Lecturing, Giving Talks

The Brain Book is a fantastic read! Here’s an excerpt on presenting and giving talks:

“Including regular breaks in a teaching or lecturing situation is going to make the subject more enjoyable as well as better remembered.

“Since people will tend to recall the beginnings and ends of the session, it is best to try to arrange the material so that the most important points come when the memory is particularly high. The high recall at the end can be used both to summarize the main points and to present a preview of important points to come after the break or in the next lecture.

“In the middle of a lecture, particularly during the second half, when memory is at its lowest, it is good to give a greater emphasis to important points, making them more outstanding—perhaps with visual aids or examples—to compensate for the lower recall.”

Speaking of outstanding, TopDesk is a great tool to keep things interesting during a presentation.

P.S. Those of the patient disposition can wait for a modern reprint of The Brain Book which, according to Amazon, is due on December 31, 2025! Penguin must possess a crystal ball to plan this far ahead.

That's funny. Just the other day, I was thinking as I was reading, that chapter summaries are useless. I almost never read it nor does it helpe me remember the content of the chapter. But I guess it's different when it's written down?

The author of The Brain Book talks at great length about the memory span, how fast we forget things, when we tend to remember more, etc. It's the first and last things you read or hear that you tend to remember longer, so his suggestion is to take breaks with short recaps of what's being presented.

Of particular interest is a chapter on taking notes. If only university professors read and followed his advice... :)