Presenting Conference Talks

Talk Types and Slide Counts

Rule of thumb: ~1 slide per minute for oral, ~1.5 slides per minute for spotlight.

Slide Structure Templates

Poster-Talk (5–8 slides)

Slide 1: Title + Authors + Affiliation
Slide 2: Problem — Why this matters (1 motivating figure)
Slide 3: Key Insight — One-sentence thesis
Slide 4: Approach Overview — Architecture diagram
Slide 5: Main Result — Headline numbers (1 figure)
Slide 6: Takeaway + QR code to paper/code

Spotlight (8–12 slides)

Slide 1:  Title + Authors
Slide 2:  Problem Statement — Concrete, quantified
Slide 3:  Motivation — Why existing solutions fall short
Slide 4:  Key Insight — Thesis statement
Slide 5:  System Overview — Architecture diagram
Slide 6:  Design Highlight 1 — Core mechanism
Slide 7:  Design Highlight 2 — Key innovation
Slide 8:  Evaluation Setup — Baselines and workloads (brief)
Slide 9:  Main Results — Headline performance figure
Slide 10: Ablation / Breakdown — What contributes most
Slide 11: Summary + Contributions
Slide 12: Thank You + Links

Oral (15–22 slides)

Slide 1:  Title + Authors + Venue
Slide 2:  Outline (optional — "roadmap" slide)
Slide 3:  Problem Context — Domain importance
Slide 4:  Problem Statement — Specific challenge
Slide 5:  Motivation — Gaps in existing systems
Slide 6:  Key Insight — Thesis
Slide 7:  System Overview — Architecture diagram
Slide 8:  Design Component 1 — Detailed walkthrough
Slide 9:  Design Component 2 — Detailed walkthrough
Slide 10: Design Component 3 — Detailed walkthrough
Slide 11: Design Alternatives — Why not other approaches
Slide 12: Implementation — Key engineering highlights
Slide 13: Evaluation Setup — Testbed, baselines, metrics
Slide 14: End-to-End Results — Main performance
Slide 15: Result Deep Dive — Breakdown or per-workload
Slide 16: Ablation Study — Component contributions
Slide 17: Scalability — Scaling behavior
Slide 18: Demo Slide (systems talks) — Screenshot or recording
Slide 19: Related Work — Positioning (brief)
Slide 20: Summary — Contributions restated
Slide 21: Future Work — Open questions
Slide 22: Thank You + Paper Link + QR Code

Invited Talk (25–40 slides)

Extends the oral structure with:

• Additional context slides (field overview, historical progression)
• Multiple demo/walkthrough slides
• Deeper evaluation analysis
• Broader implications and future directions
• Q&A preparation slides (hidden, for backup)

Systems Talk Specifics

Systems conference talks have unique requirements compared to ML talks:

Demo Slide

• Include a live demo or pre-recorded screencast of the system in action
• Always have a recorded backup — live demos fail at the worst times
• Show the system under realistic load, not toy examples

Architecture Walkthrough

• Animate the architecture diagram: highlight components as you explain them
• Use Beamer \only<N> or \onslide<N> for progressive reveal
• Walk through a concrete request end-to-end through the system

Evaluation Highlights

• Select 2–3 strongest figures from the paper
• Annotate figures on slides (arrows, circles highlighting key points)
• State the takeaway before showing the figure ("Our system is 2x faster — here's the data")

Speaker Notes Guidelines

Structure per Slide

[Timing: X minutes]
[Key point to convey]
[Transition sentence to next slide]

Mike Dahlin's Layered Approach

Apply "Say what you're going to say, say it, then say what you said" at three levels:

1. Talk level: Outline slide → body → summary slide
2. Section level: Section heading → content slides → section takeaway
3. Slide level: Headline statement → supporting evidence → transition

Timing Guidelines

• Poster-talk: 30–60 sec per slide
• Spotlight: 30–45 sec per slide
• Oral: 45–90 sec per slide
• Invited: 60–120 sec per slide

Output Formats

Beamer LaTeX → PDF

Advantages: Professional typesetting, math support, version control friendly.

\documentclass[aspectratio=169]{beamer}
\usetheme{metropolis}  % Clean, modern theme
\usepackage{appendixnumberbeamer}

\title{Your Paper Title}
\subtitle{Venue Year}
\author{Author 1 \and Author 2}
\institute{Institution}
\date{}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{frame}{Problem}
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Key problem statement
    \item Concrete motivation with numbers
  \end{itemize}
  \note{Speaker note: Start with the big picture...}
\end{frame}

% ... more frames ...
\end{document}

python-pptx → Editable PPTX

Advantages: Easy last-minute edits, corporate template compatibility, animations.

from pptx import Presentation
from pptx.util import Inches, Pt
from pptx.enum.text import PP_ALIGN

prs = Presentation()
prs.slide_width = Inches(13.333)  # 16:9
prs.slide_height = Inches(7.5)

# Title slide
slide = prs.slides.add_slide(prs.slide_layouts[0])
slide.shapes.title.text = "Your Paper Title"
slide.placeholders[1].text = "Author 1, Author 2\nVenue Year"

# Content slide
slide = prs.slides.add_slide(prs.slide_layouts[1])
slide.shapes.title.text = "Problem Statement"
body = slide.placeholders[1]
body.text = "Key point 1\nKey point 2"

# Add speaker notes
notes_slide = slide.notes_slide
notes_slide.notes_text_frame.text = "Speaker note: explain the motivation..."

prs.save("talk.pptx")

Color Scheme Suggestions

These are aesthetic suggestions, not official venue requirements. Adjust freely.

Workflow

Step 1: Content Extraction

- Read the compiled paper (PDF or LaTeX source)
- Identify: thesis, contributions, architecture figure, key eval figures
- Note the talk type and duration

Step 2: Outline Generation

- Select the appropriate slide structure template (above)
- Map paper sections to slide groups
- Allocate time per slide group

Step 3: Slide-by-Slide Generation

- Generate Beamer source slide by slide
- Add speaker notes per slide
- Include figures from paper (copy to slides/ directory)
- Generate python-pptx script for PPTX version

Step 4: Review and Polish

- Check total slide count matches talk duration
- Verify all figures are readable at presentation resolution
- Run Beamer compilation: latexmk -pdf slides.tex
- Run PPTX generation: python3 generate_slides.py
- Review speaker notes for timing and transitions

Quick Checklist

• Slide count appropriate for talk type/duration
• Title slide has correct authors, affiliations, venue
• Architecture diagram included and clearly labeled
• Key eval figures annotated with takeaways
• Speaker notes include timing markers
• Transitions between sections are smooth
• Demo slide has recorded backup
• Thank-you slide includes paper link / QR code
• Font sizes ≥ 24pt for readability from back of room
• Consistent color scheme throughout

Common Issues and Solutions

References

• references/slide-templates.md — Complete Beamer template code and python-pptx generation script
• Mike Dahlin, "Giving a Conference Talk" — https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~dahlin/professional/goodTalk.pdf