how to give great presentations

During my PhD, I won 1st place in all 3 conference competitions where I gave scientific presentations. I was extremely humbled, grateful, and was ecstatic every single time. All other competitors were all overwhelmingly intelligent and talented and we all got to know each other well and celebrated the night afterwards. I wanted to share some personal tips that helped me deliver strong presentations:

1. Know your stuff. Make sure you fully understand the purpose, methods, and results you’re presenting. It’s disappointing to see students demonstrate they’re confused about their own experiments and findings in real time during their presentations. Be prepared for questions and know more than what you’re presenting.

2. Know your purpose. Immediately start off with WHY did you do this work? Captivate your audience from the beginning. I’d say the majority of student presentations I see start off with “I worked on, I did, I found.” I lose interest pretty quickly since I don’t know what problem they’re trying to solve.

3. Know your audience. Reflect on who attends the conference (or event), and which of those will gravitate to your session. Realize you will be speaking to people who know nothing about your project (or even your general topic). Generalize it so everyone can appreciate what you’re talking about, throw in details where necessary to demonstrate you understand and performed sufficient work, but not so much where it goes over everyone’s head. It’s a fine balancing act.

4. Practice your speech. Don’t read from the slides. Make sure you’re under time. It may be overkill, but I always practice until I can recite the entire thing by memory without thinking. This takes the pressure off, ensures I use the correct vocabulary & terminology and avoid saying “umm..”

5. Make it sound interesting. If you’ve memorized your speech (I recommend it), don’t recite it like a robot. Modify the memorized speech with tone, energy, pauses. Think about your favorite TED Talks and emulate their energy.
6. Smile. Relax. Show that you’re happy to be there. Make eye contact. Thank your audience. Be likable.

7. Be prepared for the unexpected. I’ve presented in a large room where the echo to the podium was so loud I couldn’t hear myself. I’ve presented when my graphs were incompatible and completely disappeared during the presentation. I’ve said the wrong stuff. I’ve been asked tough questions. Stay calm and collected, remember you’re human, correct it, and move on.

8. Most importantly…. LOVE YOUR WORK. Don’t present just because your advisor wants you to. You better CARE about your project, be PROUD of your methods, and be REALLY EXCITED about your results. Furthermore, you MUST look FORWARD to future work and where this will go. If you feel passionate about the work you’re doing, make sure that is visible during your presentation. If you don’t care about your work and present it without enthusiasm… why should your audience care?