Oral presentation skills

Dr. A.A.M. Gerritsen, Epi Result

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“One of the most important aspects to be successful in your research, your job and your career is excellent oral and written communication.”

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This is where it all starts ...

Dear Dr Gerritsen,

I’m happy to inform you that your abstract titled ... has been accepted for an oral presentation at the ... conference.

Presentations: The duration of your presentation will be strictly 15 minutes. As it is international best-practice, we would like to suggest that you use 10 min for the presentation and allow 5 minutes for questions and comments from the audience. Should you exceed your time limit, the chair will ask you to conclude immediately and move on to the next presenter.

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Outline

» Planning

» Preparation

» Practice

» Performance

» Questions

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Planning

» Who are you talking to (numbers; who are the chair, other presenters)?

» Why are you talking to them?

» How long have you got?

» What story are you going to tell?

» Where are you presenting (place)?

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Preparation

» Outline and sketch slides

» Prepare slides

» Proof read

» Prepare notes - brief keywords and phrases, except maybe first couple of paragraphs

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Preparation: outline (1)

Clear structure:

» Opening

» Body

» Closing

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Outline: Opening

» Grab audience’s attention

» Suggest theme of speech

» Openings can be dramatic, emotional, humorous or rhetorical e.g. startling question, challenging statement, appropriate short quotation or illustration, exhibit – object, article, picture, personal story.

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Outline: Closing

» Call or an appeal for definite action

» Personal challenge

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Preparation: outline (2) -generic 15 min conference presentation

» 1 - 2 minutes per slide

» Title Slide (1) Title, author, affiliation, acknowledgements

» Rationale (1-2) Why this is interesting

» Methods (1-2) What you did

» Results (2-4) What did you find and what does it mean

» Summary (1) One thing you want them to remember

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Preparation: slides

» Use Images & Graphics

» Minimise text & numbers

» Avoid distracting backgrounds / effects

» Mixture upper and lower case

» Font large enough

» Use a high contrast colour for important lines, symbols or text

» Keep text & figures simple

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Preparation

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Practice

» Practice, practice, practice

» Test projected slides

» Get feedback, and use it

» Be ruthless - delete unnecessary information

» Do forget about forgetting

» Breathe slowly and deeply before/during speech

» Keep your body relaxed

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Practice

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Performance (1)

» Don’t Apologise

» Speak loudly & clearly

» Use short simple sentences

» Avoid jargon & abbreviations

» Vary pitch, tone, volume, speed and pauses

» Avoid distracting mannerisms

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Performance (2)

» Relax, be enthusiastic

» Make eye contact

» Don’t read from the paper

» Explain figures, and point to important aspects

» Give a clear and concise summary, then stop.

» Keep an eye on the time remaining: Don’t go overtime. Ever!

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Questions

» Anticipate likely questions and prepare extra slides with the answers

» Paraphrase questions

– 1. so that other people hear the question

– 2. to check you understand the questions

– 3. to stall while you think about an answer

» If you don’t know the answer, say so. Offer to find out. Ask the audience.

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Summary

Like most things, the best way to learn is to do.