Preparing an Oral Presentation
of Your Research
Mehmet Tevfik DORAK, MD PhD
www.dorak.info
Outline
Basics of Oral Presentation
Learning from mistakes
Effective Presentations
Emphasizing the right
Advanced Topics
Final Checklist: Dos and Don’ts
Basics of Oral Presentation
The following annoy people:
- No sign of enthusiasm or excitement
- Wrong color scheme, small font, invisible items
- “No intention to be heard” kind of behavior
- No regard for the audience
- Attempt to overwhelm the audience with information / knowledge
Then, don’t do it!
Basics of Oral Presentation
No sign of enthusiasm or excitement
Looking like a nervous wreck
-practice more
Not enjoying what you are doing
-change your field
Tired, sick or pre-occupied
-cancel, postpone, explain, apologize
No time for presentation
-don’t do it
If you are not enthusiastic, how will the audience be?
Basics of Oral Presentation
Wrong color scheme
Basics of Oral Presentation
No intention to be heard kind of behavior
Speaking low
-speak up
Speaking away from the audience
-speak towards the audience
Faint and off-putting slides
-get better in making slides
Mean what you do, achieve what you aim!
Basics of Oral Presentation
No regard for the audience
No enthusiasm, speaking low, looking away
No contact with the audience
-maintain eye contact
Not enough preparation, sloppy mistakes
-prepare better
Talking to the wrong audience
-know your audience before you prepare
The audience is your customer; treat them well.
Basics of Oral Presentation
Sloppy mistakes
Spelling errors
Punctuation errors
Alignment errors
Capitalization errors
Font and boldface errors
Scientific errors
However trivial they may be, such errors work against you on the
subconscious of the audience (and the judges).
Basics of Oral Presentation
Attempt to overwhelm the audience with
information / knowledge
The idea is not to show them how much you know or
how little they know
Your aim is to communicate your findings
You want to make sense to the audience
Keep it simple, keep them interested
Basics of Oral Presentation
Basics of Oral Presentation
What was wrong with the
previous slide?
Basics of Oral Presentation
Visual Aid Rules
Keep it simple
Minimize words
Use large fonts
List key points
Use exact phrasing
Use color
Outline
Basics of Oral Presentation
Learning from mistakes
Effective Presentations
Emphasizing the right
Advanced Topics
Final Checklist: Dos and Don’ts
Effective Presentations
What to include and what not to include
How to start and how to end a presentation
Order of a presentation
Answering questions
Effective Presentations
What to include and what not to include
outline
some background, rationale, aims
methods
RESULTS
implications, conclusions
Not a lot of theory
No individual or group advertisement
Effective Presentations
How to start and how to end a presentation
Do not just read out the title,
it is already on the screen
Do not finish with a data slide
Do not let the Chair remind the audience that you have finished
Finish with a bang, which should be an exciting
take home message
Effective Presentations
Order of a presentation
Title
Outline
Background (introduction)
Methods
Results
Discussion, including limitations
Conclusions, including a take home message
(Acknowledgements)
Keep signposting throughout the presentation
Effective Presentations
Outline & Signposting
Effective Presentations
Results
The most important component of your research
You will be judged by the quality of your results
Effective Presentations
Figures
Effective Presentations
Answering questions
No harm in saying “I don’t know the answer” or
“I did not think about this before”
Beware of people with big egos, and be prepared
Solutions: deferral to the break; acknowledging the criticism;
sticking with the content (not the tone)
Beware of people who must ask questions
Treat everyone like a gentleman (you know why)
Outline
Basics of Oral Presentation
Learning from mistakes
Effective Presentations
Emphasizing the right
Advanced Topics
Final Checklist: Dos and Don’ts
Advanced Topics
Symphonic structure
-resolution of a dissonant chord, recapitulation rule
Articulation
-go and see a play by professionals
Don’t forget to breath
-learn diaphragm breathing
Advanced Topics
Symphonic structure
Exposition - Development - Recapitulation (+/- Coda)
Don’t forget what you have set out to talk about, and revisit it at the end
to tie the knot!
Create suspension to keep people interested
Mention something and tell them you will explain later, or
it will be clear later on
Advanced Topics
Articulation
Advanced Topics
Don’t forget to breath
Advanced Topics
Don’t forget to breath
And finally:
Work on the subconscious
Keep unity in mind
Color scheme, including background
Have a recurrent theme on each slide if possible
Font and size
Don’t pick and mix from different sources without some coherence
Be consistent
Consider symmetry, alignment, proportionality
And finally:
Work on the subconscious
Outline
Basics of Oral Presentation
Learning from mistakes
Effective Presentations
Emphasizing the right
Advanced Topics
Final Checklist: Dos and Don’ts
What to Do and What Not to Do
- Do not sit; stand and walk around always in eye contact
- Radiate energy and interest, not lethargy
- One slide per minute is the rule of thumb
- Do not waste time complaining about lack of time when
there is indeed only little time to do the job
- Do not ramble on, focus on main arguments
What to Do and What Not to Do
- Vary your voice, and pause occasionally to make emphasis
- While preparing, rehearse in front of a mirror
- Record your rehearsal and listen to yourself
- Do not memorize what you are going to say
- Do not overload your slides, list only key points
What to Do and What Not to Do
- Make sure each slide has a full self-explanatory title of its own
- Avoid dark background if you can, consider lighting of the room
- Keep signposting
- Be consistent with everything
(background, lists, punctuation, capitalization, font/size/color)
- Don’t try to be fancy
(ever changing background, distracting background, transitions,
too much clip art, animations)
- Do not exceed your time limit; they may pull the plug off
- Thank the audience at the end
Outline
Basics of Oral Presentation
Learning from mistakes
Effective Presentations
Emphasizing the right
Advanced Topics
Final Checklist: Dos and Don’ts
Check the Rubric!
Preparing an Oral Presentation
of Your Research
Thank you for Your Attention!
Mehmet Tevfik DORAK, MD PhD
www.dorak.info
Preparing an Oral Presentation
of Your Research
Appendix:
Additional Resources
http://www.dorak.info/mtd/sci_write.html