Wednesday, February 28, 2018

5 Tips for Scientific Presentation


There are thousands of articles on this topic. I am not an expert on this topic, however, I was advised on a few tips before my master’s defense and I wanted to share those with you.

1. Page numbers

One thing is a must on any type of presentation is adding page numbers. Besides those, my advisor wanted me to add page number / total number of pages (such as 5/20). His point was that the audience should know at what point the presentation is.

2. Few word summary

One of senior PhD student recommended me to add a few (key) words on each page of presentation. These key words should be codes for me to remember the main idea of the page to give a brief information.

3. Pictures

Even though this is a very typical one, I believe it is super important to add picture (self-drawn sketches or analysis outputs). Saying a few sentences to strengthen your argument on such page using those pictures can be beneficial. One aspect to remember is to make sure everything you have on your pictures is under your control. A small detail can ruin your argument if you do not have an explanation for it.

4. No animation

This took me sometime to understand why. If you use 5 animations in one page, and at the end of your presentation you get a question on an equation let’s say you placed on fifth animation, pressing next button can stress you. A page should be continuous and simple to avoid any misunderstanding and making it easy to follow.

5. No background

Even though this can be optional, it is always better to have a blank white background.

These are some of my musts on any presentations and by following those I never had any negative comments yet. What is your must add on a presentation?

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