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How to give a good presentation

Presenting at a conference is a unique opportunity to communicate your work. Editors attend many conferences, and although they may not address an audience often, they have plenty of opportunity to observe presentation skills.
Nature Methods (5, 371 - 372; 2008), in its May Editorial, makes ten suggestions for making the most of such presentational opportunities, and invites readers to add their own tips and comments at its blog Methagora. The Nature Methods list:
1. Plan for the allotted time.
2. Know your audience.
3. Define your goals.
4. Structure your talk.
5. Keep your slides simple (content).
6. Keep your slides simple (design).
7. Beware of animations and multimedia.
8. Watch your delivery.
9. Choose your words.
10. Rehearse!
Advice can also be found on Nature Network: see Lab Daze blog; End of the Pier Show blog; Expression Patterns blog; and a post in the Visualization and Science forum, in which Hilary Spencer provides some very good, practical advice about the balance between information and presentation in Power Point slides.

Posted by Maxine Clarke on May 12, 2008
Categories: Communication | | Comments (2)

Comments

My list goes more like this:

1. know your stuff
2. keep your slides simple
3. rehearse
4. rehearse
5. rehearse
6. rehearse
7. rehearse
8. rehearse
9. rehearse
10. rehearse

Posted by: bill | May 12, 2008 09:41 AM

On point 1, _plan for the allotted time_. I'd modify this to say 'plan for 75% of the allotted time'. This will give you necessary waggle room for technical problems; allow you to relax rather than gabble; force you to present only what you _need_, rather than what you _want_; and allow for that oft-desired, seldom-achieved discussion time at the end.

Posted by: Henry Gee | May 12, 2008 09:45 AM

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