PRACTICE IMPROVES PRESENTATION

Practice in doing consultancy, and in teaching consultancy skills to statisticians, improves that teaching, regardless of the teaching method used. Teaching consultancy skills involves emphasis on communication skills, making statisticians aware of the range of problems they might meet, and showing them ways of dealing with non-standard problems. Examples based on actual consultancy sessions are discussed in this paper, and suggestions are made as to how to integrate these into a course intended to equip students for work as a practical statistician.