Developing presentation skills

In this blog post, I will share my experiences on how I developed my presentation skills throughout my Doctor of Philosophy studies. It is an undeniable fact that presentation is one of the essential ways to let people know about your research, and I admit that it is not easy. Throughout my PhD journey until this point, I have presented my works on different platforms, including confirmation of candidature seminar, meetings and conferences. I can say that I am still learning, but I am getting better at the same time. So what approaches are making me better?

I have adopted several ways to learn and develop different skills required for presentation. The learning phase involves completing workshops on communication and presentation along with attending different seminars, workshops and conferences. Interestingly, I have found that being present at seminars, conferences and dissemination events have helped me gain a lot of confidence and different tricks to ace the presentation skill. For example, I have learned to distinguish between interactive ways and boring ways of conveying information to audiences. I have also acquired knowledge of how to handle different audiences in effective manners. Again, I have seen many unlikely events during the presentation, such as a heated talk from audiences, and ways to overcome the situation by the presenter. These are valuable experiences, without which I could not have prepared myself better.

Another strategy that I follow to do well during my presentation is to prepare myself well ahead of the event. If I am in a rush, then the likelihood that I may end up in an uncomfortable situation during my presentation is high. So, time management is crucial along with proper preparation of the presentation slides.

In regards to preparing slides, I always make sure that it is not over contented. I also take care of the font size, colour, highlighting and animation of slides. In addition, I ensure that there are not too many slides. For example, I try to make twenty slides for a 15-minute presentation, and I have found this approach to be quite successful to manage my time effectively to convey my messages to the audiences.

Practising is another tactic that I follow to make myself an excellent presenter. I rehearse either in front the mirror or with the help of a projector multiple times so that I can deliver my speech fluently in the main event. In addition, I write down my speech in the same slides underneath the main slides which are not viewable to spectators. This writing is intended for my practice purpose only, and I do not try to read it during my presentation because it can cause distraction.

The strategies I take in the presentation day include getting to know my audiences if possible, engaging my audiences actively and trying to be entertaining. Getting myself familiarised with the people around me in the seminar and conference boost my confidence. After all, I believe that most people are sympathetic, even if I do something wrong in the presentation. During the presentation, I try my best to make it entertaining whenever possible. When it comes to answering questions, it is not always the case that I can address all the queries raised by the audiences. In that case, I admit it nicely. I also welcome feedback in a courteous manner which eventually improves my research outcomes.

Overall, I think that the more chances I am getting to present, the better I am becoming. It is not only the conferences but also the monthly seminar series and workshops where I am participating to avail of these opportunities.