Presentations for the introverted

Where I went to grad school, there used to be a tradition called the annual seminar.  Students, with their research at various stages of incompletion, were asked to present their work, to be evaluated by the presiding professors. Unfortunately, these presentations almost always devolved into somewhat of a Roman gladiatorial spectacle. The whole system was eventually replaced by a more constructively themed orientation session.

Presentations are unavoidable.  You want your work known to your community, or at least to the right people.  You have 20 minutes to summarize years of hard work.  But you didn't have much time organizing your results, let alone presenting them.  And everyone is on the same boat so they cannot help you in that department.  How do you conquer your butterflies, or at least make them fly in formation?  I have a few notes that I would like to share, and I hope this would make you more confident over your upcoming presentation as well.

You are in control.  When you are presenting, they want to listen to your research.  Stop guessing what your audience want to hear and focus on what you want to say.  You would be surprised how much your audience appreciates it when someone finally takes the driver's seat.

The 10-20-30 rule.  Guy Kawasaki proposed this dead simple rule of thumb: 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 point font.  Mind you, these rules were meant for start-ups pitching ideas to venture capitalists.  So here is the modified form for grad students:  10 topics, 20 minutes, 30 point font.  Typically these are the topics I cover

1. Introduction (1-2 slides)
2. Your problem (1 slide)
3. Your (proposed) solution (1 slide)
4. Theoretical background (1-3 slides)
5. General solution strategy (1 slide)
6. Each aspect of your solution (1 slide per aspect of your research)
7. Progress/results of your strategy (1-2 slides per aspect)
8. Interpretation of your results (up to 1-2 slides per aspect)
9. Conclusions / recommendations (1-2 slides)
10. Future work (1 slide)

So you have a minimum of 10 slides.  My research consisted of 4 aspects: analytical, experimental, numerical, and practice.  My presentation ended up to be 24 slides, including the title and thank-you slide.  Is it too little? Hell no.  Also, I have a 40-minute version of the same presentation with (just) 36 slides.  But this extended version contains no extra crucial information that the 20-minute version does not provide, other than additional graphs and figures (i.e., eye candy).

Know what you want to say.  There is a theme, ain't it?  Even though you don't have concrete results, there is still a point to your presentation.  Make this clear to your audience throughout, and you will become confident with it.  Also, it you can help it, do not present items that you don't feel confident presenting, just for the sake of filling up your time slot.  If you have to bring it up, put it at the end as "future work", instead of in the results section as "work in progress".

Less is more. As a consequence of using at least 30-point fonts on your presentations, you need to discriminate your information.  Figure out the one very important thing that you want to tell your audience with every slide and stick to it.  Everything else is either supporting evidence or embellishment.  Also, mainly out of fear losing track themselves, many presenters load their slides with words and recite them off the screen.  If you are the forgetful/nervous type (I don't blame you), use cue cards.  When lights are low, as it is almost always in presentations, no one will see you reading off cue cards.

Pace your way, your way.  You are the second element of the presentation, and don't forget, they are coming to see you.  Engage your audience with explanations, antedotes, and examples.  These things compliment the main points on your presentation, and makes things interesting for your audience.  You can also control the flow of your presentation much more easily with the amount of verbal communication.

Treat equations like figures.  If you have to present equations, treat it like you would for a figure.  Direct the audience to what are essential (i.e., important terms and their implications, contributing parameters, trends, etc.) instead of reciting the equation term for term.  Like this title suggests, also do the same for figures.

No bells and whistles.  Slide animations and transitions effects are lame.  So are weird slide layouts and inappropriate background and color schemes.  On the other hand, black text on white background is much more hypnotic than most minimalists think.  Find something easy on the eye.

Practice with reason.  I don't usually rehearse rigorously, because I run a risk of "scripting" it, and i will get nervous if I don't remember what I am scripted to say.  Instead, go through the slides quietly, make notes on them.  Present it to your colleagues for casual feedback.  The best way is to go, is knowing what you want to say, and say it.  If there is something the audience does not understand and care about, they will ask for clarification.

Going through these steps will force you to think very hard over your work, and what you should (and should not) present.  By the time you are done, you will have a very solid idea about the presentation.  There will be the first two minutes of awkwardness when you start presenting.  Once you find your momentum, however, you will be at ease, and so will your audience.  Again, there is no way to get rid of the butterflies in your stomach, but at least they will fly in formation.

Postscript: Too much information already?  At least take this one home. Treat your presentation as if it cost $20 per slide five secretary-days to prepare, just like the good old days before Harvard Graphics almost 20-odd years ago (that's even before Mugu's time).  I bet you will change the way you think about presentations very quickly.