Presentation Skills
tell a compelling scientific story | frame your narrative | tailoring to your audience | slide design | delivery | managing nerves | handling questions | acknowledging contributors | engaging your audience | using a laser pointer effectively | stage presence | make eye contact | rehearse
Get training
- Read books and articles on giving scientific presentations
- Observe research talks and note strategies that the speaker used to make the talk engaging
- Watch Designing Effective Scientific Presentations for a scientific audience (an iBiology seminar given by Susan McConnell)
- Watch What Makes a Great Talk, Great (a TEDblog video of Chris Anderson)
- Watch Designing powerpoint slides for a scientific presentation for tips such as using simple diagrams (a video by Northwestern University’s CLIMB program)
- Make slides that mix data and narrative to give a killer presentation (a Harvard Business Review article from Chris Anderson, curator of TED talks)
- Presenting a poster? Read Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation (a PLoS article)
- Attend a workshop on public speaking
- Register for a class on improv theater techniques
Practice
- Rehearse your talk in an empty lecture hall, mimicking the true experience in every way but without an audience. Videotape yourself and ask for feedback!
- Consider practicing your talk without your slides to focus on delivering your scientific story
- Give a practice talk or journal club to peers or scientists within and outside of your field
- Prepare for your technology to fail and come up with a back up plan ahead of time
- Time your talk to make sure you stay within the allotted time
- Participate in a cBCD Research Talk Clinic (coming soon - watch for publicity via student/postdoctoral listservs)
Deliver Your Talk
Deliver the talk with the goal of telling your story in a conversational tone. It's normal to be nervous before or during the delivery. Use your energy and excitement, and remember to breath.
- Memorize the transitions for your slides for a smoother delivery
- Look up into the audience; find a few friendly faces to make eye contact with in audience members in different parts of the room
- Increase stage presence by facing the audience and standing still; refrain from swaying side to side
- When using a laser pointer, simply point rather than draw circles to emphasize data
- Write bullet points on a note cards and get out from behind the podium
- Tell the audience that you will give notes or slides afterwards so they can concentrate on the talk and not on writing notes
Get feedback
- Ask someone with presentation experience to give you feedback during any of your opportunities to practice
- Request feedback in specific skill areas you want to improve (delivery, slide design, engaging the audience, standing still, etc.)
- Videotape and review your presentation
Self-reflection
- What went well? What would you do differently in the future?
- Did you elicit the response you wanted or expected from your audience? What would you do in the future to change audience response?
- Were you able to effectively manage and answer audience questions? What went well, what would you change?
- When observing others give a presentation of similar format, ask yourself what did they do that was effective? What could have been done better? Apply any insights into your own talk.
Local resources
- Annual workshops on presentation skills offered by Office for Postdoctoral Scholars or cBCD
- Attend a Toastmasters meeting in Worcester – Early Risers Toastmasters, Lunch meetings with WPI Toastmasters or Toastmasters dinner club meetings
- Presentation skills section in the cBCD Special Collection in the Lamar Soutter Library