How to give a successful oral presentation怎样做一个精彩的报告.docx

How to give a successful oral presentation怎样做一个精彩的报告.docx

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Howtogiveasuccessfuloralpresentation怎样做一个精彩的报告

Howtogive

successful

oralandposter

presentations

J.W.Niemantsverdriet

SchuitInstituteofCatalysis,

EindhovenUniversityofTechnology

Eindhoven,TheNetherlands

Seealso:

http:

//www.efcats.org

Howtogiveasuccessfuloralpresentation

developyourownpresentationstyle…

…buttrytoavoidcommonlymademistakes

Introduction

Howoftenhaveyoubeenlisteningtooralpresentationsthatdealtwithinterestingsciencewhileyouneverthelesshaddifficultytopayattentiontilltheend?

Howoftendidyouloseyourinterestbeforethespeakerhadevencomehalfway?

Wasitbecauseofthesubjectofthetalkorwasitthewaythespeakerpresentedit?

Manypresentationsconcerninterestingwork,butareneverthelessdifficulttofollowbecausethespeakerunknowinglymakesanumberofpresentationerrors.Byfarthelargestmistakeisthataspeakerdoesnotrealizehowanaudiencelistens.Ifyouarewellawareofwhaterrorsyoushouldavoid,thechancesarehighthatyouwillbeabletogreatlyimprovetheeffectivenessofyourpresentations.

Figure1Typicalattentiontheaudiencepaystoanaveragepresentation

TheAttentionCurve

Theaverageattendeeofaconferenceisbyallmeanswillingtolistentoyou,butheisalsoeasilydistracted.Youshouldrealizethatonlyaminorpartofthepeoplehavecomespecificallytolistentoyourtalk.Therestisthereforavarietyofreasons,towaitforthenextspeaker,ortogetageneralimpressionofthefield,orwhatever.

Figure1illustrateshowtheaverageaudiencepaysattentionduringatypicalpresentationof,let’ssay,30minutes.Almosteveryonelistensinthebeginning,buthalfwaytheattentionmaywellhavedroppedtoaround10-20%ofwhatitwasatthestart.Attheend,manypeoplestarttolistenagain,particularlyifyouannounceyourconclusions,becausetheyhopetotakesomethingawayfromthepresentation.

Whatcanyoudotocatchtheaudience’sattentionforthewholedurationofyourtalk?

Theattentioncurveimmediatelygivesafewrecipes:

∙Almosteveryonelistensinthebeginning.ThisisTHEmomenttomakeclearthatyouwillpresentworkthattheaudiencecannotaffordtomiss.

∙Ifyouwanttogetyourmessagethrough,youshouldstateitloudandclearinthebeginning,andrepeatitattheend.

∙Thebestapproach,however,istodivideyourpresentationinseveralparts,eachendedbyanintermediateconclusion,seeFigure2.Peopleintheaudiencewhogotdistractedcanalwayseasilycatchupwithyou,particularlyifyououtlinethestructureofyourtalkinthebeginning.

Figure2Idealattentioncurveofanaudiencewhenthespeakerdivideshistalkinrecognizableparts,eachsummarizedbyintermediateconclusions.Ifpeopleloosetheirattentionforsomereason,theycaneasilycatchupwiththespeakerinoneofhisintermediatesummaries.Thebigadvantageofthisapproachisthateveryimportantitemissaidseveraltimes.Repeatingtheessentialsisthekeytogettingyourmessageacross

AUDIENCESLOVEBACKGROUNDINFORMATION!

Youcanraisetheinterestofattendeeswhoarenotperdefinitioninterestedinyoursubject,bygivingthemtheimpressionthattheywilllearnsomethingfromyourtalk.Notethatthispartoftheaudienceismoreinterestedingeneralaspectsthaninthedetails.Youcertainlyneedtogivethemagoodintroductionintothebackgroundofyoursubject,beforetheycanfullyappreciatethesubtletiesofyourwork.Hence,youshouldspendatleastsome30%ofyourtimeongeneralthemes,e.g.whatisknownaboutthecatalyticreactionandthecatalystsandhowitisappliedinindustry,orperhapsalessknownmethodofresearchthatismoregenerallyapplicable,etc.Alargepartoftheaudiencemayfindthisveryusefultoknow.Butwhatisevenmoreimportant,withsufficientbackgroundinformationtheywillunderstandalotmoreaboutyourspecificresults,i.e.thatpartofthetalkyouaremostproudof.

Whydoesanaudiencegetdistracted?

Therearemanyreasonswhythismayhappen,somemaybeoutsideyourcontrol,suchasinadequatesoundsystems,pooroverheadprojectors,ornoisyconferencecenterswithcardboardwallsbetweentwosessionsrunninginparallel.Whatyoucando,isavoidanythingthatmayencouragetheaudiencetostoplistening.Suchmistakesfallintwoclasses:

speaker’serrorsandpresentationerrors.Welistacoupleofthemostcommonones,mostareselfexplanatory.

1）Thespeakerlivesinhisownlittleworldofresearch,hebelievesthatallthebackgroundinformationneededtoappreciatethemeaningofhisworkiscommonknowledge.Thisisseldomthecase!

2）Thestructureofthepresentationisunclear,andconsequentlythelineofreasoningishardtofollow.Importantmattersasproblemidentification,aims,ormotivationareinsufficientlyclear.

