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Improving Academic Presentation Style
Matt | Oct 1 2007
I give a lot of talks, and I've been trying to improve my presentation style, but I'm not sure how to do it in the context of my field. I am in a fairly quantitative science. I have to give presentations where I present results; I am 'selling' the result to the audience, but not in the same way, I think, that one would sell a product, or an idea, or a concept. I'm attempting to convince them that it's right, and that I was diligent in pursuing the result. One common technique is to simply overwhelm the audience with lots of facts and charts and bullet points. Obviously this is a bad idea -- but on the other hand, if you don't give enough 'serious-looking' plots, you run the risk of being dismissed by members of the audience. So how do I strike a balance? How do I keep my presentations in the manner of a good narrative, with appropriate display methods, when constrained by an audience that has a certain expectation of a larger number of quantitative figures and numbers? 31 Comments
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 Read The Craft of ResearchSubmitted by Craig on October 2, 2007 - 6:56am.
Read The Craft of Research by Booth, Colomb, and Williams. It's full of excellent advice about how to present your work (in writing, which would also include presentation scripts). The book is about research (obviously) and it may require a little mental translation if research is not what you do. But it is all about framing your text so that your audience will care. I think it would help you. I can't say enough good things about the book! The same authors revised the most recent (seventh) edition of the Turabian style guide, so if that is cheaper or more easily accessible from a library, you will find most of the same ideas in its first half. » POSTED IN:
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