Dr. Murray's ten tips for scientific presentations

Want to improve your presentation skills? Are you excited to learn better methods to communicate research? We scientists do cool stuff, and we want (and need) to convey our work to others. I have some hints to share. 

This past year, I've read lots of books, searched articles, and watched tutorials -- all in the quest of improving my scientific communication skills. Here are some ideas and tips I've been incorporating into my presentations. Maybe you want to try something new, too?!

#1. Change your mindset.
Begin with a 'conversation' mentality. You're giving a talk, and not "giving your slides". You will be actively communicating with the audience, using your narrative & an engaging method of delivery so that they will benefit from your talk. Think of slides as a tool to support your presentation.

Concrete step: For many of us, the default framework is to set up each slide in a typical "title / bullet point text / supporting visual". As you develop a presentation, try adopting a mentality where you use slides to support your conversation with the audience. Imagine constructing the slide outwards from the center of the page (build out from the message), instead of assembling a slide top-down (titles and lists).

#2. Develop your message & bring the audience along.
What do you want people to remember when they leave the room? You have something valuable to give to the audience, and it will take some effort to figure out how to best deliver it to them. What info or data best contributes to the takeaway message? You'll need to make tough editing decisions to remove or condense parts that don't pull their weight.

You're responsible for guiding the audience through the presentation. Make it easy for them. For instance: refresh people's memory of what you explained 5 slides ago, repeat important information in a new way, and connect your ideas logically. I got this advice almost 15 years ago, but I don't think it stuck back then. Now it's sticking.


​bonus exercise: What aspects of your professional identity & research will you emphasize for your talk?
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Try this exercise to clarify your delivery style:  "After my presentation, [audience] will realize [objective], so they will [desired outcome] and think of me as [desired impression].

Example 1: "After my presentation, academic faculty in the audience will realize I am an independent scientist & a creative problem-solver, so they will consider me as a candidate to fill their postdoc position and will envision me as a beneficial addition to their lab."
Example 2: "After seeing my presentation, my colleagues will realize I am a talented bioinformatician who is knowledgeable about the latest methods, so they will hold me in high esteem and think of me as an expert in this methodological field. They will seek me out as a collaborator."
adapted from: ROAM [Reader, Objective, Aim, iMpression] (Bernhoff, 2016)
"guide your audience" advice from Dr. Yoonseong Park (Kansas State, Entomology)

#3. Find your narrative.
Creating narratives is natural for humans. We've evolved to respond to stories. Amazingly, during storytelling, the brains of the storyteller and the listener are activated in the same patterns (Janzer, 2018). So, consider to make use of this tool of evolution to help you deliver information in a way the audience is equipped to receive!

Check out my previous blog post on the use of the narrative strategy in science, based on work by Randy Olson.

#4. Tell your audience what they'll know by the end of your talk.
Give a promise for a new piece of knowledge that the audience can grab onto and walk out of the room with. Put this somewhere early on, where it feels right. Maybe at the very start, or after the introduction. What will you give to your audience? Then they'll know what to pay attention for! This is a great way to make sure you can connect the importance of your presentation to the audience's needs. 
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Related: Don't squander the first minute of your talk. Get your audience committed to you & your topic. What can you say in the first 10 seconds to engage them?
(ideas from Donovan, 2013 and Anderson, 2016)

#5. Group by threes. 
The magic number is 3. A list of 2 is not a list. And a list of 4 gets too long for people to hold in their mind. I'm not saying you need three things on a slide. But... what about thinking about 3 objectives, 3 key points, or, for longer talks, 3 related projects you'll share with the audience? (idea from Donovan, 2013)

Success story: I shared my "3-pronged approach" strategy with a friend, who used it in a presentation involving the restaurant business. She had a photo of a 3-pronged fork next to her list describing her 3-pronged approach. They loved it -- rave reviews. True, we can't usually seamlessly incorporate fork photos into our presentations, but keep your 3-pronged strategy handy!

#6. Cut down the text on your slides. 
So hard! I'm still working on this one. But no one in the audience wants to read a bunch of stuff, or listen to you read a bunch of stuff. Can you break up a list into multiple slides? Or use icons/illustrations to represent those points?

