Presentations

Every one has to do presentations, some people enjoy them more than others and some, it comes naturally to. There are many things people do right and people to wrong with presentations and here are my top presentation notes. You can post your keys to a good presentation in the comments.

1. Know your Audience (as best you can). Alot of times you can have a general idea of who your presenting to which should govern the amount of explanation you go into. If your explaining how there are four different base pairs to a group of biologists, they may glaze over.

2. Dont be a Robot. Have some life in the way you talk move and change from topic to topic. If you sound monotone and don't move, people will get bored and lose interest. Being a real person on stage will make you seem more confident.

3. Show what your talking about. Okay these are some things Ive underlined in the little notepad that you bring to talks.. When giving a talk its good to show where you are on a slide if you have a multi component slide. Although, during a talk a student pointed to the slide, which he was very far from, with their hand instead of using the lazer, which only showed us that his material was somewhere between the slide and the cealing. After I thought about it and realized there isn't a good way to actually point with your hand during a presentation where your slides are at a good distance from you. If you use your inside arm you end up waving your arms around and looking uneven. If you use your outside arm you are closing yourself off from the audience and talking to the board. So use a lazer!! Now for the Lazer, only use one hand to point the lazer, you'll come off looking clumsy and foolish otherwise. When actually pointing attempt to actually point and not circle, circles can draw attention and aren't as accurate.

4. Try and dress nicely. Alot of scientists arent quite the best dressers but wearing a T-shirt that looks like it might have holes in it and isn't tucked in, is almost a sign of disrespect for the talk itself.

5. Enjoy yourself! Your most likely presenting your own research! Finally an opportunity to chat about the stuff you know quite well. When people are asking questions see them as opportunities to improve your research. Their suggestions could allow you to look at your research from a different angle.