I was asked to contribute to a presentation/skit/demo for iSci, with the idea of showing some poor and good presentation techniques. Since one of my biggest presentation pet-peeves is uptalking, I volunteered to demonstrate that phenomena. During some basic prep, I started reading some articles about it, and decided to make the presentation ABOUT uptalking, while also delivering it in the uptalking tone. (Other demos included over-enthusiasm, bored, lack of eye-contact, bad slide design, etc.)

But here’s the problem with trying to tell students they uptalk – they have no idea when they’re doing it. In fact, later in the class, during a discussion, I heard a student answer a question while uptalking! Oh well.