{"id":2608,"date":"2014-07-23T08:28:41","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T07:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/?p=2608"},"modified":"2014-09-10T22:21:59","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T21:21:59","slug":"advice-on-presentations-im-not-as-clever-as-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/2014\/07\/23\/advice-on-presentations-im-not-as-clever-as-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice on presentations: I’m not as clever as you think"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent the last two days in Leicester at Translation UK<\/a>, a two-day conference that is an annual gathering for scientists working on all aspects of translation \u2014 the protein synthesis kind. The conference is friendly and informal. It is kept short so that it is cheap enough for labs to send postdocs and PhD students who dominate the roster of speakers.<\/p>\n

As one of the older heads at the meeting I was collared on arrival to act as a judge of the oral presentations. This I was glad to do. It\u2019s just the sort of discipline I need to make me pay full attention for the entirety of the proceedings.<\/p>\n

The standard of talks was pleasingly high. Most people seem to have mastered the elements of PowerPoint and if any of the speakers were nervous, it didn\u2019t really show. But there were a few elements of inexperience on display which I wanted to address while my impressions are still fresh.<\/p>\n

Your title: <\/strong>compose with care \u2014 ask a question or make a statement \u2014 and make sure to refer to your title right at the beginning of the presentation. Don\u2019t just tell the audience they can read it off your first slide, even if they can.<\/p>\n

Your introduction: <\/strong>establish right at the start of the talk, especially if it\u2019s a short one, the problem that your work is addressing. Outline the background and context to set the scene, and then tell the audience what your work is aiming to achieve. If you are feeling bold, state your conclusion right up front. This will help the audience keep on track for the rest of your talk, though it may reduce your scope for a dramatic\u00a0reveal of a surprising result. That one is up to you but remember that the main purpose is to convey information effectively.<\/p>\n

Your results: <\/strong>Less is more. This is perhaps the hardest lesson of all, one I still struggle with. Yes, you may have been labouring for a year or more on the results that you are about to present but you won\u2019t have time in a short talk \u2014 10 or 12 minutes is typical these days \u2014 to do them complete justice. So you have to give edited highlights. <\/em>Pick out the most important findings and the most important pieces of data that support them. A talk is not a paper so you do not have to present every single piece of data that supports your thesis. Some people think they need to cram in all the data to make their talk seem substantial \u2014\u00a0<\/em>though some crammers are just showing off \u2014 while others believe they are flattering\u00a0the audience\u2019s intelligence by presenting complex data at a galloping pace. But let me tell you this: I may be a professor but I am not as clever as you think I am. I would rather be taken through selected data with care. If my interest is sparked, I\u2019ll ask you for more information after the talk. Trust me.<\/p>\n

Your slides:<\/strong> Less is more. Try not to stuff too many results onto a single slide. By all means build up a complex figure piece by piece but make sure to give yourself the time to talk about\u00a0every<\/em> element that you show. Don\u2019t put things on slides that you are not going to talk about as this will only distract the audience. And don\u2019t forget to explain<\/em> your figures; it is all too common to assume that the audience is as familiar as you are with your data formats \u2014 figures, photos, gels, etc. \u2014 but they will thank you for taking the time to make their meaning clear.<\/p>\n

Your voice:<\/strong>\u00a0Speak slowly and with feeling. If you pack in too many results you will feel pressured from the off to talk quickly for fear of running out of time. This is counterproductive. Give yourself the time to punctuate the talk with emphasis on the most important points, or those that make you most excited. Genuine excitement is infectious and audiences love it.<\/p>\n

Your eyes: <\/strong>Try to spend as much time as possible speaking to<\/em> the audience rather than to the screen. Look at them \u2014 make eye contact when driving your message home.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all there is to it, apart from forcing yourself to rehearse in front of a critical friend, of course. I look forward to these lessons being universally adopted at next year\u2019s meeting, though feel free to take issue or to suggest additional pointers in the comments. There is an element of personal taste in all this.<\/p>\n

Finally, for those with the time (27 minutes, to be precise), a more detailed video version of this little sermon is available\u00a0on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent the last two days in Leicester at Translation UK, a two-day conference that is an annual gathering for scientists working on all aspects of translation \u2014 the protein synthesis kind. The conference is friendly and informal. It is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/scurry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}