Give a Better Technical Presentation

A lot of giving good presentations is things that should be common sense like…

• Don’t use each slide to test out a different powerpoint animation scheme
• Speak clearly, try to avoid using “like,” “um,” and “err”
• Don’t make slides that are walls of text
• If your talk is longer than 10 minutes or so, bring water
• Make sure labels on graphs and figures are big enough for everyone to read

And so on.

However, there is one thing you can do to make a decent presentation great, and it’s one that’s often overlooked.  Tell your audience a story.  This is especially important for technical presentations.  I’ve been to talks in fields that I knew nothing about that I still remember, because the presenter did such a great job of making me interested in their research.  There are likely people in your audience who know very little about your research area—much less than you do—and you want to give them a reason to stay with you.

Your introduction is where you’re going to start telling your audience a story.   Give some background on the general field, explain where your research is situated within the field, and explain the particular problem you’re trying to solve.  Try thinking of your research project as a character in a novel–readers want to know who they are, where they came from, what motivates their actions.  Tell the audience why your research is important.  Tell us, your audience, why we need to care about what you’re saying.  What’s the application of your research, five years down the road, and why is it important?  What big problem in science does your research help solve?  What big questions are you posing an answer to?

In most presentations, the introduction is followed by a transition to methodology and results of the project.  At this point, you’re moving away from the story you just built up to more concrete, factual, information. This is where you’re going to start losing people who don’t know much about your field, but came because your talk sounded interesting. Your audience doesn’t know as much about your work as you do, and it’s easy to lose them in the technical details.   When explaining results, make sure you connect back to the story of your research.

For example, if your result is a 5% increase in the thermal conductivity of a fluid, explain what that means for cooling applications.  Is it enough of an increase to justify the increased cost of using the fluid?  If not, how much of an increase would you need to see?   Try to think of a connection to your big story with each plot you show, with each result you discuss.  You need to situate your results in context for your audience.  If the result doesn’t connect back at all, what is it really contributing to your presentation?  Could you change the plot, or the information it contains, to communicate your results in a better way?  Remember–your presentation is just the tip of the iceberg that is your research project.  You don’t have time to tell the audience everything, and you shouldn’t do it anyway.

Finally, don’t forget to re-remind readers of the story behind your work in your conclusions.  Remind them of the most significant results, or explain in a more detailed way how you have solved the problem you introduced to the audience in the introduction.  Telling stories makes your presentations more memorable and more engaging.

For a great post with good info about giving technical presentations, check out Presentation Zen.