Seminar and conference presentations

Overview and research

Gail Craswell suggests that the signature feature of all presentations is Interaction with a live audience.

Hence, audience considerations are critical in both the planning and delivery stages of a presentation. In the planning stage, audience impacts on how the topic is presented, including the language used. Audience is again vitally important at different stages of delivery. Candidates can benefit from discussion of strategies for engaging an audience, grabbing their attention, the pros and cons of different orientation strategies at the start of a presentation, and how to maintain interest during the presentation. Candidates also need to be reminded that while repetition is frowned on in writing, building in redundancy is a useful device in presentations to help audience members to follow, to stop them wandering off into exciting mental planning for the up-coming weekend!

Preparing a presentation

Although the use of PowerPoint for presentations is often seen as the norm, there are some problems associated with this technology:

"PowerPoint is a competent slide manager and projector. But rather than supplementing a presentation, it has become a substitute for it. Such misuse ignores the most important rule of speaking: respect your audience." (Tufte, 2003)

Candidates generally require assistance in preparing a presentation and such assistance can include talking through:

• Who the audience is
• What is significant about the topic (the take home message)
• How one might prepare PowerPoint slides in a way that makes them interesting and legible. The number of slides per presentation; e.g. trying to get through 40 slides in a 40 minutes presentation is likely to leave the presenter and their audience in a daze! "Audiences consequently endure a relentless sequentiality, one damn slide after another" (Tufte, 2003)
• How to structure the presentation: introduction, middle, conclusion
• How to time a presentation: e.g. bringing together the significant aspect of the topic with the structure and the time allocation
• How to effectively manage the different situations that characterise question time
• Assisting candidates with their first presentation is a critical aspect of the coaching role of the supervisor.

The above text was based on the following research:

Alley, M. (2003).The craft of scientific presentations: Critical steps to succeed and critical errors to avoid. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Craswell. G. (2005). Writing for academic success: A postgraduate guide. London: Sage.

Tufte, E. PowerPoint is evil: Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely, Wired Magazine, September 2003.

Ideas and tools

Useful tips:

Focussing a short presentation (say 15/20 minutes): Try to uncover what is significant about the topic rather than cover the topic. Trying to cover the topic easily leads to a blow-out in material. (Gail Craswell)

Overcoming nerves (tip 1): One of the most helpful things I learned when addressing an audience is to take a moment to 'look them in the eye'. The minute I, as a presenter, have actually looked at my audience I feel that they are 'with me' not 'against' me.' Some of the worst presentations I've endured are where the presenter seems unable to lift their eyes high enough to see who is in the room. (Margaret Kiley)

Overcoming nerves (tip 2): A colleague passed this valuable tip on to me many years ago. Learn off by heart opening and closing lines (the intellectual lead in and the intellectual exist to your presentation). The former ensures a smooth beginning and the latter means you can effect a nice closing, even if for some reason time runs out before you finish. (Gail Craswell)

Answering questions: Another tip that I pass onto students is to have a 'friend' in the audience, someone who is primed to ask a manageable question. The friend can either start off the questioning or save the question for one of those sticky moments, but it is helpful to know that there is one question out there that 'I know I can answer, and answer with flair!'

Keeping track of comments: This is particularly important in proposal seminars and at conferences. Generally the presenter is so busy thinking about content and how to respond to comments and questions that by the end of the session much of it is a blur. Having a colleague (or supervisor) in the room with the sole purpose of keeping detailed notes of comments and suggestions can be very helpful in the debriefing session.

ANU information

The Academic Skills and Learning Centre has a staff member specialising in research student assistance.

The Inter-University Research Workshop Program.

The Acedemic and Professional Skills Program.

The Centre for Public Awareness of Science has workshops and staff members specialising in science communication. 

For College-specific information contact:

College of Engineering & Computer Science

College of Law

College of Arts and Social Sciences

College of Asia & the Pacific

College of Business & Economics

College of Medicine and Health Sciences

Alternatively, contact the College Associate Dean (HDR) for more general college information.