{"id":208,"date":"2015-11-02T11:10:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T11:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/temp.smartfantasyandscifi.com\/blog\/?p=208"},"modified":"2016-03-10T19:24:57","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T19:24:57","slug":"present-less-but-in-greater-detail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.ncl.ac.uk\/fmspgrstudentguidelines\/2015\/11\/02\/present-less-but-in-greater-detail\/","title":{"rendered":"Present Less, but in Greater Detail"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is one of the more equivocal guidelines as there are different schools of thought. There is something to be said for presenting reams of data at high speed \u2013 if you have reams of good data to show. Most of the audience won\u2019t follow what you are talking about, or pay much interest in your data, but the ones that remember you will likely come away with the impression that you work hard and you probably know what you are doing.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, fewer people will remember you. To the big PIs that you are hoping to impress, you are only interesting as far as your data are interesting, and they can\u2019t be interested in something they can\u2019t follow.<\/p>\n

For this reason it is probably better to be slow and clear, presenting a smaller fraction of your project in a coherent story. Scientists enjoy stories and are much more likely to give you their attention if it looks like your data are leading to some conclusion.<\/p>\nGet Practical Tips<\/span>

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  1. Make sure your presentation doesn\u2019t go over time. Practise it repeatedly and make sure you keep within your allocation.<\/li>\n
  2. When you actually present it, nerves will make you talk faster than normal, so don\u2019t worry if your talk goes slightly over time during practice.<\/li>\n
  3. Include a comprehensive introduction. Remember that many of these people will not know the details of your project, so if you want to hold their attention make sure you explain how everything works. It may mean you have to miss out a bit more data, but you can always state that if people want to hear about more of your data they can talk to you afterwards.<\/li>\n
  4. Practise the presentation for people outside your lab who don\u2019t know much about your project, and ask what bits they didn\u2019t understand. Then ask them questions about the bits they claimed to understand and see if they did.<\/li>\n
  5. Picture your audience in their underwear \u2013 just kidding.<\/li>\n
  6. NEVER picture a scientist in their underwear.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\u00a0<\/b>
    \nRead Personal Perspective<\/span>