Giving effective research presentations
Jane Moodie
Graduate Research Student Academic Support
Engineering Faculty
What do you want to do in your
presentations?
• to communicate your exciting research findings
• to get others interested in your work
• to interest and entertain your audience
• to establish yourself as a good presenter
What are you most worried about?
• nerves?
• difficult questions?
• technical disasters?
• going overtime?
• forgetting what you wanted to say?
In today’s seminar we will examine
The best way
• to get your content right
• to use good slides
• to deliver confidently
• to deal with questions
What’s in it for you?
Giving presentations
• is a practical skill – you get better with
practice!
• makes you assess your progress
• enables you to get feedback from others
• brings your work to the attention of
important people
Key features of good presentations
Avoid this!!
Source: google images
What makes a research presentation fail?
2 minute exercise in pairs or threes
List 3 - 4 key things to avoid
Other students have said
1. Wrong content
• pitched at the wrong level – too technical, too
detailed, too difficult
• too much information – confusing, too many
messages, couldn’t keep it all in my head!
• no clear structure – disorganised, difficult to follow,
got lost
2. Terrible slides – too many slides, too crowded, too
much reading, font too small
3. Poor delivery style – too fast, no eye contact,
monotonous voice
Getting the content clear
Different types of research presentations
1. informal research group presentations
2. departmental confirmation and progress reports
3. conference presentations
4. presentations to industry partners
Fundamental elements in any presentation
1. Abstract – Overview and key findings
2. Research motivation – Why are you doing your work?
What is the research problem?
3. Research aims – What are your research aims?
4. Methodology – How are you doing your research?
5. Key results so far – What have you found? What do
these results mean?
6. Main outcomes/ conclusions – What do you now
know/ have?
7. Next steps in your research – What will you do in the
future?
Different elements are important in different presentations
Planning the presentation content
Start with two questions:
1. Who is the audience? What do they want
from you?
2. What is your main purpose? What do you
want the audience to take from the talk?
Use your answers to carefully select relevant
content that will help you achieve your purpose
For a typical departmental seminar
Departmental seminar = progress report
Audience = some experts in your field, some
experts in the general area and others who
know little
Purpose = to demonstrate your progress-to-date
and to propose next steps
Provide a broad overview of your project, focusing
on achievements since your last seminar. Outline
the next part of your work.
For a typical conference presentation
Conference presentation = some key results
Audience = usually experts in the field
Purpose = to get them interested in your work
and to read your written paper
Focus narrowly on one part of your work
highlighting the valuable outcomes of this work
Using a clear logical structure
1. Use the familiar structure: Introduction - Body –
Conclusion
2. Repeat information to help your audience
understand: Tell them what you’re going to tell them;
Tell them; Tell them what you’ve told them
3. Provide lots of signposts signalling the steps in
your presentation and your argument - Let's now
consider another crucial factor... I'd now like to
move on to the next significant question ...
Introduction: get your audience
interested
1. First, outline a fascinating research problem and
give key exciting new results, the Abstract -
Grab their attention! Hook them!
2. Next, give them your clear purpose – Today I
want to ……………………………………….
3. Finally, give them a clear simple outline of the
presentation – First I’ll outline … Then I’ll cover …
Finally I’ll show …
Introduction: make your audience feel
confident in you as a presenter
1. Learn the words of your Introduction off by
heart so you can concentrate on making
eye-contact
2. Make them feel they are in good hands
with a clear picture of the presentation
ahead
Watch example 1: Introduction to the TED talk:
Self-healing concrete and asphalt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l_9NDZ8VZA
Professor Erik Schlangen, Professor of Experimental
Micromechanics and Director of the Microlab at Delft
University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering and
Geosciences, Holland
Watch example 2: Introduction to Mech Eng
conference presentation
Nonlinear Instabilities and Koopman Modes in
Axisymmetric Multiphase Shear Flows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXwBsM9GRU&fe
ature=youtu.be&t=59s
Body of the presentation: keep your
audience interested!
• Use a simple structure with 3 - 4 parts - easy to
remember and see your clear messages
• Keep giving the audience a clear roadmap to link
the parts - I’ve covered the main techniques…So
now let's look at the results….I'd now like to move
on to the next ... In summary …….
• Keep the sections balanced in length – not too
much background/ literature review – focus on
important results and new insights
Conclusion: leave them with a strong
message!
Don’t fade away - Oh well I’ve run out of time …….
1. Review your purpose - So, today I wanted to
show you…..
2. Summarise main outcomes of the work
3. Give them a clear take home message – If
there’s one thing I’d like you to remember
today, it’s …….
Getting the content clear in a
conference presentation
Some challenges of conference presentations
1. Getting your paper accepted
2. Coping with strict time constraints - 15 minute
presentation = 12 for talk + 3 for questions
3. Focusing on only 1 -2 key points – state your
central message in 25 words or less and use this to
plan your talk
4. Explaining why your key results are significant-
answer So what? and What is your contribution?
