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Mastering Academic Presentations Effectively

Learn how to prepare, deliver, and ace academic presentations with expert tips for engaging your audience and handling questions professionally. This guide offers valuable insights from a renowned academic expert to help you enhance your presentation skills.

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Mastering Academic Presentations Effectively

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  1. Some Thoughts on Academic Presentations Dan Quint University of Wisconsin March 26, 2014

  2. IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail 1

  3. Introduction • Presenting well matters

  4. Introduction • Preparing a good talk takes much longer than you think “Hofstadter’s Law: it always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”– Douglas Hofstadter 3

  5. Introduction • Giving a good talk is hard… …and you’ll screw it up Your first presentation will probably go worse than you expect… even when you take this into account. 4

  6. IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail 5

  7. Preparation • “Own your paper” 6

  8. Preparation • Think about who your audience is • Assume we’re smart, but haven’t read your paper, or the paper you’re extending 7

  9. Preparation • Think about the best way to teach them your paper 8

  10. Preparation • Start with a puzzle, or a story 9

  11. Preparation • You want us to understand, quickly: • What the question is • What you found • Why we should care 10

  12. Preparation • Your lit review is terrible • Show you know the literature you’re supposed to • Put your paper in context and clarify its contribution easy hard good place to take advice from advisors, etc. 11

  13. Preparation • You don’t have to present the most complicated case in your paper 12

  14. Preparation • Plan where you want to spend your time 13

  15. Preparation • Plan where you want to spend your time 14

  16. Preparation • PLAN WHERE YOU WANT TO SPEND YOUR TIME 15

  17. Preparation • Get to your model FAST! 16

  18. Preparation • Define things rigorously 17

  19. Preparation • Have examples in mind 18

  20. Preparation • Highlight the things you want us to notice 19

  21. Preparation • Don’t drown us in equations 20

  22. Preparation • Tables 21 source: A. Sengupta and S. Wiggins (2014), “Airline Pricing, Price Dispersion, and Ticket Characteristics On and Off the Internet,” AEJ: Economic Policy 6(1)

  23. Preparation • Visuals good! 22 source: T. Piketty, E. Saez and S. Stantcheva (2014), “Optimal Taxation of Top Labor Incomes: A Tale of Three Elasticities,” AEJ: Economic Policy 6(1)

  24. Preparation • Ask for advice – and follow it 23

  25. Preparation • Practice! 24

  26. IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail 25

  27. Delivery • Face the audience, and don’t laser-point every slide 26

  28. Delivery • Go slow, except for the technical parts – then, go really slow 27

  29. Delivery • Slowness especially important for equations probability h of my opponents do one thing and the rest do another increase in probabilitystuff happens expected payoff I get if it happens 28

  30. Delivery • I like dot points to appear one by one • Guides people through each point I make • Reinforces each point • (Means I can’t present without a clicker) 29

  31. Delivery • But don’t “foreshadow” dot points You may think it looks cute But it makes people read ahead while you’re talking Which means they aren’t paying attention 30

  32. Delivery • But don’t “foreshadow” dot points • You may think it looks cute But it makes people read ahead while you’re talking Which means they aren’t paying attention 31

  33. Delivery • But don’t “foreshadow” dot points • You may think it looks cute • But it makes people read ahead while you’re talking Which means they aren’t paying attention 32

  34. Delivery • But don’t “foreshadow” dot points • You may think it looks cute • But it makes people read ahead while you’re talking • Which means they aren’t paying attention 33

  35. Delivery • Also, don’t put everything you want to say on your slide • If you do, then all you can do is read your slides • And that isn’t a very compelling way to present • Better to leave some things off your slide and just talk about them • And use your slides as an outline of the major points you want to cover… • …not every detail 34

  36. Delivery • Don’t be limited by your slides • Control pace, adjust accordingly • Use white board as needed 35

  37. IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail 36

  38. Answering questions • Anticipate likely questions 37

  39. Answering questions • Don’t take it personally • Don’t get defensive • Don’t be a dick 38

  40. Answering questions • Don’t interrupt someone asking a question 39

  41. Answering questions • Don’t interrupt someone asking a question 40

  42. Answering questions • Make sure you understand the question before you start to answer 41

  43. Answering questions • Don’t defer questions more than necessary 42

  44. Answering questions • But don’t lose control of the seminar 43

  45. Answering questions • Don’t be a bullshitter 44

  46. Answering questions • But also, don’t undersell your work 45

  47. IntroductionPreparationDeliveryAnswering QuestionsAlmost Freakish Attention to Detail 46

  48. Almost freakish attention to detail • Minimize typos, incorrect notation, etc. • But don’t freak out if you catch one during your talk 47

  49. Almost freakish attention to detail • If your dot points appear one by one, 48

  50. Almost freakish attention to detail • If your dot points appear one by one, • Make sure you do it properly, 49

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