience

You

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Today's Talk

�Type

Audience

You

above average talk

slides

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How good do you need to be?

Above average �is GOOD ENOUGH

Many talks are bad

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You do NOT need to be uber brilliant to stand out

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Economic trade-off

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STARTING THE TALK

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Typical Talk – Title Page

DO give credit but

Make it short & sweet!

Application of the Foobar Algorithm in the Baz System

Author 1 Name, Company, Country�Author 2 Name, University, Country�Author 3 Name, Laboratory, Country

Research Project so-and-so�Financed by XYZ under Grant Number 1234-678Y

Conference Name�Date & Place

You have just been introduced

Info is in the conference program

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

LOGO

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Outline

Same slide in 90% of talks!

B.O.R.I.N.G.^TM

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20 – 30 min talk needs no map

NEVER

waste attention

Picture © Everaldo Coelho and YellowIcon, LGPL

ATTENTION

KILLER

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Beginning of Your Talk

Why should I listen to this talk?

What is the problem?

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Why is it an interesting problem?

OR

Here's a novel solution

Hydrargyrum, PD

30s

5s

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Example

Simulation needs many runs

Currently no realistic node position generators

Too few real-world setups

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​

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Our XY system can �generate many setups based on 1 target

Generated setups are similar to the target

Problem

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My problem description

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My "map"

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MAIN PART

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Main Part

Pictures © National Cancer Institute/NIH; Renee Comet, PD

Your Paper

Your Talk

The beef

all the details

Check out our�delicious NEW

The ad for the beef

general idea, make hungry

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Main Part

Tell the story:

what's the idea behind the algorithm / maths

Do use metaphors, pictures & examples

Do use meaningful animation

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Avoid bullet slides

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Bullet Slides

• If you have lots of slides that look like this
• With many lines of long, long sentences
• In many, many bullet points
• In a small, hard to read font
• Using a hard to read blue color
• And useless animation
• Presenting more than 7 items
• (which is the average capacity of the short term memory)
• Of random facts that have no connection to each other
• Using no whitespace or logical grouping

DEATH by�PowerPoint

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Bullet Slides

• Few ideas < 7
• Logical groupings
• Nice, readable fonts

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• Pictures
• Graphic elements
• Matching colors

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The European Hamster, lat. Cricetus cricetus

• The European Hamster, lat. Cricetus cricetus has a body length of ca. 30cm
• It has a body weight of about 500g (males can be up to 600g)
• It is a protected species; do not disturb!
• Don't feed the hamsters as it will attract rats
• Talk to property management about green areas
• You can register sightings at
• www.univie.ac.at/ziesel_hamster
• NABU Niederösterreich
• NABU Burgenland
• If you found an injured hamster, call MA60: + 43 1 4000-8060

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European Hamster, Cricetus cricetus

Protected – don't disturb!

Don't feed – attracts rats!

Property mgmt – green areas

Register sightings:

www.univie.ac.at/ziesel_hamster�

NABU Niederösterreich,�NABU Burgenland

Found an injured hamster ? � 🕿 MA 60: +43 1 4000-8060

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HUMAN �PERCEPTUAL �CAPABILITIES

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Visual Capabilities – Fonts

NO serif fonts

NOT italic

NO fancy fonts

NOT all like this

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Visual Capabilities – Contrast

Dark background

Dark background

Light Background

Avoid medium backgrounds

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Visual Capabilities – Color & Contrast

Strongest Contrast

b/w

Strong Color

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Visual Capabilities – Color Use

Calm

Active

Good

Bad

cold

warm

Money (US)

attention

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Visual Capabilities – Color Perception

Red/green blindness

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8% men

0.8% women

Technical conferences are male dominated!

Picture © Dan-yell, cc-by-sa

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Auditory Capabilities

Often the sound system

will be the limit!

