BY NIC FLEMING
“I
twashorrific,”saysEileenCourtney.“I
wasjustabundleofnerves.Iwasn’table
toeatforthewholeofthepreviousday.
That’s when I realized I needed to get over my
fear of public speaking.”
Courtney is a third year PhD candidate
studying interactions between metals and
two-dimensional semiconducting materials
at the University of Limerick, in the Republic
of Ireland. Her moment of revelation came
as she contemplated presenting her research
at the Microscience Microscopy Congress in
Manchester, United Kingdom, in July 2017.
The gut-punch feeling of dread that the
prospect of being on stage can trigger will be
familiartomanyearly-careerscientists.Itcould
be induced by an invitation to an international
conference, an academic group meeting or a
publicengagementevent.Oritmightbecaused
by an all-important presentation as part of an
interview process.
Although the audiences and goals of a talk
may differ, the skills and techniques required
to pull it off are similar. So what differentiates
a good presentation from a bad one? How can
you up your game in front of the lectern? And
is being able to impress an audience really all
that important?
The answer to that last question is an
emphatic yes, says Susan McConnell, a neurobiologist
at Stanford University, in California,
who has been giving talks on giving talks for
morethanadecade.“Thewholepointofdoing
science is to be able to communicate it to oth-
ers,”saysMcConnell.“Whetheritistoourclose
colleagues,otherscientistswithageneralinterest
in our area or to non-scientists, clarity of
communication is essential.”
Not all researchers recognize the value of
taking time out of the lab to tell colleagues
about their work. “Some have this idea that
Expert presenters share advice on how to capture and hold the attention of a conference crowd.
HAYKIRDI/GETTY
HOW TO GIVE A GREAT TALK
"YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT
THE LEAST KNOWLEDGEABLE
PERSON IN YOUR AUDIENCE."
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if you're spending time giving a talk, you're
spending time on marketing which could be
better spent doing science,” says Dave Rubenson,
co-founder of Los Angeles-based nobadslides.com,
a company that provides courses
on giving effective slide presentations. “In
fact the process of creating a compelling talk
and getting your audience to understand it
improves both your understanding and theirs,
and is central to science itself.” On top of this,
Rubenson says, presenting at conferences is a
great way to attract the collaborators who can
help you break new ground and advance in
your career, but only if those listening understand
what they’re being shown.
A good place to begin is in your audience’s
shoes. They need to know early on why they
should care about what you’re saying. What
is the ‘story’ at the heart of your presentation?
Creating a concise summary of your
talk, upon which you can add complexity, is
a better starting point than pondering which
of your file of 500 slides you can leave out,
Rubenson says.
Presenters often fail because they try to
deliver too much complex information. Lan-
guageandcontent,normally,hastobedesigned
with the non-specialist scientist in mind. “You
have to think about the least knowledgeable
person in your audience that you care about
reaching,” says Rubenson.
Anothercommonmistakeistheuseofslides
as ‘data dumps’. Remember those times you’ve
squintedatoverly-busyslidespackedwitheight
small graphs and wondered why the presenter
mentions only one? Keep that in mind when
designingyourownslides.Animationsoftware
that lets you add information to slides as you
talk about it can help.
Above all, it is important to maintain the
focus of your audience.
You can help to prevent wandering minds
by including summary slides at the end of sec-
tions.“Youcanthinkofatalkasaseriesofdata
dives,” says McConnell. “You need to come up
forairperiodically,andsay‘thisiswhatwejust
learnt, this is the conclusion and this is how it
links to the next part’.”
McConnell describes this and many more
ways for researchers to improve their scientific
presentation skills in a popular 42-minute
online video. Another source of advice is the
2013 book Designing Science Presentations by
American neuroscientist Matt Carter. While
these offer useful pointers, most people find
that when it comes to public speaking and
presenting, practice makes, if not perfect, then
certainlybetter.
That notion is central to Toastmasters
International, a non-profit organization
that helps individuals improve their public
speaking skills through its network of more
than 16,000 branches in 143 countries. At
weekly or fortnightly meetings, members
practice speeches and give each other
feedback. It was to her local branch that
Eileen Courtney turned last summer after
realizing her presenting skills needed work.
It seems her decision paid off. In May she
was runner-up and audience favourite in
the 3 Minute Wonder competition, a science
communication challenge run by the Londonbased
Institute of Physics in which entrants
have one slide and 180 seconds to present their
research to non-specialists.
“I’verecentlyhadtogiveotherpresentations
and I’ve calmed down a lot, as a result of both
going to Toastmasters and through teaching
as part of my PhD,” says Courtney. “As you
get more experience of speaking in front of a
crowd, it becomes a lot less scary.” ■
Nic Fleming is a freelance science writer based
in Bristol, United Kingdom.
INSTITUTEOFPHYSICS
01Practice in an environment similar
to the one in which you will give
your talk.
02Memorize key sentences within
an outline, rather than learning it
word for word.
03Ensure you are within the time
limit, so the clock is one less thing
to worry about.
04Wear something professional-looking
and comfortable, not a new outfit.
05Avoid overeating and limit coffee
intake on the day itself.
Different methods work for different
people. Here are Eileen Courtney’s tips
for keeping calm at the lectern.
Great public speaking skills are not
sufficient for good presenting, but they
help. In August, Ramona J. Smith, a
high-school teacher from Houston, Texas,
was crowned Toastmasters 2018 World
Champion of Public Speaking.
These are her top 10 tips, which she plans
to outline in more detail in a forthcoming
e-book.
01 Be yourself — people relate to and
connect with authenticity.
02 Prepare, practice and perfect —
get rid of those crutch words, like
‘um’ and ‘you know’.
03 Describe what you’re telling us —
use vivid words to help the audience
paint a picture.
04 Vocal variety — change up your
tone, volume and pitch to keep the
audience engaged.
05 Study the greats — watch what
really great speakers do.
06 Get feedback — a practice audience
can help you get the bugs out.
07 Appearance — if you look good,
you’ll feel good, which will help you
give a great speech.
08 Pauses — they give the audience
time to think, and help them engage.
09 Body language — use gestures
and make use of the space to help
deliver your message.
10 Be confident — use your face,
body language and stance to own
the stage.
ENGAGELIKE
ACHAMP
CONQUER
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