Discussion Leadership:
How To

The primary role of a discussion leader is to lead discussion -- it is not to be a paper presenter.  This means your utlimate goal is that the meeting has an active and lively discussion with lots of different members participating, and helping all to gain the most they can out of reading and reflecting on the paper. Here are tips on what to do:

1. Read the paper thoroughly (but you don't need to understand it as well as its authors). 

2. Begin slides with a "Likes and Dislikes" slide that is otherwise blank.
   This should go  title slide that is otherwise empty to open the meeting with big picture points that people liked overall or not. 

3. Then be prepared to have your slides walk through the paper from beginning to end,  covering:

   • What does the paper present as it's main contributions and/or take-aways?

   • What is the gist of the method or task, and what are the details of the key innovations? (not all details just the more innovative part). 

   • What were the key results and how do they relate to the main contributions?

4. Identify 4 or 5 questions for the group throughout the walk-through to help guide discusison.
   These can be clarifications or prompting for people's thoughts on a specific aspect of what was done. 

5. Link your slides to the weekly sign up sheet. 

What *not* to do:

• Do a talk as if you are an author of the paper (unless you are doing a practice talk of your own paper!)

• Show any functions, methods, or architectures in detail that you don't plan to have a discussion about. 

• Make slides that are mostly full of text (occasionally quoting key phrases or confusing phrasing is ok)  

This material should be covered in 7 to 12 slides corresponding to what would be a 15 minute presentation if we weren't having a discusison.  Covering every detail is not the goal and will not be possible. Rather, the challenge is carefully selecting the most interesting take-aways and details to highlight. Do not simply cut-n-paste slides found online -- you may use others' content but you should organize it in an original fashion and cite it. Leaders should attend in person during the seminar, except in extenuating circumstances.