19000 Hz

17000 Hz

16000 Hz

15000 Hz

12000 Hz

< 20 yrs

< 24 yrs

< 30 yrs

< 40 yrs

< 50 yrs

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Mental-Visual Capabilities – Clutter

Topic 1

• Lorem ipsum dolor
• sit amet, consetetur
• sadipscing elitr

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Topic 3

• Lorem ipsum dolor
• sit amet, consetetur
• sadipscing elitr

Topic 2

• Lorem ipsum dolor
• sit amet, consetetur
• sadipscing elitr

​

Topic 5

• Lorem
• ipsum

Topic 4

• Lorem
• ipsum

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Clutter – IMPROVED

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Clutter – IMPROVED 2

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Bullet Slides – Grouping Topics

• Topic 1
• Subtopic 1a
• Subtopic 1b
• Topic 2
• Subtopic 2a
• Subtopic 2b

• Topic 1
• Subtopic 1
• Topic 2
• Subtopic 2
• Topic 3
• Subtopic 3

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Bullet Slides – Grouping Topics – IMPROVED

Topic 1

• Subtopic 1a
• Subtopic 1b

Topic 2

• Subtopic 2a
• Subtopic 2b

• Topic 1: Subtopic
• Topic 2: Subtopic
• Topic 3: Subtopic

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Aligning on a Grid

• Few ideas < 7
• Logical groupings
• Nice, readable fonts

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• Pictures
• Graphic elements
• Matching colors

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Framed Boxes – Example – Clean Look �

Natural language

Pseudo code

Mathematical�formulation

Diagram

NOTATIONS

Differential equation

Control theory

Network model

GLOBAL

State machine, workflow

Tree

Artificial neural network

Policy

LOCAL

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Framed Boxes – Example 2 – too Many�

Modeling

Library

Optimization

Code generation

Deployment

Monitoring

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Your PC vs Projector

60cm away

High Contrast

Strong Colors

BIG

Far away

Low Contrast

Washed-out Colors

small

→ "Wheee" Test

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"Wheee" Test

High Contrast

Far away

Low Contrast

Wheee!

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EXAMPLES

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Performance of our Algorithm

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Algorithm Performance

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Algorithm Performance

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Performance of our Algorithm

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Algorithm Performance

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WiFi Measurements

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WiFi Measurements

WiFi Measurements

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WiFi Measurements

WiFi Measurements

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Spiderino with other Swarm Robotics �Platforms

E-puck

​

​

Kilobot

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Colias

Spiderino

Jasmine

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Spiderino vs. other �Swarm Robotics Platforms

E-puck

Kilobot

Colias

Spiderino

Jasmine

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Spiderino for Educational Purposes

• Small size and low-cost
• Attractive appearance for students
• Easy assembly and programming
• Can be controlled via Wi-Fi�

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Spiderino for Educational Purposes

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• Small size and low-cost
• Attractive appearance for students
• Easy assembly and programming
• Can be controlled via Wi-Fi

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Algorithm – Example

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Algorithm – Example – IMPROVED

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Example – Vertical Diagram

UAV

UGV

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Example – Vertical Diagram – IMPROVED

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Equation Example

Where�h … inhomogeneity measure

d … node density

mNNB … mean nearest neighbor distance

sNNB … sdev nearest neighbor distance

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Equation Example – IMPROVED

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Many thanks �to the original �slide creators!

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GIVING THE TALK

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Today's Talk

�Type

Audience

You

Conference

20 – 30min

✔

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You – Nervous?

Everybody is nervous

They can't revoke your paper if you botch it

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Posture – Competent Look

This will also help your voice

Lower abs

Train

Latissimus

Hamstring

Hip flexor

Stretch

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Prepare according to YOUR style

Practice a lot / not

Use slide notes / cue cards

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Learn by heart:

• first sentence / key phrases
• NOT whole talk

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​

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Singing lessons

Language class

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Just Before

• Go to the bathroom
• Breathing exercise
• "Superman" exercise

• Find a nodder – look at them
• Imagine friends

During Talk

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Still Nervous?

