Many people worry about speaking in public but it is a valuable skill both within and outside academia. As well as formal presentations and teaching sessions, you can use public speaking skills in everything from meetings to job interviews. Being able to confidently communicate your research message will help you to make connections, build relationships and showcase your work to a wider audience.
Building a good presentation is typically a three step process:
This may seem like a lot of work but the key to a successful presentation is preparation. The more you prepare – whether this be designing clear and accessible slides or understanding your topic – the better you will feel about getting your message across. This guide will take you through the process of planning, delivering and sharing your presentation and offer some top tips to help you communicate your research.
Before you begin designing slides or writing notes for your presentation it is important to take a step back and consider if you really need to be giving a presentation at all! You may not have a choice, but if you do it is a good idea to consider if a formal presentation is really the best way to communicate your message. Think about whether a face to face communication is the best way to deliver your ideas or if an alternative format such as a briefing paper or report would be better. Not only will this help your audience to be more receptive to your message but it can save you a lot of time and stress.
If you decide that a presentation is the best way forward you need to think about two things before you start developing your content:
Taking the time to do a bit of research on your audience means that you are more likely to develop a presentation they can engage with. Are you presenting to an audience of peers who will be experts in the area or are you talking to a more general audience who will be less familiar? Knowing this can help you to plan how much detail to go into, where to spend time outlining key concepts and how best to present information such as diagrams and data. You will still need to be flexible and answer questions in the session itself but understanding your audience can help you to save time and plan the best way to deliver your information.
The biggest mistake people make when presenting is going off topic. They try and fit in everything they know about a topic rather than focusing on what their audience needs or wants to know. When developing a presentation you should focus on your key messages - the three or four pieces of knowledge that you want people to take away. Like other methods of communication, presentations should have a clear narrative structure. They should tell a story with their information and take people towards a conclusion. By thinking about your key messages you can make sure every element of your presentation stays focused on these - if it doesn't then it needs to be removed. You can always direct your audience to more information if they need it.
A slide deck can make or break a presentation. Good slides enhance your speech and provide markers for the audience to follow whilst bad slides can really distract an audience from your message. It is also important to think about how accessible your slides will be to your audience including making sure your font is legible, your colour scheme consistent and any images add to the presentation. Below you will find some guidance on common problems people encounter when designing slides.
You might like to try storyboarding your presentation using sticky notes or an online template. This can help you to see if you are including information that doesn't relate to your key messages and remove it before you spend time designing a slide. It also allows you to adjust the structure of your presentation so that it flows from introduction through to conclusion.
When planning your presentation with this technique try to limit each slide to a single idea or concept. One of the most common mistakes people make is trying to put too much information on each slide. Sticking to one idea per slide will help you to avoid this and also means that you can easily move/remove content if necessary.
Many people add text to their slides, usually in the form of bullet points. There is nothing wrong with this approach and it can prompt both presenter and audience to remember the main points. The important thing is to keep slide text as brief as possible otherwise you risk overwhelming your audience. Research shows that when faced with a choice between reading or listening most people will default to reading. This means that if your audience are spending the whole time just reading your slides you might as well have just sent them through as a document and saved everyone the bother!
It is important not to include so much text on your slides that you spend the presentation just reading it out. You can have your own notes but text on slides should offer a brief outline of the point you are trying to make or a question you intend to answer. For example, instead of a bullet point reading “when designing a presentation you should stick to a limited pallet which takes into account accessibility needs” you might have one reading “be careful with colour” and use this as a jumping off point to cover the content in more detail.
Whichever tool you use for your presentation you should think carefully about your font, colour and animation choices. Use a sans-serif font (one without feet) as this is easier for the majority of people to read. Remember that your presentation will be projected onto a screen and what looks large on your laptop screen can appear quite small once projected. Your text should be size 24 as a minimum.
Using images can make any presentation more visually exciting but there are some things to be aware of:
The element of presentations that most people worry about is speaking in public. They worry that they will get nervous and flustered and this will ruin the presentation. The first thing to remember is that nerves are natural and happen to even the most experienced public speakers. They can actually enhance your performance as they stop you sounding flat and disinterested. It is important to remember that this is what presentations are - a performance. Your audience are not out to get you or trip you up but are probably just glad they are not the one on stage!
Much of the fear around public speaking can be overcome with proper preparation. The better you know your topic, the more able you will feel to explain it and answer any questions. It is also a good idea to take some time to familiarise yourself with the set up where you will be presenting if possible. Can you see the layout of the room and try out the technology you will be using? This will help to avoid any unpleasant surprises on the day.
You can also try tricks to calm your nerves and increase your confidence. Try deep breathing exercises to calm yourself before your presentation or practice tongue twisters if you find you often stumble over your words. You might also want to try practicing your speech to a friend, a pet or even in the mirror! Dr Amy Cuddy has a rather unusual but effective method of increasing your confidence prior to presentations - standing like a superhero. Her research has found that standing in a power pose for five minutes before a stressful situation can help to increase your testosterone levels whilst decreasing levels of the stress hormone cortisol. We would recommend doing this somewhere private though.
You can hear more about this research and watch an example of a good presentation in Amy Cuddy's TED Talk:
It is increasingly common to share your presentation with a wider audience, for example by recording yourself or sharing the slides online. Not only does this help to increase the reach of your work but it also gives you more citable research outputs.
The easiest way to share your presentation is by uploading the slides to a repository such as Apollo (the Cambridge institutional repository). Not only does this help to preserve them in the long-term it also assigns them a permanent DOI (Digital Object Identifier) which makes them easy for others to find and cite. Alternatively you may wish to upload your slides to a site such as SlideShare or ResearchGate. Remember that these are commercial sites which often charge a fee for users meaning potential barriers to those wanting to view your work.
Sharing your slides is a positive step but remember that this is only half the presentation - the added value comes from you as the presenter. You may wish to record your speech to release alongside your slides. You can do this as a video or audio recording without any specialist equipment. Zoom or Teams allow you to record a narration with your slides so that people can see you as they view your slides. If you would rather produce an audio only version you can do this with the voice recorder app included on most phones. Just remember that anyone listening may not have access to the slides so you will need to adjust your words accordingly.
Whichever method you choose you need to consider accessibility. Include transcripts of any narration either in video or as a separate document with clear headings. This will allow it to be read by screen reading software. You may also wish to share any handouts which accompanied your presentation so that viewers get the complete picture.
Giving presentations can be daunting but the more you give the easier it will get. Being able to effectively communicate your research is an important skill which can lead on to many other opportunities. Below you will find a range of resources to help you make the most of your presenting opportunities.