When I was a PhD student, I came across a web page (now archived here) with some very practical advice from Danuta Shanzer for presenters at conferences. I read it many times and found it very useful. Being written originally c. 2003, some of the details (e.g. slide trays and slide projectors) now seem quaint. But it’s still well worth reading.
Here is my own version of ‘Advice for lecturers’, which I hope might be useful to somebody.
1. What are your goals?
- Presumably to get exposure for your research, get feedback, build your network and practise public speaking. All of this is good.
- But is this paper going to help you to progress your research project? For a research-focused conference or seminar (as opposed to a public talk), focus on your research. Don’t aim to engage your audience with unnecessary background, irrelevant examples, or ‘entertaining’ anecdotes. Instead, test out the ideas you’re currently developing for your thesis chapter, article, etc.
2. Who is your audience?
- You may have some idea if you attended the event before, or else you may not. But it’s possible that your listener will be any of the following: not knowledgeable about your field, not particularly interested in your field, very tired (in day two of a conference and after hearing seven papers that morning), hungover (depending on the conference). Keep these things in mind when you write your paper!
- If you’re writing your paper and can’t find the right voice, it sometimes helps to picture an individual you know, and imagine you’re speaking directly to them.
3. Writing your paper:
- It’s good to write out your paper. You need to be a very experienced lecturer to give a good presentation without a detailed script. Most people who don’t have a script will waffle while they think aloud, repeat themselves continually, and waste time while they try to remember where they are. For a tired audience especially, it’s excruciating.
- Write like you speak. Avoid the complex syntax and elevated diction of academic prose. Use words and phrasing that you would use naturally when speaking. The delivery will be much easier for you and you will sound like yourself.
- Get the word count right. For me, a script of 2,500 words takes 20 minutes to read. Practice and experience will help you to work out your own speaking rate.
- If you plan some digressions, for example to point out details about an image on a slide, they will probably take more time than you expect.
- Have a structure. Start by telling your audience what your paper is about and what you are trying to achieve. Signal clearly whenever you start a new section. Help your tired audience keep track of where you are. Make sure you offer some clear conclusions. If your listeners remember nothing else, they should at least have one or two takeaways.
- Be careful with humour. It often falls flat. Don’t hesitate to skip a witty aside if it doesn’t flow naturally on the day. Use sparingly at best.
4. Delivering your paper:
- Practice reading your paper aloud, several times over. Adjust it so that it feels and sounds natural to you.
- Don’t rush. If you’re inexperienced, the adrenalin will make you want to gallop. Your paper will probably have complex ideas. Give the people hearing these for the first time a chance to absorb them.
- Build in pauses. Make short pauses between paragraphs and longer ones between sections, to signal your changes.
- Check the pronunciations of difficult names and words. Forvo and Wiktionary can often help. Or ask somebody. Mispronunciations might not affect the argument of your paper, but they can be at best distracting (or at worst irritating) for your audience.
5. Slides and handouts:
- The function of slides is normally to support your talk (and not vice-versa). So keep them simple, avoid distracting fussiness, and don’t overwhelm your audience with too much information.
- If the focus of a slide is an image, make it as big as possible. Big empty borders do not help anyone, especially the people with ageing eyes at the back of the room.
- Handouts can be very helpful if you are discussing the details of lots of text. It gives the audience a chance to think about the texts when slides are no longer on screen. People may give you useful feedback later.
- If you use a handout, make sure to put your name, affiliation, e-mail and paper title at the top! Save paper: keep the margins small and print double-sided. Number your passages and refer clearly to the numbers during your talk.
6. Questions:
- You typically get ten minutes for discussion, but you will often run slightly over and your chair might also steal a few at the start. Inexperienced speakers often worry about difficult questions, so remember that they often only last for a few minutes!
- Hostile questions are really quite rare. But if you are criticised and can’t give an answer, thank the questioner for their feedback and say you will give the matter more thought. (If you have a pen in your hand, you can pretend to write down some notes.)
- Questions that are unfocused, ill-formed and/or irrelevant are fairly common. Feel free to ask people for clarification. But questioners are often nervous too, and they will usually be glad to get an acknowledgement and some sort of answer.
- Don’t waffle on, and never pretend to know something that you don’t. People will see through it immediately. You can always say that something has slipped your mind and you will check later. Most people will realise that it can be difficult to perform when put on the spot.
- Be humble and signal clearly that you genuinely want feedback. Remember that the Q&A is not generally very useful, but you can get excellent feedback and help from people later, during the coffee breaks or with a glass in hand at a reception or dinner.
Disclaimer: if I’m giving a talk and I fail to follow my own advice, please forgive me! Nobody’s perfect.