Calm down

• For nervous people
• Breathing exercises and relaxing music

Ride the adrenaline

• For the really panicky
• Brain can not distinguish fear & excitement

2 schools of thought

I'm so excited to be here !!

I'm calm and can do it

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END PAGE DESIGN

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How NOT to design an End Page

THANK YOU!

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QUESTIONS?

• What was the person‘s name?
• Where can I download this stuff?
• Wait, what was the title?
• Which uni did the research?
• Who funded this?

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What to PUT on an End Page

Title, where, when

Mark as End

Corresponding author with all contact info, maybe a QR code

Non-corresponding authors

Corporate Identity may be mandatory

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CONCLUSION

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REMEMBER

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�Type

Audience

You

Think of THEM

Audience

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�Type

Audience

You

Give talks you would want to hear

Think of THEM

Audience

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Improve Your Talks

How to Stand out at Conferences, AAU, 2026-07-31�Short version

​

Martina Umlauft umlauft@lakeside-labs.at

https://mumlauft.blogspot.com/p/giving-good-talks.html

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Improved slides make conferences

BETTER for everyone – DO IT

Thank You! – Questions?

Improve Your Talks! How to stand out at Conferences

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APPENDIX

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Online Resources – Presentations

Simon Peyton Jones: How to give a good research talk�http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/simonpj/papers/giving-a-talk/giving-a-talk.htm

Garr Reynolds: Presentation Tips�http://www.garrreynolds.com/preso-tips/

Nancy Duarte: Resonate (free online version)�http://www.duarte.com/blog/free-multimedia-version-of-resonate/

Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are�http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are

Main inspiration for this talk

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Online Resources – Graphs & Data Viz

Beyond Bar and Line Graphs: Time for a New Data Presentation Paradigm�https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002128#pbio.1002128.s007

Chartable Blog�https://blog.datawrapper.de/�https://blog.datawrapper.de/colors/�https://blog.datawrapper.de/line-charts/

The R Graph Gallery�https://www.r-graph-gallery.com/

Gnuplotting - Create scientific plots using gnuplot�http://www.gnuplotting.org/

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Online Resources – Color Blindness

Coloring for Colorblindness, David Nichols�https://davidmathlogic.com/colorblind/#%23D81B60-%231E88E5-%23FFC107-%23004D40

Color Brewer 2.0 (helps to choose colors)�http://colorbrewer2.org

Color Palettes for Color Blindness�http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/colorblind/

Coblis – Color Blindness Simulator�https://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/

Color Oracle – Downloadable Color Blindness Simulator�https://colororacle.org/

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Books

Traci Nathans-Kelly, Christine G. Nicometo�Slide Rules: Design, Build, and Archive Presentations in the Engineering and Technical Fields (IEEE, 2014)

Garr Reynolds�Presentation Zen

Nancy Duarte�slide:ology

Roger C. Parker's�One-Minute Designer

Melanie Robbins�The 5 Second Rule

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Books

Thomas Rahlf�Datenvisualisierung mit R: 111 Beispiele

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic�Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

Stephen Few�Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten

Dona M. Wong�The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures

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Picture Credits

Map icon: Everaldo Coelho and YellowIcon, LGPL�http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Clear_app_starthere.png

Stopwatch photo: Hydrargyrum, Public Domain�http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stopwatch2.jpg

Cheeseburger photo: National Cancer Institute/NIH; Renee Comet, Public Domain�http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cheeseburger.png

Head with ideas drawing: Andor Akos, gemeinfrei�http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Otto_Merkt_von_Akos.jpg

Color blindness test drawing: Dan-yell, cc-by-sa�http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Ishihara-Test.svg

QR-Code Example: Immanuel Giel, cc-by-sa�http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:QRCode.png

Ear photo: Peter Niemayer, cc-by-sa�http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Ohr2.jpg&filetimestamp=20041213112440&

All other unsigned drawings © Martina Umlauft

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