Presentation Skills
John A Kirby
Graduate School
Faculty of Medical Sciences
University of Newcastle
Types of Presentation
•
•
•
Scientific conference
– Invited talk (30 minutes)
– Talk selected from abstracts (10 minutes)
– Presentation of poster (2-3 minutes)
Teaching
– Any level
Fund raising
– Lay audience
Types of presentation
• Scientific conference
– Invited talk (20 – 45 minutes)
– Talk selected from abstracts (10 minutes)
– Presentation of poster (2-3 minutes)
• Teaching
– At any level, for any time
• Fund raising
– Lay audience
Purpose of a 10 minute research
presentation
• To broadcast your results and conclusions
• To impress your peers
– You have a ‘captive’ audience of experts
• To make your name
– Increase likelihood of employment or further funding
What can go wrong?
• You only get one shot
– You must rehearse and KEEP TO TIME!
• You are tempted to show off how clever you
are
• You try to discuss every experiment you have
ever done
• You bore your audience and they stop liking
you
• When you stop you are immediately forgotten
‘Timekeeper’ slides
This lecture lasts for 45 minutes. If all slides take the same time (check during rehearsal)
you need to be at slide 15(ish) after 22 minutes. If you reach this too soon you can slow down.
Mechanics
• Check out the microphone
– Fixed or radio?
• How does the pointer work
• Make sure you understand PowerPoint
– How will your slides advance (or go back)?
– There may be no keyboard on the lectern
• Most big conferences only give you a mouse
to control slide advance
– MAKE SURE you have enabled the advance by
mouse click facility!
Other problems
• Many big conference centres still have
problems with Apple Mac computers
– Yes, I know they are compatible. But….
• Use Office 97 (unless otherwise instructed)
– If you use the latest version, save in compatibility
mode (but even this is not always reliable!)
The voice of (hard) experience
• If the audience understand why your results
are important they will feel clever and good
about themselves - they will like you!
• If the audience do not understand your talk
they will assume it is your fault - they will
blame you.
Be enthusiastic!
• If you are not enthusiastic about your own
work, you cannot expect anyone else to be!
• Enthusiastic gestures can be quite endearing
(and memorable) on stage. Don’t overuse
them though!
Dos and Don’ts
• Do keep it simple
– One point made well is better than 10 made
badly
• Less can sometimes be more
• Do ask yourself what you hope a member of
the audience will remember about you on the
plane home (the 37,000 feet test…)
• Do make your slides clear
• Do work with your slides
– Use the laser pointer boldly
Rehearse
• Not in front of the bathroom mirror
• Use a seminar room or lecture theatre
• Rope in an audience
– Friends, members of the group
– Listen to what they say
Dos and Don’ts
•
•
•
•
•
•
Don’t speak too rapidly/too quietly
Don’t use passive body language
Don’t hide behind the lectern
Don’t turn your back to the audience
Don’t read your presentation
Don’t abuse your audience
– ‘I’m sorry but this slide is very busy…..’
– ‘those of you at the back might not be able to see
this faint band on the gel…..’
Hard truths
• Conferences are exhausting!
– Can be hundreds of talks in multiple parallel sessions
over several days
– Your audience is possibly jet-lagged, hung-over and fed
up
• As a 1st time speaker your chance may come at
16:30 on the last day
– Unfair but you CAN’T control this
• Poor data presented well can seem better than
wonderful results hidden by a poor talk!
– Unfair but you CAN control this!
This is slide 15 – am I on time?
What should you do?
• Make nice clear slides
– If you are nervous aim for 1 per minute
– If you are less nervous use fewer
• Don’t read from the slides!
• Link one slide to the next
– If possible anticipate the next slide before moving to
it
• this keeps the audience engaged
• gives the talk a coherent structure
Structure of the talk
• Title
– Introduce yourself so everyone remembers your
name!
• Introduction
– Key bullet points only
• Aims
– Must link to your conclusion
– There is no point aiming to do something that
fails!
Structure of the talk
• Title
– Introduce yourself so everyone remembers your
name!
