Scientific Success Often Leads To Paid Public-Speaking Engagements

DAZZLING 'EM: Robert Anholt points out that a good reputation as a speaker enhances one's career.

Love of discovery, not public speaking, inspires most scientists to choose their careers. Yet most researchers find that success in science and giving lectures go hand in hand. Some have even found that speaking pays quite handsomely-but they are the exception to the rule. "Only a very few scientists get rich giving talks," observes Robert Anholt, a professor of zoology at North Carolina State University. Anholt is the author of Dazzle 'Em With Style (New York, W.H. Freeman and Co., 1994), a book drawn from his experience instructing graduate students in the fine art of scientific presentation. He adds, however, that a good reputation as a speaker "certainly helps your career and promotes your research program."

For example, Anholt explains, audiences at a scientific meeting may include study-section members who might someday decide...