Author Archives: Eric Jandciu

Inspiring presentations

We’ve just spent some time in class talking about presentation skills and you had a chance to give your own short presentation. Still looking for some additional inspiration? Have you seen The King’s Speech? It’s in movie theatres now and is a great story, but did you know there are also some important life skills you can take away from the film? Designer and public speaker Jesse Desjardins has created a short slideshow that highlights five public speaking tips that helped King George VI overcome his stutter.


The tips boil down to :

  1. Have confidence in your own voice
  2. Get help if you need it
  3. Practice
  4. Talk about what you know
  5. Be yourself
While these are broad suggestions compared to the list of eight tips presented in class, they are just as important.

Anyone else have any tips for giving a good presentation?

Oh, by the way, I considered bringing in my five-year-old niece for this job during the class presentations. Although, you were all so great with staying within the time constraints, she really would have been bored.



–Eric

UBC Chem Prof in Vanc Sun and on Quirks

Coloured glass

Photo: Kevin Shopsowitz

One example of the type of post we might expect to see on this blog came up when Jen, a member of the SCIE 300 development team, recently sent an email about a colleague who published a paper in Nature about glass films, which then got coverage in the Vancouver Sun. Here’s what Jen said:

Hi everyone,

My colleague Mark Maclachlan recently published a paper in Nature. The Vancouver Sun has a full page spread on his paper.

Just like this post, we encourage you to include examples of research that has received media attention, linking to both the original paper and the news coverage. In addition, you should offer your thoughts on how it was presented, perhaps comparing the way different media outlets portrayed the work. Or use the work as a stepping stone to a different, related topic.

For example, the work was also covered on the CBC Radio program Quirks and Quarks. It’s described on their blog and you can also listen to the audio here:

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After listening to the piece, you might comment on the fact that this development in Dr. Maclachlan’s lab was serendipitous. What other examples of scientific serendipity are you familiar with? Have you ever “discovered” anything by accident?

This piece of research also clearly highlights the importance of fundamental research. Sure, it will probably lead to highly useful applications, but it was fundamental research that originally led the scientists to this result.