Research Presentations
You will probably engage with research studies throughout your professional journey as a faculty member or student. After extensive work on the study, one of the main goals is to showcase what you did and what are the results of your study in order to either be an inspiration for others to do the investigations in that topic area or you want to inform people about the results that are important in the clinical practice and future research studies.
For this purpose, turning your research paper into a visual presentation is essential. You can prepare a visual presentation with different free or paid programs like Microsoft PowerPoint. But before everything let’s organize what we have to do from the start to the end.
In this LibGuide, we will explore some of these steps to learn about practical actions in order to prepare a perfect research presentation.
Who is your audience?
Understand who will be attending your presentation and their primary backgrounds. Some audiences may share similar traits, while others may have diverse perspectives.
How familiar are they with your topic?
Assess the audience’s exposure to your subject. Is this topic common knowledge for them, or is it likely to be new information?
What questions might they have?
Anticipate the questions your audience may ask about your subject. Preparing answers in advance helps you maintain their engagement and avoid getting sidetracked by unexpected issues.
Before starting your presentation, ensure you have checked any specific guidelines provided. If there are no specific guidelines, the following outline can serve as a helpful guide (chartier. 2023). This outline assumes a presentation length of 10-15 minutes, but you can adjust it if you have more time.
From: Chartier, M. (2023). How to Present Your Research (Guidelines and Tips). Fourwaves. https://fourwaves.com/blog/how-to-present-research/
Additionally, the American College of Physicians (ACP) offers comprehensive guidelines for research presentations that are beneficial to review.
- Research Presentation – Generic Outline
- Preparing the Research Presentation Checklist
Organize content for each slide and based on the time and the type of the presentation, make engaging slides.
This is ten simple rules for effective presentation slides by Naegle (2021):
You can refer here for a complete description of each rule.
Naegle, K. M. (2021). Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides. PLoS Computational Biology, 17(12), e1009554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009554
Remember that you want to tell a story, not lecture people. The oral presentation as a whole should be the work of art, and the slides should be supplementary to the story you are trying to convey. When laying out content and designing slides, remember that less is more. Having more slides with less content on each will help keep your audience focused more on what you are saying and prevent them from staring blankly at your slides.
Marketers try to use only three seconds' worth of content, the same amount of time a driver has to view a billboard. Your audience may not be driving cars, but you want them to stay engaged with your story, and this makes the three-seconds rule a good one to apply when building a slide. If it takes more than three seconds to read the slide, consider revising it.
White space will help the slide appear cleaner and more aesthetically appealing. It is important to note that white space may not always be white. Each presentation should have its own color palette that consists of approximately three complementary colors. Try not to use more than three colors, and be aware of the emotion certain colors may evoke. For example, blue is the color of the sky and the ocean and is typically a soothing and relaxing color; red, on the other hand, is a bold, passionate color that may evoke more aggressive feelings.
Animation is another customizable option of presentations, but it may not be worth the effort. Animation can be distracting, making it difficult for the audience to stay with the story being told. When in doubt about animation, remember to ask what value is being added. There may be times when you really want to add emphasis to a specific word or phrase. If this is the case, and you deem it necessary, animation may be an acceptable choice. For example, the "grow" feature may be useful for adding emphasis to a word or phrase.
It is important to have highly readable slides with good contrast between the words and background. Choose a font that is easy to read and be aware that each font has a different personality and sends a different message.
From: Chambers, R. (2014). Presenting your research effectively. Https://Www.Apa.Org. https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2014/09/presenting-research
Practice in front of friends
Practice presentation considering the time
Don’t have much time to explain everything about your research
Practice more
Don't forget:
At the end of this section, I would like to share these three great videos from Harvard Catalyst website about the impact of slide design, strategies for fostering audience engagement, and helpful ways to approach the scope and focus of your presentation.
The Impact of Visual Slide Design
Presenting Your Science to a Diverse Audience
Presenting the Big Fish
IHP provides a specific presentation template that must be used for any presentation representing IHP.
