Communicating Your AI Research:
A Multi-Medium Guide
Whether you're presenting at NeurIPS, defending your thesis, or sharing insights on a blog, effective communication transforms technical work into impact. This guide covers six essential mediums—talks, papers, posters, blogs, videos, and social media—with practical advice from the frontlines of AI research communication.
Giving Talks: Think Movie, Not Paper
Your talk isn't a verbal version of your paper—it's a guided experience. Think of it as directing a movie where your slides provide the cinematography while your voice delivers the narrative. The goal isn't to cram every detail onto the screen, but to create a rhythm that keeps your audience engaged and moving forward with you.
The golden rule: 30 seconds maximum per slide. This isn't about rushing—it's about maintaining momentum. When slides linger too long, attention drifts. When they move with purpose, your audience stays locked in.
Talk Preparation Essentials
Accessibility First
Check aspect ratios, verify font sizes from the back row, and ensure color contrast works for everyone. Your brilliant insight means nothing if half the room can't read it.
Rehearse Out Loud
Practice isn't about memorizing—it's about discovering where your transitions feel clunky. The moments between slides are where attention dies. Polish those bridges.
Images Over Text
Use visuals that convey information, not decorative clip art. Replace bullet points with diagrams, charts, or photographs that tell the story your words are narrating.
Strategic Details
Save quantitative specifics for slides where your audience needs time to digest. Don't rush past a table of results—give people a moment to absorb the numbers.
Writing Papers: Building Your Review Ecosystem
Before You Submit
Writing a paper isn't a solo sprint—it's a collaborative refinement process. Start by drafting a lay abstract even if it's not required. This simple exercise forces clarity: if you can't explain why someone outside your subfield should care, you're not ready to submit.
Create an informal editorial group before formal submission. Include non-experts in your review circle—they catch assumptions and jargon that specialists breeze past without noticing. These readers are your canaries in the coal mine of comprehension.
The Conversation Advantage
Feedback works better in real-time conversation than through email tennis. Peer review is inherently asynchronous, but your pre-submission rounds don't have to be. Schedule a video call to walk through comments—you'll resolve in 20 minutes what would take a week of back-and-forth messages.
Remember reviewers are people, not obstacles. Make the process humane—for them and for yourself!
Let's experiment! Consider submitting to TMLR

jmlr.org

Transactions on Machine Learning Research

Transactions on Machine Learning Research (TMLR) is a new venue for dissemination of machine learning research that is intended to complement JMLR while supporting the unmet needs of a growing ML community. TMLR emphasizes technical correctness over subjective significance, to ensure that we facilitate scientific discourse on topics that may not yet be accepted in mainstream venues but may be important in the future. TMLR caters to the shorter format manuscripts that are usually submitted to con

Navigating LLMs in Academic Writing
Large language models have changed the writing landscape, and you need a personal policy. Set your own boundaries for drafting and editorial assistance before you start using these tools. Are you comfortable with LLMs suggesting sentence restructuring? Generating first drafts of standard sections? Checking grammar? There's no universal right answer—only your answer.
The key is intentionality. Know where you draw the line, be transparent with collaborators about your approach, and stay consistent with the norms of your research community. This isn't about moral absolutism—it's about maintaining intellectual honesty while leveraging tools that genuinely help.
Make absoutely sure you are clear on the Generative Policy (Language and Images) of the forum you are submitting to. If there aren't any, this is perfect opportunity to explore your own values around using these tools.
art is food for the soul
(or you know, whatever)
Non Human content is high fructose corn syrup

Kamathematics

Making a talk, without and with AI

Some of the discussion online has been about how not to use AI in making academic talks (see, e.g., this post by Jessica Hullman). A junior researcher asked my opinion on using AI to help make slid…

Presenting Posters: Command the Physical Space
Go Big and Bold
Fill every inch of your board. Use large fonts that are readable from six feet away, grabbing visuals that stop people mid-stride, and strategic color to guide the eye through your content.
Bridge to Digital
Always include a QR code—it's your connection from the physical poster to your paper, slides, or website. Make it prominent and test it before printing.
Dress for Attention
Put your best foot forward. You're competing for eyeballs in a room of hundreds. Professional appearance combined with genuine enthusiasm creates magnetic attraction.
Leverage the Multiplier
One person stopping brings more people. Have a friend visit at a scheduled time to create initial attraction. Humans are social—we gravitate toward crowds.
Poster Presentation Tactics
Prepare two versions of your talk: a rapid-fire one-minute pitch for browsers and a comprehensive five-minute walkthrough for engaged listeners. Read the room and adapt instantly.
Body Language Matters
Make eye contact and say hello without being aggressive. You're asserting presence, not selling used cars. Stand confidently beside your poster, maintain open body language, and watch for interest signals—someone slowing down, tilting their head to read, or making eye contact.
These micro-moments are your invitation to engage. A simple "Would you like to hear about the work?" opens the door without applying pressure.
Writing Blogs and Creating Videos
Blog Posts: Accessible Impact
Keep it to 800 words maximum—human attention spans are finite. Write in first person and present yourself as a character in your own research story. This isn't about ego; it's about humanity.
Link everything. Anywhere you'd traditionally cite, create a hyperlink embedded in the sentence. Blogs allow you to tailor one message to multiple audiences and distribute it across platforms. Use a style guide like Associated Press to maintain professionalism if you're seeking broader publication.
Videos: Quick Cuts Win
Three minutes maximum. If your content needs more time, create a series. Use quick cuts and dynamic imagery to retain visual attention—talking head monotony loses viewers in seconds.
Audio and image quality must be professional. Technical issues create barriers that distract from your message. Minimize friction between your audience and your ideas.
Mastering Social Media Timing
1
Know Your Zones
Post when your audience is active, not when you happen to be online. If NeurIPS is in California, noon Pacific time hits researchers during lunch scrolling.
2
Sleep-Wake Cycles
People check social media during transition moments—morning coffee, lunch break, evening wind-down. Schedule posts for these natural engagement windows.
3
Use Scheduling Tools
Plan posts for optimal times using automation. This frees you from being online 24/7 while maintaining consistent presence.
4
Platform Geography
Know where your audience congregates. Twitter/X dominates in North America, WeChat in China. Choose platforms strategically based on who you're trying to reach.
Above All Else: The Human Element
Be Kind
Kindness costs nothing and compounds endlessly in academic communities.
Be Open
Openness to ideas, criticism, and collaboration accelerates everyone's progress.
Be Civil
Civility maintains the space where productive disagreement can flourish.
This is the space of competing ideas—disagree productively, argue passionately, but never forget the human on the other side of the exchange. We've witnessed the damage incivility causes in recent years, from Twitter feuds derailing careers to review processes becoming vindictive. Communication isn't just information transfer—it's human exchange. Treat it accordingly, and the entire research community benefits.
Remember: your research exists to advance knowledge, but your communication determines whether that advancement reaches anyone beyond yourself.