Presentations - Blog Posts

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i’ve gotten a million asks about presentations! and presentation nerves! and presentation prep! so here is a long-ass post about:

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS!

every presentation is different and will have a different context. this advice is for seminar/class presentations, not conference panels, and based on my experience as an english lit grad student (and teacher). some classes you feel comfortable joking in; others, the vibe (or the professor’s expectations) will be more formal. read the room!! 

a good presentation is one that communicates clearly. in other words, it’s more important to be legible to your audience than it is to “sound smart.” usually when you’re consciously working to sound smart, you sound like an asshole. as the genie in aladdin once said, bee yourself. 

be generous to your audience. if you conceptualize your presentation as having two parts, let them know that! “i want to do two things with this presentation: talk about this secondary text, and then identify some examples that we can talk about in the primary.” signpost that shit! let your audience know where you’re heading and what you want them to understand.

related: present on something interesting. this does not mean objectively interesting. it means you should find something that really gets you curious or passionate or annoyed! 99% of the time, if you’re invested, your audience will be invested.

K.I.S.S. only use a powerpoint if you have images that support or contribute to your presentation. no distracting backgrounds, special effects, or clip art, it’s not 1998 (unless you are going for a retro vibe, in which case, don’t let me stop you). no big blocks of text. only use prezi if you want to make your audience nauseous. if you’re using a handout for quotations or major points, keep it basic and readable. 

plan your ending. there is nothing worse than a presentation that ends with a “so uh… yeah………………..” suggestions:

stick the landing. in other words, do the oral version of an essay conclusion: why it matters, how your presentation impacts the understanding of the topic, etc.

questions for further discussion, the kind you have some answers for or thoughts about.

legitimate questions that you don’t have answers for! not factual ones, obviously, but questions about a tricky scene in the text, how a particular narrative form is working, moments that you’ve identified that actually work against your conclusions, etc. it’s okay to admit that you don’t have all the answers; in fact, it’s a sign that you’re really engaging with the material. just make sure you use this one on a presentation where you’ve already proven that you did a lot of work and know your shit.

imitate what you like to see. i’ll hazard a guess and say that most people enjoy presentations that allow some personality, or we’d just have siri read our papers out loud. my usual presentation style is on the informal side; after 3 years of small seminars with the same people and professors, i feel comfortable joking around with the folks in my area. if i were to present for my whole department, i would not be that chill.

personalize your notes. you’re the only one who’s gonna see them! make them useful to you. 

don’t be nervous. not helpful, i know, but as someone who actually likes giving presentations but still gets anxious: it’s going to be okay. presentations can be a great chance to talk about something you find interesting, to direct class discussion, and to dig deeper into material that you might skim over otherwise. understand that your classmates will usually be generous and sympathetic (see: seminar personalities). treat it like an opportunity, not a punishment.

okay this is not really general advice, but it’s a plug for a grad school presentation favorite that will make your life way easier: the pdf handout.

it doesn’t have to be hard copy (though you should probably bring a few just in case). if everyone in your seminar has a laptop or tablet, email that thing out the night before! they get a lil preview and a document they can refer to in the future; you get to combine hi-res color images, hyperlinks, and whatever text you need to include.

still keep it minimalist. you can go overboard with your personal notes. the only things that should go on the handout are

things that are better written down than spoken (long quotes, statistics, timelines, etc.)

things that will contribute to your audience’s understanding of the material.

and here is an example of the difference b/t notes and handout, from a presentation i did last fall on my husband thomas hoccleve n scholarly fatigue (i was rly tired and wanted to talk abt being Weary) 

my notes on hoccleve’s work life:

the handout version that i emailed to everyone in the course:

⭐ a script for starting a presentation ⭐

“First, I’d like to thank [university / conference / host] for having me, and thank you all for attending my talk. Today I’m presenting work I performed on [general topic] with my collaborators at [university/universities]. To begin, let’s talk about [slide 1 topic].”