I do science for living. Science as a job includes presentation, an act of communicating the results and persuading the audience. To improve the aspect, I've read many books about presentation, and am still trying to pick up some tips for improvement.
Since scientific presentation is not a business press release, we usually do not use flashy and memorable Steve Jobs' style. For business, they need to impress audience so the audience take home a message. In contrast, scientific presentation is supposed to include the process how the presenters got to the message and conclusion.
The polishing in scientific presentation begins in the lab and the data we acquire, then eventually goes to the design aspects, mainly the order of information and visual presentation of the message. Of course the audience level and reception are among the first to think about. Usually the audience for scientific presentation is more specialized than general audience.
The Hollywood movie makers are very, very good at presentation to the general audience. They are THE professionals for the aspect. If their messages don't stick to our mind, the movie wouldn't sell. In the sense their life depends on the presentations that drive the story in the key points. Masterly done presentations include,"How Titanic sank", "What is the Matrix", and "Introduction for Star Wars ".
Sure, they skip all the scientific (or sci-fi) details. That's not important to them. What matters is the message. So they can go on with the story. Scientific accuracy does not matter, either. "The Jurassic Park scientists recreated dinosaurs from dino blood DNA preserved in mosquitoes in amber." Even after the chance of success of the movie technology was refuted (DNA will degrade over time), the idea still stands in our mind. Such is the power of great, mind-sticking presentation.
Slick presentations dazzle us. Dazzled mind does not work skeptical enough to meet scientist's standard. Slickness is a different way to persuade people.
The other day, I was watching Iron Man 3. The Brain hologram and the possibility of applications was a great pitch.
I was imagining how I can present what I do in the Hollywood style. Imagining I have the fancy technology, rolling the projectors and giving a 1-minute pitch. And....mmm, it's not easy.
Why is it not easy? A reason is that my education as a scientist gets in the way. Imagining requires skipping the details and ignoring what we don't know. In my case what I think I knew, the paradigm, actually inhibits free imagination. Imagination is a creative act, and not the two-way dialogue in standard bio-medical science. Also I worry too much about the accuracy.
Hmmm. I was not aware of my mental habit clearly enough before. I got to imagine more.
Albert Einstein emphasized the importance of imagination. I got to listen to him.