Dr. Echo Rivera recommends using visuals instead of text. A good gauge of text: don't use >50 words on a slide.

#7. Mix it up & give a visual break: speak while displaying a blank screen.
I really like this one. You choose to give the audience a rest from looking back and forth from you and the screen or focusing their attention only on the slides & not you as the speaker. Use this as a chance to hammer home a message or switch gears and introduce a new topic.
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Embrace the 'eyes on me' mentality! 

Adapted from advice to use black slides in the great tips from Dr. David L Stern. (Check them all out!) I tried using the black screen approach in a practice talk and it made the audience uncomfortable. They thought something went wrong & wondered when I'd notice. Now, for my 'white screen' approach, I keep the slide blank while I talk (or cheat a bit and put up the new topic keyword on the otherwise-blank slide).
[White is my background color for slides unless I'm using a full-page image.]

#8. Connect to audience by small changes in your phrasing. 
Consider posing a rhetorical question to the audience or asking them to predict a result (you don't need them to answer out loud, but someone may!). Be sure to use "you" singular when addressing the audience. Don't let them disappear into an anonymous "you all" and not take responsibility for upholding their side of the interaction. Treat your presentation as a conversation. (suggested by Donovan, 2013)
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Second, use a mindful "I" phrase to emphasize a place in your presentation where you want the audience to pay attention. People will perk up when you connect with them this way. Maybe state: "I wasn't expecting this result and therefore I decided to ...", or, "I realized this is the most important reason that we should ...". 

#9. Meaning before details.
It's usually good to state your message before you describe the nitty-gritty. The audience should realize WHY you're leading them a certain direction, so that they aren't struggling to carry all the details in their head without knowing the destination. If you don't first tell the audience the intention of a litany of information, they focus too much attention on anticipating the conclusion so they can put it all together. 
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This won't apply to every slide/subject, and sometimes you want a slow build-up & exciting reveal. But typically: lead with the message.

advice from Dr. Rayna Bell, California Academy of Sciences (at a practice talk of mine)
"Meaning before details" from J. Medina (Janzer, 2018)

#10. Be smart with how you use your slides.
Slide design is a big topic, and I won't cover it here. But of course, you'll want to think about your slide use & design and how that will help you spread your science message! A few thoughts:

do get comfortable with negative space on slides: Intentional empty space is fine! But at the same time, always make sure your graphics are large and clear -- visuals are important, and you put them there for a reason, so make them work for you!

don't use a laser pointer: Design your slides so that you don't NEED to use a pointer. Instead, build on your slides using animation, so that arrows or emphases pop up when you need it.

do use presenter mode, especially if you feel nervous about giving talks: Maybe this is an obvious one? I only started using presenter mode last year, and I have definitely benefited. There's a timer so you can use it to stay on schedule. But more importantly, I'd recommend you make good use of the notes section, since you can see your typed notes while you give a talk. Write and practice (and ruthlessly edit!) a script. Or write up and refer to your notes for topic prompts and transitions to help keep you on track and give a smooth and polished delivery.
Keyboard shortcut to get into presenter mode at the current slide: (SHIFT+ALT+F5 /or SHIFT+ALT+FN+F5).

Bonus for job talks: #11. Brand yourself at the beginning.
In a job talk, you are introducing yourself as well as presenting your research. The audience is interested to see you in a broader view than just the research you include, and you can help them by giving this context. Can you summarize your professional identify in one sentence?

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Right: Slide #2 from my recent job talk. This way, people got a sense of what I was trying to do in my research life. An oral statement would've worked, too.
I envisioned my 'mission statement'. Yes it was broad, but it is supported in the research and story line following in my presentation. I wanted to make it easy for the audience to see who I am, so that my work would be interpreted in the context of my broader professional identity.

Telling people what I do so that they know from the get-go.

I'd love to hear your suggestions or feedback on any of these hints!

references:
Anderson, C. (2017). TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking.​ Mariner Books, 288 p.
Bernoff, J. (2016) Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean. HarperBusiness, 304 p.
Donovan, J. (2013) How to Deliver a TED Talk: Secrets of the World's Most Inspiring Presentations. McGraw-Hill Education, 240 p.
Janzer, A. (2018) Writing to be Understood: What Works and Why. Cuesta Park Consulting, 219 p.