Website design by No Bad Slides, 2016

  • Home

  • About

  • Services

  • Commentaries

  • Presentation Tips

  • Contact

  • More

    How to acknowledge collaborators in a meaningful way

    September 20, 2019

    Elements of an initial venture capital pitch

    May 8, 2018

    How to include financial information

    October 4, 2017

    Who is this symposium for anyway?

    May 26, 2017

    Try to engage the audience

    May 24, 2017

    Repairing a broken text slide and then converting it to a powerful visual

    April 26, 2017

    A to Z: Data gathering to presentation

    March 14, 2017

    Successful vs. Effective Presentations

    January 27, 2017

    When you think you're done, use the index card method.

    January 9, 2017

    Just shut down that second screen!

    December 22, 2016

    Please reload

    Recent Posts

    I'm busy working on my blog posts. Watch this space!

    Please reload

    Featured Posts
    The oral presentation

    Try to engage the audience

    May 24, 2017

    A central purpose of a presentation is to get comments from the audience.  This benefits the speaker in two ways: 1) it may help in your research, and 2) it may help you in future presentations.  

    A great outcome is when audience members can make comments that get you thinking, bring in facts from new disciplines, etc.  Audience participation can enhance your future research.  Additionally, audience comments will give you insight about what they are following, what they've learned from the presentation, and where they are confused.  This is valuable input for the next time you give the presentation.  Every presentation should get better each time you give it.

     

    The problem is that most audiences have gotten accustomed to sitting by silently and deferring questions until the very end of the talk (by which time most questions are forgotten or are no longer relevant).  As a speaker you need to shake them out of this stupor early in the talk.  Pose questions, ask them about their familiarity with the subject at the beginning of the talk, find out about the distribution of expertise in the audience, etc.  Another thing you can do is conspire with a friend or two and have them pose a question or two during your talk.  Once someone breaks the ice, a lively discussion is possible.  David Stern of the Howard Hughes Institute has even suggested mixing in a few blank slides just to shake up the audience and tell them this is a time for interaction.  I've never done it, but it is worth a try!

    Share on Facebook
    Share on Twitter
    Please reload

    Follow Us

    I'm busy working on my blog posts. Watch this space!

    Please reload

    Search By Tags

    September 2019 (1)

    May 2018 (1)

    October 2017 (1)

    May 2017 (2)

    April 2017 (1)

    March 2017 (1)

    January 2017 (2)

    December 2016 (3)

    November 2016 (1)

    September 2016 (4)

    August 2016 (41)

    Please reload

    Archive
    • Facebook Basic Square
    • Twitter Basic Square
    • Google+ Social Icon