Photo by Sanbeiji
”It takes intelligence, even brilliance, to condense and focus information into a clear, simple presentation that will be…remembered.”
- Mary Helen Briscoe
I recently sat through one of the worst seminars in my life. It probably wasn’t as terrible as I think it was. I’m sure the presenter, who is an endowed chair of something, is quite brilliant. Nevertheless, he was unable to convey his research to his audience in an understandable manner. It may be that I am just an idiot, and it’s my fault that I didn’t understand the lecture. But, based upon statements from others who attended the lecture, I wasn’t the only one that wanted to leave early. Instead of creeping out of the back door, I decided to take notes about what I thought the presenter failed miserably at, and also what could be improved upon. After examining my notes, I have come up with six tips to consider before your next presentation.
1. Bring everyone up to speed. Science is so broad that everyone specializes in something. With that being said, you should not lose sight of the big picture. If your research is focused upon G-protein coupled receptors, most members of the audience should have some idea about your topic. However, you should refresh the audience about the mechanism of receptor activation, and how this fits into the big picture about, let’s say, drug development. If you’re speaking to medical students and/or clinicians, spend more time focusing on the clinical implications of your research. The main idea here is to help the audience leave your presentation with a good understanding about what you just spoke about.
2. Engage your audience. I know, I shouldn’t have to say this, but apparently some of us need to be reminded: when you present, face your audience. It really bothers me when presenters talk directly to their presentation, instead of to the audience. It’s almost as if they don’t want the audience to fully grasp their subject matter. Face the audience and try to make eye contact with people in the crowd. Also, try not to sound boring. Speak about your research as if you’re actually excited about it.
3. Double-check your slides. Be sure to run your presentation beforehand in the same room that you’re going to be presenting. Spend some time thinking about the room setup. Are you going to use a Mac or a PC? Is the software you need available on the computer (e.g. Keynote, PowerPoint, QuickTime)? Are you going to use your own laptop? Do you have the correct adapters? Will the people in the back of the room be able to read your text? Will your pictures or video files play on this computer? These are some major questions you should consider before presenting.
4. Use body language. Act like you’re excited. Use your hands a bit (in a normal way, but not too much). Don’t go berserk with that laser pointer trying to slay Darth Vader…that’ll really annoy your audience. I find that the talks that I most enjoy are those in which the presenter moves around a bit on stage and uses good body language to keep the audience engaged.
5. Practice. Practicing is not going to make your presentation perfect, but it will get you very, very close. Some people may have presented the same lecture many times and not need any additional practice. However, the rest of us should go through our entire speech several times before actually presenting. This will prevent you from reading every word on your slides and, consequently, speaking to the screen.
6. End early. Every great lecture ends with a great discussion. Remember, you’re not presenting your research because you want to show the world how great you are; you’re lecturing hoping to get some excellent feedback to advance your research and help you get past those Nature reviewers.
I’m sure this list not even close to being complete. I would love to hear any additional advice from experienced presenters (or listeners) in the comments.
I like 6. I should try it some day. I want to, but that would mean doing 5.
Thanks for the well-timed post. Tomorrow afternoon I am actually giving a presentation to my labmates at the National University of Singapore (who are pretty much all from China) about how to give an effective presentation. They are great at reading papers and taking data, but they have had little practice with presenting their results as a coherent story.
If your research is focused upon G-protein coupled receptors, most members of the audience should have some idea about your topic. I, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about G-protein coupled receptors. Gimme mammoths every time. Much prettier. But seriously, you’re quite right (especially about point 6) but nevertheless I’m amazed that this topic – how to give an effective presentation – never goes away. I have a feeling that until we audience members stop being polite, and start to complain, catcall, and ostentatiously get up and leave halfway through, then the standard of scientific presentations will remain, to be put it charitably, somewhat variable.
I think universities should invest in training students, and perhaps faculty, on this type of stuff. I don’t recall ever being taught how to give a good scientific presentation. I think everyone just assumes that the more talks you give, the better you’ll get. T
I have blogged about this very topic at length at another place. And just like writing papers , there is no formal training, and there damned well should be.
Doing my bit, but I sometimes feel like an island of sanity fighting against the rising sea levels of madness.
Here’s an interesting development: what if your audience can talk to each other, and the outside world, about your talk, as you’re delivering it?
Case in point. An on-stage interview with the CEO of Facebook started to go badly wrong at a recent tech conference. The audience were using Twitter to vent their frustrations while the talk was ongoing. The interview broke down, the audience turned on the host, and the whole silly affair is now all over the tech news.
Would you fancy giving a talk, knowing that your audience has the power to form factions and broadcast your every move?
Some places do give formal training – I took a 2 day course when I was a graduate student.
The other thing that helps is having a Spring Symposium. The standard has really improved over the last 10 years, so that now there is almost never a bad talk. There is training, but I think also seeing a high standard raises the bar for new students, but they can also see that they can reach it.
Somewhat to my embarrassment, I have to recommend a book by Micro$oft about how to make good slides and presentations.
I like 6. I once heard someone say that once you go over time no-one cares what you have to say anymore. You could tell the audience you had cured cancer and no-one would be listening because you were over time.
I talk fast (especially when nervous) so I have the opposite problem of racing through my talk and finishing in 10 mins when I should slow down and let people understand what I am saying.
I remember one departmental seminar where the speaker alternated between facing the presentation (back to the audience) or talking directly to one person (who had invited him to speak). One of the other academics commented later that he hoped all the students in the audience had learned that that was how NOT to give a presentation.
@Matt: That is very interesting. This makes me think about how universities invite people to come and speak. Many invited lecturers, I assume, are compensated financially. Imagine using Twitter as a real-time rating service for speakers. This would force bad speakers to either improve, or miss out on future invitations.
Point 6 is good. When I am giving a lecture, it’s usually in my capacity as a Nature editor, and the audience is a departmental seminar. I figure that the audience will not want to know too much about me, but will have loads of questions to ask (how we select our referees is a perennial favorite). Therefore, if I have a slot of forty minutes, I’ll speak for no more than ten to fifteen and then open it up for Q&A. This strategy was most successful at a talk I gave to a packed theater at the Cambridge Science Festival three years ago to promote a book called The Science of Middle-earth. I’d been talking about this book up and down the country, and found that preparing a lecture was really hard, because of the enormously wide range of knowledge (and expectations) in the audience. The Cambridge audience consisted mainly of 12-year-olds wondering how dragons could have breathed fire. I spoke for 10 mins and then just took questions for the next thirty. Afterards all the small boys came up and asked me to autograph their Cambridge Science Festival programmes. It was the only time in my life that I felt akin to David Beckham. And one more thing – I almost never use slides, powerpoint or indeed any A/V aids whatsoever, apart from, perhaps, a radio mike.