7. The scientifi c oral presentation

7. The scientific oral presentation

You may be asked to present you work as an oral presentation (Figure 7.1). In chapter 6 we discussed how to construct a scientific poster, the oral presentation is very similar. It is an effective way of telling people what you found and is a key research skill to develop.

7.1 Constructing the presentation

Before jumping on the PC to start with your slides imagine that you are stopped in the street by a live news crew. The presenter asks you to discuss your work for 30 seconds before they move to the next item. Visualise what you need to say, what is are key messages? You’ll need to explain the problem, the background, what you did and what you found. It is important to get the balance right and keep it fun and interesting. Write down each of these key messages and they will form the nucleus of your slides (Figure 7.1).

Tips for a putting a good presentation together: x The 7 / 7 Rule (Figure 7.2): This says that you should have about 7 words in each row and a maximum of 7 rows. This also aides in the selection of an appropriate font size x Slide design: Consider that some people in the audience may be colour blind so try avoid red and blue designs. There can be some truly garish, complex templates and backgrounds, your work is the star attraction so don’t be tempted to get fancy, keep it clean, eloquent and easy to read. Have a look at the venue, if it is large then try to keep you graphs and figures as large as possible for people at the back. x One minute per slide is a best guide of how long it should take to read through it, or spend on, especially if you use the 7/7 rule. x Practice using the timer facility in your slide show software x Use the slides as cues and try not to read from hand written notes. You did the work and know the work so don’t be shy. It is very difficult in a stressful setting to read from paper, slides, and talk and operate the PC and pointer all at the same time! x Ask a friend to video you (most mobile phones now have video cameras) to watch for anything repetitive like saying “yeah”, or “you know what i mean” at the end of each sentence.

Download free ebooks at bookboon.com

Please click the advert

Figure 7.1: A typical template for a ten minute oral presentation.

Download free ebooks at bookboon.com

Figure 7.2: An example of the 7/7 rule

7.2 Navigating the session

On the day you are bound to be nervous, but as with most things if you have prepared then the oral session should a fun experience of telling people what you have done. Be yourself and allow your personality to come across, otherwise it will just be a stuffy reading session.

Advice for the actual presentation: x Keep it simple. x Use your slides as a cue, start and the title and work through the talk to the conclusion. x Practice this before the session. x Introduce the topic carefully; although all the audience members are professional scientists they may not be familiar with your particular topic. x Explain your method briefly. x Show your data. The audience really do want to see it (even if you don’t think it’s very good). x Talk about your conclusions and suggest further work which could be done in the area.

In the question period: x Don’t be shy. Tell the panel what you really think. x Often questions are asked because the panel are interested to find out the answer, they should not be any trick questions. x Don’t forget that other than (maybe) your supervisor you will know more about your work than anyone else in the room! So, be confident in you and your work. x It is OK to say I don’t know to a question that you really don’t know the answer to; you could ask the enquirer to rephrase the question if you did not understand.

Download free ebooks at bookboon.com

7.3 Viva Voce

You may also be asked to complete a viva voce, which means live voice, and is a more assessment of your work than the oral presentation with slides. It is usually only done for MSc projects and above due to the complex nature and in depth subject analysis. It is typically based on your thesis and not on a slide show, with the panel asking you specific questions about your work.

Tips for the viva voce x Keep your thesis to a minimum, especially in the introduction, less material means less to question. x Tabulate your thesis with post it notes that stick out the side with “introduction”, “key graph” etc written on them, allowing you to quickly navigate around the thesis. x Unfair questions from the team may be political and internal and not your fault. If you feel a question is unfair ask for it to be re-phrased, or look to your supervisor for help. A good defence is to ask for the viva voce to be recorded, that way you have a record of proceedings.

7.4 Summary

Well done! You have successfully disseminated your research ideas, in chapter 9 we’ll discuss how you can use these events to enhance your CV. Consider keeping a blog for reflective learning and discuss how you could have improved the session, this powerful tool will grow with you over time.

Download free ebooks at bookboon.com