Photo credit: Miguel Henriques on Unsplash
Oral presentation doesn’t come naturally to most of us. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give a great one. Here are some solid tips on giving a great presentation.
Most of the pointers here are what I have learned from management consultants. They are the masters of presenting. And it has significantly improved my oral presentations over the years.
Slides/Stacks
Keep it simple.
One topic per slide. The title of the slide should be the concluding remark of the contents of the slide. Also limit the number of figures on the slide to only what you are going to say out loud for that slide.
The key to a good presentation is not how much information you can convey but how clearly and convincingly you have stated your message.
Bullet points. Not paragraphs.
Use bullet points and do NOT write entire paragraphs on a slide. Long strings of sentences will take the attention away from what you are saying during the presentation and can derail the story you are trying to tell.
Know the contents of the slides.
This may sound obvious but there are too many cases where the presenter do not understand the data or the figure when the audience asks a question. Not able to explain the figure you put on your own slide diminishes the credibility of the presentation. Know everything you put on the slide or simply omit it. It will hurt you more to put something you do not fully understand.
Tell them why it matters.
If we get philosophical for a second. It is a human nature to ask ‘why’ and that is largely why we do science in the first place.
Start the presentation with why you did the work you are about to show and why your work matters and end the presentation by clearly stating how your work addresses the ‘why’ you mentioned in the beginning. It will be a satisfying ending for the audience.
Presenting
Mental state (If you get nervous)
Everyone gets nervous or jittery to some degrees and some times. Remember that the presentation is not about you. It is about the data and the figures. No one is there to see you, they are there to listen to what you have to say. Divert your attention away from yourself to the content of the presentation and you will do great.
Have a conversation with the audience.
Memorizing a script you wrote and reciting it during the presentation is not the worst sin of presenting. Especially if you have practiced so many times that the script is already internalized as chunks of concepts in your mind. But there are more efficient ways. For example:
Prepare your “script” only as bullet points you want to talk about. Then try to imagine that the entire presentation is a Q&A session where everyone is asking you questions you already know the answer to and you are answering them as if you are talking to them. It will result in a more natural ‘conversation-like’ presentation that is easier for the audience to understand.
Technical
Avoid animations
If you are using Powerpoint or equivalent, avoid using animation features. Animation features can be buggy, especially when you switch OS (e.g. Windows to Mac). Fool-proof way is to split what you would animate into multiple slides which will never bug out on you.
PDF as Plan B
Consider exporting your powerpoint slide into a pdf file and have it in hand as Plan B since pdf is very stable across different platforms.