Tips for Conference Presenting!

What makes a good conference talk? How can I prepare for my first time? What unexpected surprises should I expect?

This video is based on my time at the 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston in March, 2019. I had a wonderful time and presented my PhD research to an audience of around 200 fellow scientists. Here I've compiled some tips I made note of while observing which talks I liked best and which I found hard to follow, as well as from evaluating my own performance.

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Got a question for me? Say hello!
Twitter: @LeKissick

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My name is Lucy Kissick, I’m a third year PhD student researching ancient Martian lakes at the University of Oxford, and the best advice I ever heard was from Spyro the Dragon, 1998: "Aim high in life but watch out for flying boxes".

[dorisl]

Thank you for sharing your tips!
short takeaways:
making slides:
- check dimension (4:3 or 16:9), stick to the theme, make sure color works in low contrast
- keep thing simple, one point per slide, use minimal text
- make every slide consistent, graphs should be distinctly differentiated
speech part:
- look at the audience: turn to the board only when you need to use a laser pointer or check clicker is working
- don't overuse the laser pointer
- don't fill the temptation to fill pauses
- make sure talk loudly
- introduction: how specialized your audience is, and skip unnecessary content
- think about where you come into your story, why your work is new/ relevant/ important
Q&A
- don't end with a thank you slide
- feel free to say "I don't know", "come and talk later"

[ivonnelomeli]

I feel I am being taught by Hermione

edit

Which is amazing not gonna lie

[gameguy]

So I am here with a presentation in less than 24 hours dammit

[anaghaachakrapani]

I'm an undergraduate student and presenting at a virtual conference in a month. I have never presented anywhere except in front of the same 30 students I study in my class with. I am extremely nervous. these tips are amazing. Thank you so much

[Tronickification]

This was excellent, thank you. Never would have thought to leave the conclusions slide up but can see how that would help the audience.

[allehaaman]

as a newbie.. this was the most genuine video i have seen till now

[pimpajeeyenura]

Just want to say 'Thank you'.
I'm preparing my very First conference in my life. (for my Master research)
and your tips help me a lot. Hope I can get throgh it well! Thanks again. :))

[dalerxonov]

after 3 hours i am presenting my research paper
at a conference, thank you for helpful tips

[matc.]

I just finished giving my first presentation for my research and this video was such a HUGE help. Thanks Lucy!

[salaheddinetiar]

I really like the energy and how enthusiastic you are when you talk about this.
Lemme tell you, after many years of sadness I got the motivation to present something in a conference again and here I am, listening to your good advices. Hope I will be accepted in a conference. Thank you.

[awkwardpotato]

Hi, I'm an undergrad and about to present my research at a consortium for the first time. Thank you so much for these simple tips!

[daniellecrowley]

Thants for that. Very informative and well timed for me! 🙂

[matybibak]

Fantastic presentation of PhD presentation 😍

[benjammainencube]

My first one is tomorrow, and it's virtual. I'm certainly less anxious after listening to you. Where have you been all my life 😂. Thank you!

[alvarojavierpradoromo]

Congrats, and tks!. Greatings from ECUADOR

[tinhinanechikhi]

Helpfull. Thanks for sharing your experience

[juniormckie]

First rule of a great presentation is always break the ice before starting. Know your material through and through. Treat your audience as if you are talking to one person and never take a cheat sheet.

[phdclinicus]

Thank you for sharing these valuable information Dr. Lucy!

[timoxmusictimothyumukoro]

Lucy, you're so so sweet. Just staring at your eyes all through, lol. Though you were fast, I got the whole point. I'm so sure your presentations are awesome. Also, I would have preferred if you had a video presentation/example showing the presentation tips 😁

[PegoraroMarco]

Very nice video Lucy! Regarding the last slide. Many people dread the "Questions?" or "Thank for your attention" slides; some just put a black page in the presentation.
What I like to do is end with a slide that makes it obvious that the presentation is over, even though it does not say it explicitly: almost always a slide with my contacts for non-academic presentations or a slide with citations for academic presentations will do the trick.