How to Give a Killer Academic Conference Presentation

The advancement in information technology has made it easier for students and professionals to track the upcoming conferences. They can simply subscribe to certain websites and gather detailed information about upcoming academic conferences through the email or SMS alerts send by the websites. But it is also important for each participant to keep other participants engaged and impressed by delivering a killer academic conference presentation. Each participant can follow some simple tips to deliver an academic conference presentation that will be remembered by others over a longer period of time.

Tips to Make Your Academic Conference Presentation More Impactful

Keep in Mind the Word Count: The academic conference presentations are completely different from conventional articles and blogs. Also, the presenters are also required to complete the presentation within a predefined amount of time. A number of studies have indicated that a presenter normally has to speak 125 words per minute at the conferences. So you must decide the word count of the presentation according to the conference presentation slot allocated to you.

Adopt a New Style: Nowadays a presenter cannot keep the audience engaged simply by reading a written presentation. He must explore innovative ways to convey his ideas and information in a more engaging way. It is also advisable for the participant to focus on spoken grammar instead of written grammar. Also, he must use bullets, images and graphs to make the presentation more appealing and engaging. You can always refer to the presentations posted on various websites to understand how to make the presentation interesting and engaging.

Focus on the Central Theme: In addition to making your presentation more engaging, it is also important to concentrate on its central theme. You can always work on your speaking style and quality of the multimedia presentation to keep the audience engaged. But you must have adequate raw material to make the presentation more impactful. When you work extensively on the central theme of the academic conference presentation and use the latest and updated information on the topic, your presentation will get more appreciation.

Pick the Right Delivery Option: You can deliver the presentation in a number of ways. For instance, you can consider memorizing the entire presentation or read from a written script. Likewise, you can use bullet points to highlight the key information you are going to speak in a particular section of the presentation. However, you must remember that each delivery option has its own pros and cons. To keep the audience engaged, you must pick the right delivery option and rehearse adequately make the flow of words seem natural. The focus on flow of words will make it easier for you to build and maintain a connection with the audience.

Open the Presentation with a Rhetoric Question: A number of studies have highlighted how a presenter can keep the audience interested and engaged by asking a rhetoric question before making the presentation. When you ask a question to the audience from the very beginning, they will be eager to know the answer to the question. The question will further help the presenter to convey his ideas clearly by linking them to specific objectives. However, the presenter must not ask the rhetoric question directly. Instead he must ask the question in a different way to grab the attention of audience.

Trigger a Conversation: Often presenters wait for the Q&A session to make the participants ask questions. But a presenter can easily make his academic conference presentation more impactful by triggering a conversation with the audience on his own. When he asks a question during presentation, many participants will be interested to share their ideas and views. The dialogue will make the presentation livelier and more engaging. Also, the presenter can always answer the question himself in case there is no response from the audience.

However, it is also important for the participant to conduct in-depth research on the topic of his presentation. He must collect updated and relevant information on the topic from various sources, and organize the information properly before working on the presentation. The focus on the quality and relevance of the information will make the presentation more impressive and impactful.