Content of a typical conference presentation
• Guidelines by Hill, M April 1992; Revised January 1997,
Computer Sciences Department, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Viewed August 8, 2017:
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-
talk.html#outline
• Hill’s outline of the content and the recommended
number of slides is a starting point, not a rigid template.
• Hill says that “Most good speakers average two minutes
per slide (not counting title and outline slides), and thus
use about a dozen slides for a twenty minute
presentation.”
Example 1: Mech Eng conference presentation
Branching Behaviour During Vortex-Induced
Vibration at Low Reynolds Numbers
• The central message of this presentation is that
the branching behaviour that is very obvious at
high Reynolds numbers also occurs at low
Reynolds numbers
• This message is repeated in the presentation
title, in the results slides, and it is highlighted
in the Discussion and Conclusion
Example 1: Structure of this presentation
Title 1 slide
Outline 1 slide
Problem setup 2 slides
Background 2 slides
Brief method 1 slide
Results 8 slides
Conclusions 1 slide
Total = 16 slides
Example 2: Mech Eng conference presentation
Nonlinear Instabilities and Koopman Modes in
Axisymmetric Multiphase Shear Flows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngXwBsM9GRU&fe
ature=youtu.be&t=59s
Total number of slides used = 14 slides
Exercise: Watch this presentation and answer these
questions:
1. What is the central message of this presentation?
2. What is the structure of this presentation?
Designing good slides
Key features of effective slides
Slides communicate visually with
• not many words
• clear simple images and graphs
• good colour scheme
• only one key message per slide
Make your message visual
The visual communication should reinforce what
you are saying in the spoken communication
Tips for using your slides
• Allow at least 1 - 2 minutes per slide
• Always know what you want to say as you
transition from one slide to the next
• Do not read aloud the words on your slide -
use your slides as a prompt for what you say
• Don’t turn towards the screen – look at the
audience
• For a slide with a graph, always clearly state
what is shown on the axes and highlight the
key finding shown
Tips for choosing your slide template
Your template should be
• attractive and simple
• easy to read
• visually consistent throughout
Making your delivery effective
What makes a good delivery style?
• Aim for a relaxed conversational style
• Use more informal spoken language
(we examined …. Our results are exciting …)
not formal academic written language
• Focus on keeping the audience engaged
and getting your message across
• Smile and make eye contact!
Make your voice work for you
• Speak clearly and distinctly
• Sound enthusiastic
• Vary your intonation and pace
• Don’t speak too quickly
• Use pauses to help you communicate -
to add emphasis after an important new point,
to give audience some time when you show a
new slide
Make your body language work for you
• Make plenty of eye contact – you look shifty
and dishonest if you don’t meet their eyes!
• Use natural gestures- add some emphasis
• Use some movement but careful of too
much – don’t freeze but don’t overdo it
• Relax your posture
What about nerves??
• Prepare well and rehearse many times
• Script what you’ll say where important
• Be familiar with the venue and the equipment
• Remember the audience wants to hear what
you have to say
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!!
Dealing with questions
Dealing with questions
Take control of question time
1. Anticipate questions and prepare answers
2. Repeat questions back to the audience – if
necessary, rephrase for clarity
3. Clarify complicated multi-part questions
4. Be honest when you don’t know the answer – say
you don’t have the answer, but then amplify with reasons:
not part of your topic, outside your area of expertise, topic
not covered yet, I’ll have to look into that!
5. Offer to discuss difficult questions afterwards –
That’s a very interesting complex question. Let’s talk
about this later.
Finally, always try to improve next time!
Evaluate your own presentations:
Content: Did I get my message across? Was my
presentation structure simple and clear?
Delivery: Was I relaxed and confident?
Slides: Were the visual messages loud and clear?
Questions: Did I answer effectively?
What would you change next time?
Some final advice
• Try to find great online engineering presentations
– analyse and use them as models – eg TED talks
• Identify good strategies used by other speakers
and adopt them as your own
In summary
Today we’ve looked at ways of achieving
successful research presentations
Use our discussion to devise a well-structured,
well rehearsed presentations using excellent
verbal and visual communication
References
For advice on giving presentations:
1. Poster and Presentation Resources, Graduate School, University of North Carolina
http://gradschool.unc.edu/student/postertips.html#prez
2. Hill, M April 1992; Revised January 1997, Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-
Madison
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~markhill/conference-talk.html#outline
For advice on devising good slides:
1. Scientific Presentations: The Assertion-Evidence Approach, Michael Alley, Penn State University
Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students online resource at:
http://writing.engr.psu.edu/assertion_evidence.html
2. Using PowerPoint in Oral Presentations, The Learning Centre, University of NSW at:
https://student.unsw.edu.au/support-oral-presentations
Excellent online resource:
Matt Carter, 2012, Designing Science Presentations: a visual guide to figures, papers, slides, posters,
and more, ebook available Monash University Library