• Introduction
– Key bullet points only
• Aims
– Must link to your conclusion
– There is no point aiming to do something that
fails!
Structure of the talk
• Title
– Introduce yourself so everyone remembers your
name!
• Introduction
– Key bullet points only
• Aims
– Must link to your conclusion
– There is no point aiming to do something that
fails!
• Methods
– Keep these very simple
– Details will be published in due course!
• Results
– Key findings only
– Don’t use too many sets of data
– Make results visually clear
– Avoid multi-coloured graphs
– People at the back of the hall must be able to see
your data
– Avoid too many error bars and ‘p’ values
• If you say something increases/decreases the
audience must believe you!
What’s wrong?
• Discussion
– Only use a few key bullet points only
• Conclusion
– Make very clear
– Must satisfy your aims
– Remember, this is when many in the audience
wake up and take notice!
• Acknowledgements
– Make your group seem big, important and well
funded
Are there any questions?
• Avoid the ‘phew, its all over’ feeling before
answering your questions!
• Listen carefully
– if you can’t hear or understand ask the
chairperson for help
• If you are not sure of the answer steer the
discussion to safe ground
• Don’t be afraid of stating that you do not
know!
Use colour carefully
• Up to 8% of men are to some
degree red-green colourblind.
• Aim to maximise contrast.
• Don’t over use colours and
keep them consistent.
• Avoid yellow on white or
mauve on blue (PowerPoint
often favours these
combinations)
Colours
Avoid yellow on white!
or purple on blue
Trouble with fonts
• In general use sans-serif fonts
– Serifs are the little ‘tails’ added to characters – good in
written text but less good in presentations
• Probably best to not
mix or use too many fonts
• Less formal fonts can be used in some
circumstances – judge your audience
If in doubt, keep it simple
AUDIO VISUAL INSTRUCTIONS
American Transplant Congress
SPEAKERS
May 21-25, 2008
Seattle, Washington
* PLEASE READ *
SPEAKER READY ROOM LOCATION:
Washington State Convention and Trade Center
Room 4C-2, Level Four
SPEAKER CHECK – IN:
All speakers are required to check into the Speaker Ready Room
24 hours before the start of the session. Checking in at the Speaker
Ready is the single most important action you will take to ensure
that your presentation is a success.
Personnel in the Speaker Ready Room will be available to assist
in any last minute changes and to troubleshoot any problems the
presenter may have.
There will be terminals set up for your review. You should make
sure all fonts appear as expected and all sound/video clips are
working properly at this time. You will be able to edit your
presentation, as well.
Once you are through reviewing your presentation and certify it is
ready, we will electronically send your presentation to the
designated presentation room.
All editing must be completed 2 hours prior to the start of the session.
The pathophysiology of
chronic allograft injury
John A Kirby
Institute of
Cellular Medicine
Cardiopulmonary Transplant Unit
Freeman Hospital
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Relevant Financial Relationship
Disclosure Statement
The pathophysiology of chronic allograft
injury
John A Kirby
I will not discuss off label use and/or investigational use of any drugs or devices
I have no financial relationships of relevance to my role in this session
The chairperson is your friend!
Session Title: Concurrent Session 89: Influence of Leukocyte Migration and Function
Session Date: Thursday, 7/27/2008 Session Time: 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Session Location: 112
The role of the moderator is essential for the success of the session and
the meeting. The following are suggestions that will help you as a
moderator for the American Transplant Congress meeting:
1. Beginning on time is essential. You should be in the room ten (10) minutes before the
session begins if possible. We will be also asking the presenters to be there early.
Remind the speakers again that you will be keeping them strictly on time. The times for
the concurrent sessions are 7 minutes for presentation followed by 3 minutes for
discussion.
2. Make sure the speakers are all sitting in the front row close to the podium.
3. Stimulate discussion, but do not allow the “rambling grandstander”. Limit the
number of questions to two per person on the first go around. Encourage multiple
questioners.
4. Make sure you know how the timing device works so you stay on time. There will be a
projectionist in the room who will give you instruction on using this equipment.
5. End on time – also essential.
12 parallel
sessions each session
has 12x10 minute
talks
Good luck!