Angewandte . Editorial DOI: 10.1002/anie.201209795 Effective Presentations—A Must Craig J. Hawker* Craig J. Hawker Professor of Chemistry E ffective presentations are critical for of a clear message. Noise, which can University of California, success in whatever career path one include too much information, poor Santa Barbara takes. Nevertheless, very little attention slides, filler words such as “um” and is devoted to teaching our students how “ah”, must be minimized. to give a good presentation. How many times are we surprised at how poor 2. One message–one slide to maximize Two Indispensable Considerations presentations are, even from well- signal to noise. That means: go known scientists? We should not be critically over every part of every B efore you start preparing a presenta- surprised, since we provide little, if any, image on a slide and ask whether this guidance for students, and poor com- tion you should answer the following is absolutely necessary. If the answer munication techniques are simply questions: is “maybe”, then delete it. I am propagated through the system. What 1. What is my message? To answer this always shocked when a presenter follows is not an exhaustive list of do�s question it must become clear to you puts up a slide that is extremely busy, and don�ts, rather it is designed to bring why the audience should care about then tells you to ignore most of the attention to this issue, and, in a similar your work; how it affects them either slide. If it is not relevant, then do not way to the influential text by George M. professionally or personally; and show it. Whitesides on “Writing a Paper” ( Adv. what the big picture is. 3. Make your slides visually appealing. Mater. 2004 , 16 , 1375), initiate a discus- 2. Which story do I use to convey my The audience does not have much sion on the topic. If chemists can be- message? It is essential to focus the time to take in the information on come better at communicating their attention of your audience. To ach- the slides, and so they cannot be ideas to fellow scientists who specialize ieve this, you first have to think distracted by poor font selection, bad in different areas, to funders, govern- about who your audience is—are color choices, and so on. ment policy makers, industrial partners, they in the same field as you, is it 4. Limit text. The text should only and the general public, the future of the a diverse group of scientists, or support or convey the one message chemical enterprise will be healthier and maybe even a general audience? per slide rule. To help ourselves our students will be more successful in during presentations, we often fall their professional lives. into the bad habit of putting too The Slides much text on slides and then simply W hile a publication can be read again M any of us start with the creation of reading the text to the audience. This and again, a presentation is over imme- only ends up being noise. This rule diately. Therefore, the rules for writing the slides to be used in the presentation. also applies to the slide title itself: it a publication differ from those for As with a manuscript, you should start should not describe the slide. Imag- preparing a presentation. The best pre- with an outline, though this is where the ine a slide detailing how a compound sentation is—like the best measure- similarities with writing a manuscript was shown to be a single stereoiso- ment—the one that has the highest end. Specific rules and good habits mer by NMR spectroscopy. Having signal-to-noise ratio. In the case of include: “NMR of compound X” as a slide presentations, the signal is the delivery 1. Do not reproduce images directly title is useless. This conveys no from manuscripts, as this conveys the valuable information. Instead use message to the audience that little [*] Prof. Dr. C. J. Hawker the title to reinforce the message of Depts. of Chemistry & Biochemistry, and thought has gone into the presenta- the slide, for example, “Single Ste- Materials tion. You can stare at a figure in reoisomer is Observed”. and Materials Research Laboratory a manuscript for an hour as a reader, University of California Santa Barbara in a presentation you typically have MRL, MC 5121, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 less than a minute. As a result, the E-mail: hawker@mrl.ucsb.edu image has to be simple. Homepage: http://hawkergroup.mrl.ucsb. edu/ 2 � 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013 , 52 , 2 – 4 � � These are not the final page numbers!
Angewandte Chemie Practicing 1. Engage with the audience. This may can be one of the most effective tools seem simple, but again speakers during a presentation. It helps frame P resentations rely on both visual cues typically do not do this and, as points and brings the audience into (slides) as well as oral reinforcement a result, they lose their audience. your story. Next time you feel like (speaking). Many of us are comfortable As just one example of a common saying “um” or “ah”, use silence with creating slides, but few researchers mistake, do not look at the screen, instead and see how effective this is. enjoy speaking to an audience. There- unless you need to illustrate some- Equally important is to use the fore: practice the full presentation, ei- thing using the laser pointer. Instead cadence and volume of your voice ther in front of co-workers or colleagues. focus on the audience and make eye to maximize the impact of your main No amount of just looking at your slides contact with as many people as points. Finally, overuse and erratic will ever make up for actually standing possible. In addition, use visual cues movements of a laser pointer con- up and verbalizing what you want to say. from the audience to quicken, or tributes significantly to “noise”— Time yourself, work on improving the slow, your presentation. Try to inter- laser pointers are for emphasis, noth- flow of the presentation, and make sure act with people in the audience and ing more. the key messages of the talk are clear. welcome comments during the pre- How often do presentations either run sentation. Audiences are more en- So what? over time, with the presenter skipping gaged when a presentation is a two- the last 5–10 slides or racing through way discussion rather than a strict I s it important for the chemistry com- them at such a rate that no one pays monologue. attention. This leaves the audience with 2. Project a sense of confidence and munity to be better communicators? a very poor impression of the whole professionalism. It may seem minor, Absolutely! We all go to conferences presentation. Finishing early is actually but projecting confidence to your where we present technical data with a good thing. To more effectively dem- audience through well-chosen words, one of the purposes being to receive onstrate the importance of practice, steady delivery, and a professional advice and suggestions concerning re- consider the following. A normal pre- appearance counts for a lot and is search directions. Do we ever ask for sentation may cover many years of work very easy to accomplish. As the feedback on how the data were present- in the laboratory. Certainly this is worth saying goes, “first appearances ed or if the presentation was effective? a few hours of practice. count”, and this is equally true for No! This is a major issue as all research- presentations. But do not forget to be ers, from students to faculty, must be- authentic. come more proactive in improving their The Talk 3. Make effective use of voice and communication skills by seeking out pointers. For many researchers the critical feedback and devoting signifi- T o make the actual presentation a suc- effective use of their voice is a chal- cant time to preparation. Our passion cess the following rules should be taken lenge. While many people know to and devotion to chemical research must into account: avoid filler words such as “um” and be matched by our ability to communi- “ah”, it is less well known that silence cate the results. 3 www.angewandte.org Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013 , 52 , 2 – 4 � 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim � � These are not the final page numbers!
Angewandte . Editorial Editorial “… While a publication can be read again and again, a presentation is over immedi- ately. Therefore, the rules for writing a pub- C. J. Hawker* &&&& — &&&& lication differ from those for preparing Effective Presentations—A Must a presentation. The best presentation is— like the best measurement—the one that has the highest signal-to-noise ratio …”Read more in the Editorial by Craig J. Hawker. 4 www.angewandte.org � 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013 , 52 , 2 – 4 � � These are not the final page numbers!
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