Your First-Year Presentation

1. Your First-Year Presentation Theodore M. Way University of Southampton

2. Before We Begin… • Throughout my portion of the training, please feel free to jump in… • With any questions you would like to ask • Comments that you would like to make • Experiences that you would like to share with the group

3. You and Your Presentation • How many of you have ever given an academic presentation? • Was it successful? • What brings you here today? • What, if anything, about the first-year presentation makes you nervous? • What would you most like to gain from this training today?

4. The First-Year Presentation is Designed • To give you an opportunity to… • Evaluate your own progress since the start of your M.Phil/Ph.D. • Present the feasibility and contribution of your research topic to your peers • your supervisory team • other colleagues within your discipline • In a concise, clear and well-ordered manner • To gain useful feedback on a whole range of issues raised by your presentation, so that your further • Study • Writing • Thesis planning • Can be taken forward with confidence and sharper focus

5. Required Content of Presentation Provisional title The aim of your research and what research questions it is seeking to address The feasibility of your topic in the light of other research already done in the specific field(s) your project relates to Key sources, both primary and secondary, that you will use The specific problems, themes or issues you will investigate and why The methodology and theoretical orientation/framework you are proposing to adopt and why A brief account of your progress to date A brief indication of the next steps of your work within a thesis plan

6. Realize that People Want You to Succeed • The audience of your supervisor, her or his peers and your colleagues want you to be • Interesting • Stimulating • Informative • Entertaining • They’re rooting for you, and for your supervisor

7. Gain Experience • Your presentation will give you the opportunity to gain experience presenting an academic paper • Therefore, it should represent you… • As an authority • Your audience will be full of peers and academics who will be listening with a critical ear • They are not, however, specialists in your subject • Therefore, you must provide a certain amount of context to ground the research that you are presenting • As a person

8. Turning Your First Chapter into an Effective First-Year Presentation • Use PowerPoint slides to organize your main points • Use visuals wherever possible to present complex data, such as statistics or dates • Charts • Graphs • Photographs • Tables • Timelines

9. Visual Aids and Handouts • Keep your visual aids and handouts • Visible • Simple • Colorful, but don't let them upstage you • Justified by the content; not too much or too little information • PowerPoint • Make your text large • Choose colors that make the text easier to read • Use bullet points instead of full sentences • Don't make the text or graphics fly around too much

10. Questions and Answers • Inevitably, somebody will ask you a question to which you don’t know the answer • Don’t panic! • Eleanor’s advice • “That’s a direction toward which I aim to move in the next few months” • “I have begun to look at that, but I still need to do more research” • The audience may see through you, but at least you have acknowledged their comments

11. Practice, Practice, Practice • Rehearse out loud with all equipment you plan on using • Revise as necessary • Work to control filler words • Pause • Breathe • Practice with a timer and allow time for the unexpected

12. Remember… • No later than a week after you presentation you should send your supervisor a 250-300-word summary and evaluation of your presentation • Make an appointment to meet with your supervisor soon after your presentation for feedback! • Try to enjoy yourself!

13. Now, it’s your turn! • Presenters • You’ve been asked to prepare a short paper and PowerPoint presentation • We’d like to give you the opportunity to present this to the group today • We’ll (hopefully) provide constructive feedback on your presentation style • Audience Members • While others are presenting, please try and take notes on what they are doing well and on what they can improve