Presentations - Blog Posts

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i’ve gotten a million asks about presentations! and presentation nerves! and presentation prep! so here is a long-ass post about:

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS!

every presentation is different and will have a different context. this advice is for seminar/class presentations, not conference panels, and based on my experience as an english lit grad student (and teacher). some classes you feel comfortable joking in; others, the vibe (or the professor’s expectations) will be more formal. read the room!! 

a good presentation is one that communicates clearly. in other words, it’s more important to be legible to your audience than it is to “sound smart.” usually when you’re consciously working to sound smart, you sound like an asshole. as the genie in aladdin once said, bee yourself. 

be generous to your audience. if you conceptualize your presentation as having two parts, let them know that! “i want to do two things with this presentation: talk about this secondary text, and then identify some examples that we can talk about in the primary.” signpost that shit! let your audience know where you’re heading and what you want them to understand.

related: present on something interesting. this does not mean objectively interesting. it means you should find something that really gets you curious or passionate or annoyed! 99% of the time, if you’re invested, your audience will be invested.

K.I.S.S. only use a powerpoint if you have images that support or contribute to your presentation. no distracting backgrounds, special effects, or clip art, it’s not 1998 (unless you are going for a retro vibe, in which case, don’t let me stop you). no big blocks of text. only use prezi if you want to make your audience nauseous. if you’re using a handout for quotations or major points, keep it basic and readable. 

plan your ending. there is nothing worse than a presentation that ends with a “so uh… yeah………………..” suggestions:

stick the landing. in other words, do the oral version of an essay conclusion: why it matters, how your presentation impacts the understanding of the topic, etc.

questions for further discussion, the kind you have some answers for or thoughts about.

legitimate questions that you don’t have answers for! not factual ones, obviously, but questions about a tricky scene in the text, how a particular narrative form is working, moments that you’ve identified that actually work against your conclusions, etc. it’s okay to admit that you don’t have all the answers; in fact, it’s a sign that you’re really engaging with the material. just make sure you use this one on a presentation where you’ve already proven that you did a lot of work and know your shit.

imitate what you like to see. i’ll hazard a guess and say that most people enjoy presentations that allow some personality, or we’d just have siri read our papers out loud. my usual presentation style is on the informal side; after 3 years of small seminars with the same people and professors, i feel comfortable joking around with the folks in my area. if i were to present for my whole department, i would not be that chill.

personalize your notes. you’re the only one who’s gonna see them! make them useful to you. 

don’t be nervous. not helpful, i know, but as someone who actually likes giving presentations but still gets anxious: it’s going to be okay. presentations can be a great chance to talk about something you find interesting, to direct class discussion, and to dig deeper into material that you might skim over otherwise. understand that your classmates will usually be generous and sympathetic (see: seminar personalities). treat it like an opportunity, not a punishment.

okay this is not really general advice, but it’s a plug for a grad school presentation favorite that will make your life way easier: the pdf handout.

it doesn’t have to be hard copy (though you should probably bring a few just in case). if everyone in your seminar has a laptop or tablet, email that thing out the night before! they get a lil preview and a document they can refer to in the future; you get to combine hi-res color images, hyperlinks, and whatever text you need to include.

still keep it minimalist. you can go overboard with your personal notes. the only things that should go on the handout are

things that are better written down than spoken (long quotes, statistics, timelines, etc.)

things that will contribute to your audience’s understanding of the material.

and here is an example of the difference b/t notes and handout, from a presentation i did last fall on my husband thomas hoccleve n scholarly fatigue (i was rly tired and wanted to talk abt being Weary) 

my notes on hoccleve’s work life:

the handout version that i emailed to everyone in the course:

⭐ a script for starting a presentation ⭐

“First, I’d like to thank [university / conference / host] for having me, and thank you all for attending my talk. Today I’m presenting work I performed on [general topic] with my collaborators at [university/universities]. To begin, let’s talk about [slide 1 topic].”

Giving Amazing Presentations!

These are my tips for giving really good presentations in class! It will be slightly more geared towards history, english, etc. and some of the tips might not apply to science classes, but hopefully this helps.! 

Presenting Well: 

Know what you are talking about. When you are giving a presentation, you should be an expert in what you are talking about. Study the topic like it’s your job. 

If you are working with a partner, still make sure you know it all! When I do partner presentations, this is what I do. Decide who is going to do each part of the presentation. This is the part that you should know backwards and forwards. But! You should also have a good amount of knowledge about your partner’s topics. If one of you falters or forgets something, the other can back them up. Also, this helps to make you look more cohesive and less like you just split it in half. 

Be able to answer questions. This ties into my last point. If a classmate or a teacher asks you a question and you have no idea, it doesn’t look good. You should know more information than just what you’re presenting. 

Don’t read from notes. If you stand up and just read from a page, your class might as well be reading this information from a textbook. If you can, don’t use any notes at all. If you absolutely need them, make them super short jot notes, not full sentence pages of notes. 

Organize your slides in a way that makes sense. Start with background information, then state your thesis, then get into your arguments and more detailed information. Don’t put your thesis at the end, or skip over the background information.

Include a conclusion at the end of your presentation. A presentation is basically a verbal essay, so you should be including all of these parts. Restate your thesis and quickly sum up the reasons that you talked about in the presentation. This will help everyone in your audience to understand what you discussed. 

Dress up a bit and try to look really good. I personally believe that a lot of confidence can come from the outside. Looking good and being comfortable with what you’re wearing will make you more confident. Also, a lot of teachers want to see that you made an effort to look professional for a presentation. 

Talk to the class like you’re having a conversation. Obviously, you don’t want to be too relaxed and seem like you don’t know what you’re talking about. But it is really helpful to use your normal language and tone, throw in a couple jokes, and just act normal! It’s always really weird when someone turns into a robot when they are giving a presentation, so try to avoid that if possible. 

Practice in front of someone! This will help you avoid looking awkward and help you go at a normal speed. Also, they can tell you if there was a part that they didn’t understand or anything like that. Try to choose someone objective, that won’t lie to make you feel better. 

Time out your presentation. You have to time out your presentations before you do them. It’s not fair to other presenters and to your class if you go way over the time limit. Time yourself reading through the presentation, then again when you present in front of someone. Maybe leave a bit of time at the end for questions, too. 

Making Good Visuals: 

Use something simple. Unless your teacher suggests otherwise, just use slides or something simple like slides. Unless you are really good with these kinds of programs, when you try and do something like a video or a Prezi, its way more likely that it will look unfinished or crazy. I personally hate Prezi, because it’s way too hard to follow. 

Use a built in slides theme. Again, this might not apply to you if you’re really into graphic design, but for the most part, stick to this rule. When you try and mix your own colours and patterns and fonts, it can tend to look really busy. Try to stick with a preset theme. 

Do not have full sentences. You should not have more than 10 words on your entire slide, if that. A really good photo, political cartoon, graph, or other graphic says way more than an exact copy of the words you’re already saying. Your slides are a visual to back you up, not the main focus. If your class has to take notes on your presentation, this might not apply.

Don’t use a white background. Pure white makes your eyes hurt. Change the background colour to a really pale grey, one shade lower than white. This will help your audience focus on the slides better. 

Make sure your visuals are working. Ask your teacher if you can double check that your slides are compatible with their computer, or at least check it on a computer at your school. Especially if your school uses Mac and you use Windows (or vice versa). Also, check that your videos and audio work!