3）Visualaids（transparencies,slides）areinadequate,confusing,unreadable,toosmall,toocrowded,etc.Somespeakersshowtoomanyinatooshorttime（oneperminuteisnotbadasaruleofthumb）.

4）Thespeakeruseslong,complicatedsentences;heusesunnecessaryjargon,abbreviationsordifficultwords.Passivesentences（“Fromthisfigureitwasdeducedthat…”or”Itwasthereforeconcludedthat……）aremoredifficulttofollowthanactiveones（”Thisfigureimpliesthat…”or”Therefore,weconcludethat…”）.

5）

Nottoofast,please….!

Manyspeakershaverehearsedtheirtalksooftenthattheyspeaktoofast.Otherssimplyhavesomuchtocover,thattheonlywaytostaywithintheallottedtimeistospeedup.Ofcourse,thisisnotintheinterestoftheaudience,particularlynotataninternationalmeeting.

…andtrytovaryyourpace

Asaruleofthumb,speakingat150wordsperminuteisallright.However,trytovaryyourrate.Keyideas,complicatedpoints,orconcludingremarks（youmaywanttouseoneattheendofeveryslideyoushow）arebestpresentedataslowerpace.

Evenworseiswhenthespeakerreadshisspeechfrompaperandforgetsthat

a）writtenlanguageisusuallymoreformalandcomplicatedthanlanguageusedineverydayconversations,and

b）readingwrittentextgoesalotfasterthanimpromptuspeaking.

Insuchcasestheaudiencewilldefinitelyexperienceinformationoverload.OfcoursewesympathizewiththespeakerwhofeelsinsufficientlyconfidentinEnglish.However,readingatextisalmostalwaysanunsatisfactorysolution.Andafterall,nobodyintheaudiencewillblameyouforacoupleofmistakesinthelanguage,Englishwillbeaforeignlanguageforthemajorityoftheparticipants.

6）Monotonoussentences,spokeneithertoofastortooslowly,lackofemphasis,unclearpronunciation,allmakeitdifficultforthelistenerstostayattentive.Somespeakersturntheirbacktotheaudienceandwatchtheprojectionscreenwhiletheyaretalking,insteadoftryingtomakevisualcontactwiththeaudience.

Howtoorganizeyourpresentation

Youshouldbeawareoffundamentaldifferencesbetweenanoralpresentationandawrittenreport.Inthepresentationthelistenerbynecessityhastofollowtheorderinwhichthespeakerpresentshismaterial.Thereaderofanarticlecanskipparts,gobacktothematerialssection,takeapreviewattheconclusionswhenhereadstheresults,etc.Exactlybecauseofthisreason,allscientificreportsfollowthegenerallyadoptedstructureofAbstract–Introduction–ExperimentalMethods–Results–Discussion–Conclusions–References.However,thisstructureistotallyUNSUITABLEforanoralpresentation.Nevertheless,themajorityofcontributedtalksataconferenceadherestoit.

Whyisthisgenerallyacceptedstructureunsuitableforlectures?

Becausethelistenerwillhavetorememberdetailsabouttheexperimentalmethodsuntiltheresultsarepresented,andhemustrecallthevariousresultswhenthespeakerdealswiththediscussion.Inotherwords,detailsthatshouldbecombined（thewhy,how,whatandwhatdoesitmeanofaparticularexperiment）aretreatedseparately.Youaskalotfromtheaudienceiftheyneedtorememberallthesefactsandfiguresuntilattheendyouexplainhowthesebitsandpiecesfitinalargerpicture.

Groupingtogetherwhatbelongstogetherisamuchbetterwaytoorganizeyourtalk.Hence,ifyoudiscusscharacterizationbye.g.XPS,youstartthispartofthepresentationwithafewintroductoryremarksofwhatyouwanttolearnaboutyourcatalyst,howXPSmayhelpyoutoprovidethisinformation,thenyoushowafewresultsandyoudiscusswhattheymean.Endwithaconclusion.Thenyougotothenextiteminyourpresentation,whichmaybedeterminationofparticlesizebyTEM.Whenfinishedwiththis,youmaygiveanoverallconclusiononthestateofyourcatalystbeforeyougoontospeakaboutcatalyticbehavior.

Figure3Inanoralpresentationyoushouldgrouptogetherwhatbelongstogether.

InTenStepsToaSuccessfulPresentation

Youshouldrealizethatthetwokeyissuesinthepreparationofatalkare:

∙Themessage:

WhatdoIwanttheaudiencetoknowwhenIamfinished?

∙Theaudience:

HowdoIpresentmytalksuchthattheaudiencewillunderstandandrememberwhatIhavetosay?

1）Startintime.

Onceyousubmittedtheabstracttotheconferenceorganizers,itistimetostartthinkingabouthowyouorganizethematerialinatalkifyourabstractwillhavebeenaccepted.Readaboutthebackgroundofyourwork,readrelatedwork,lookatyourownresultsregularlyandthinkaboutthemostrelevantconclusions.Trytoimaginewhattypeofaudienceyouwouldhaveandconsiderwhatyouwouldhavetoincludeasbackgroundinformation

2）

Example:

“Iwanttoconvincetheaudiencethatamongaclassofbimeta