Technical presentations are difficult - let's make them easier!
This talk delivered for the Early Career Researcher pre-conference workshop organised by the Young Statisticians Section focuses on how to improve technical presentations.
By Nicola Rennie in Conference
Abstract
Delivering technical presentations is difficult - whether you’re explaining statistical concepts, mathematical equations, or code you’ve developed. It’s also hard to define exactly what makes a presentation good. We’ll discuss practical tips to avoid common pitfalls (the “what not to do”), and simple changes to improve your presentations (the “what to do instead”). You’ll take away a check list that you can use when developing your next presentation to make it easier for you and your audience!
What makes a good presentation?
During the workshop, we crowd-sourced some ideas about what makes a good presentation. These are the responses from attendees:
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Slides with less bullet points, large font, less text
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Simplicity
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Showing enthusiasm for your topic
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Audience participation
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Use your slides as prompts, not a script
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Showing clearly how to use the new method in practice. I really like talks that make it clear how the method works, but if others don’t know how/when to use it, it may not prove useful to the statistical community.
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Good timing and pace, engaging voice tone, interactivity, not too much information, avoid reading off slides and keep slides minimal, tailor to your audience, not too long!
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Open body language and movement makes it more engaging
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Include NOTHING on the slide that you won’t explain
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Engaging the audience (tone of voice, lay and clear language)
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Well designed slides (not too much text) Clear structure: beginning, middle, end.
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Simple slides
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Enthusiastic delivery
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Interactivity, storytelling
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Understood by all listeners
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Not too much detail on the slides
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ENERGY!
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Clear, logical and informative
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Enthusiasm for the topic
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Engaging