December 15, 2007 5:54pm
I recently attended my school's research conference, where PhD candidates present their work. While there's lots of great research going on, some of the speakers weren't able to get that great research across effectively. I'm no great speaker, and my talk at the conference was completely devoid of content, so my advice is freely ignorable. Take it or leave it.
Don't cover too much
I know you want to include all the cool things in your presentation but all you're really doing is forcing yourself to speak fast so that you can fit everything in. Either that or you're going over time, which is just rude. And if you talk into your question time then you might miss some of the best stuff that can happen at a gig like this -- interaction. I know you might be scared of it, but it will do you good.
So take your time, don't have too much content, even have some slides that you can skip if you're running short of time.
Don't crowd your slides
On the subject of slides, cut the text! If you have a heap of text, people will read the text and they won't listen to you talk. People can't focus on both you and the slides, so lots of text is just distracting. Slides should provide some structure but they shouldn't provide all the content.
You should also think very carefully before including tables of data in your presentation. Graphs are fine, as long as they're not too complex, but tables are hard for your audience to absorb at a glance. If a table isn't absolutely crucial to your talk, leave it out.
Don't distract your audience
Laser pointers are like digital watches. You might think they're cool, but you're wrong. I've seen very few good uses of laser pointers in presentations (mostly pointing out interesting spots on graphs), and very many bad uses (like when the speaker reads the slides and follows along with the laser pointer, karaoke style). If you really must draw attention to something on your slides (you've already cut the down, right, so there shouldn't be much distraction on there anyway) consider using the presentation software itself to call things out (but be subtle about that too, no vomit inducing animations). And if a laser pointer is essential, practice holding it steady. Don't wave it around like a light sabre.
Most importantly ...
... try to have a good time!