My first national scientific presentation was a 15-minute talk at the Society for the Study of Evolution's annual meeting, held that year at the University of California-Berkeley. I started preparing months in advance by organizing my thoughts, tightening my argument, and making darn sure I knew what I was talking about. Plus, "with only 15 minutes, you've got to come up with a single take-home message," my advisor had warned me, "that's all you have time for." So not only was I trying to create a compelling synthesis of dozens of pages of results from a 3-year experiment, I had to condense it into 15, or rather 12, minutes. (Always leave time for questions.) I prepared my slides (this was pre-PowerPoint days) and started rehearsing my talk weeks ahead of time. In fact, I had the whole talk practically memorized three weeks before the meeting, not because I had planned to memorize it but because I had practiced it so many times. It was a lot like being on the novice crew team as an undergraduate, when I woke up for 5 AM workouts five days a week, month after month, all for the glory of a single 5-minute race come Spring.

Although I hadn't felt the need to carry notes with me when I left home for the conference, I ended up writing out the entire talk (again) on the plane. I folded and tucked it into my pocket, just in case. At the conference, my presentation was placed in a session filled with leaders in the field. There were about 150 or 200 people in the room. I was, needless to say, incredibly nervous. My voice shook throughout my entire talk and I probably spoke a little too quickly, but I made it through with no glitches. My "security notes" stayed in my pocket.

A few weeks later, I gave a slight variation of the same talk at the Society for Conservation Biology's annual meeting in Blacksburg, Virginia. The main body of the presentation was the same but, given the different audience, I emphasized the more applied, conservation aspects of my work both when I introduced the topic and when I summed the research up at the end. I wasn't nearly as nervous as I had been at Berkeley, but still I could hardly concentrate on any other talks until after I was done with mine. Being on a student budget, I had no intention of going to the banquet the next evening until someone handed me a banquet ticket and said, "Congratulations, you've won the Best Student Paper Award." I was ecstatic. All those workouts had been worth it.

But winning an award isn't the only reason to give a good talk. After all, "good speaking is a key talent that determines career success in the sciences," says Robert Anholt of North Carolina State University and author of Dazzle 'Em With Style, a very readable and highly recommended book on how to prepare and give oral scientific presentations. Even brilliant scientists must be able to present themselves well, says Anholt. Otherwise, they won't be noticed. Geri Richmond, a chemist at the University of Oregon who also serves on the advisory board of the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists (COAch), agrees: "A critical part of doing science is being able to convey it."

I've been to far too many scientific talks where the speaker begins with an assumption that you and presumably everybody in the audience understands their research from the get-go. But the reality is, even at national and regional scientific conferences, only about 5% of the audience are "experts" in your research field, according to Richmond. That is, they are so familiar with your area of research that they can see between the lines and understand even what is not being said. Another 50% have a general feel for the science and will likely understand most of the presentation but could still benefit from some extra effort on your part to explain both the details and significance of your work as clearly as possible. And the rest of the audience has seen the title of the talk or are otherwise curious but not necessarily knowledgeable about your field of research. "The experts are easy," says Richmond. It's all those others who you have to learn how to communicate with.

But isn't public speaking a natural born talent? "The good news," says Anholt, "is that there is nothing magical about public speaking." Even poor speakers can learn the tricks of the trade. According to Anholt, there are three main lessons to learn: how to structure your talk, how to use visual aids, and how to modulate your voice and place emphasis.

How To Structure Your Talk

First, it is very important that you narrow the focus of your talk to a single idea or message. "A presentation should have only one focal point," says Anholt. You should start the talk by putting that focal idea into its larger scientific or historical context. Explain why the work that you are going to talk about is important and how it is not just a trivial, isolated contribution to chemistry. After you paint the big picture, gradually zoom into the main body of the talk; in his book, Anholt gives some good examples of how to do this. At the end, says Anholt, reverse the process: gradually zoom out and "place your contribution back into the general [chemical] principle and fit it into research that other scientists have done."

How much of the punch line do you give away in the beginning and to what extent do you keep your audience "guessing"? Giving a talk is a lot like telling a story, says Richmond. She recommends hinting at your punch line in the beginning so that the audience has something to focus on, but at the same time try to tell an interesting story that keeps the audience listening all the way through to the end. When you reach the end, deliver the punch line clearly and in such a way that even folks who may not have understood all the details of your research still take home a convincing message.

How To Use Visual Aids

Visual aids, which for the most part these days means PowerPoint slides, are usually an integral part of any talk, not just because images are a powerful way to convey a message but also because slides can serve as cues that keep you on track so that you don't have to keep looking at or reading from a piece of paper. But at the same time, make sure you're not glued to the slides either. Try to steer away from the sense that you are just paging through a book, Richmond advises. Instead, keep your eyes on your audience in your attempt to engage them in a (mental) dialogue.

A good rule of thumb is to spend about two minutes per slide, says Anholt. And try not to put too much information on the slide. Each slide should have only one major point, says Richmond. In his book, Anholt includes some helpful tips for how to simplify complex diagrams or ideas.

How To Modulate Your Voice And Place Emphasis

I've been to many talks where the speaker's monotone has lulled me--and probably the rest of the audience--into a daydream. Indeed, "monotony is the greatest enemy of scientific presentation," Anholt writes in his book. No matter what your personality, he says, there are a variety of techniques that you can use to place emphasis. For example, shy people can learn how to use pauses to emphasize certain points, whereas more flamboyant people can do the same thing by raising their voice. Again, in his book, Anholt describes and gives examples of these and other techniques speakers can use to keep their audiences alert.

Some additional pointers for preparing and giving a strong, effective presentation:

So it's your first national scientific meeting. But no matter how many tips you've picked up, how many times you've rehearsed, and how well prepared you are, can anything fend off the stage fright that is bound to strike a first-time speaker? First, familiarize yourself with the room where you will be speaking and make sure that you know how to use all of the audiovisual equipment. Second, both Anholt and Richmond recommend writing the first few sentences of your talk down on a piece of paper or note card. Begin your talk by reading from the paper, if necessary. Even if have memorized the first few sentences, at least have the words in front of you so that you can read them if you need to. By the time the slides start, you will have probably begun to pick up the rhythm of your talk and can rely on the slides to guide you.

In the end, "the way to become a good speaker is to do it frequently," says Anholt. "There is no substitute for that." In his book Communicating in Science, Vernon Booth recommends that if your department doesn't already have one, form a group or club that meets regularly and allows you the opportunity to present your research to your colleagues. Richmond agrees: "Take every opportunity to give talks. It is critical to everything that you do from graduate school on."

Leslie Pray is a freelance science writer based in Leverett, MA. She has written extensively on the educational and professional development of grad students and postdocs for Science's Next Wave and the Chronicle of Higher Education. She is also a regular contributor to The Scientist. Leslie earned several national awards from scientific societies in recognition of her accomplishments as a graduate student. She received her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Vermont.

Related Resources

E. Tufte, 2001, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd Ed., Graphics Press, Connecticut.

R.L. Sullivan & J. Wircenski, 2002, Technical Presentation Workbook: Winning Strategies for Effective Public Speaking, 2nd Ed., American Society of Mechanical Engineers Press, New York.